External links
Look up Grafschaft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Literature about Grafschaft in the German National Library catalogue
A Grafschaft was originally the name given to the administrative area in the Holy Roman Empire over which a count, or Graf , presided as judge. It is often, therefore, translated as 'county'. The term has survived as a placename in German-speaking countries, for example, in Germany and in Switzerland.
According to the early Saxon legal document, the Sachsenspiegel which dates to around 1230, the Graf or count is a special judge (Sonderrichter) who, in the name of the king may preside at a juridical court, in certain cases, under the king's ban, i.e. king's authority. The type of 'ban' cases derived from the nature of the kingdom:
The king elects a man as judge over property and fiefs and over the life of each and every person
— Ssp. Ldr. III/52,2
From that followed the exclusive responsibility of the king – and thus the count – to deal with allegations against the nobility. As part of the court "under the king's ban" there was a bench of jurors made up of the nobility, the Schöffenbarfreien. The area of the county was roughly that of modern rural German districts or counties ( Landkreisen ). On the emergence of states in the Late Middle Ages, the acquisition and thus mediatisation of the counties by the territorial princes played an important role. The beginning of the late medieval trend towards large territorial lordships in the 14th century was simultaneously the end of the Grafschaft of the late and high Middle Ages.
In 1521 there were 144 imperially immediate Grafschaften in the Holy Roman Empire, the so-called imperial counties or Reichsgrafschaften.
Several rural Landkreise in Lower Saxony, whose territorial history goes back to the Grafschaften, bear this title in their official names; after the municipal reforms at the end of the 1970s, only the county of Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim retains the name.
Not to be confused with Grafschaften are the Markgrafschaften ("margraviates"), Pfalzgrafschaften ("counties palatine") or Landgrafschaften ("landgraviates"), which had the same status as duchies. The present-day German federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony were once margraviates; Thuringia and Hesse were landgraviates.
The prince-electors, pl. Kurfürsten, Czech: Kurfiřt, Latin: Princeps Elector) were the members of the electoral college that elected the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops.
Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens, Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia. He died while returning from a successful campaign against the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.
Adolf was the count of Nassau from about 1276 and the elected king of Germany from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. He was never crowned by the pope, which would have secured him the imperial title. He was the first physically and mentally healthy ruler of the Holy Roman Empire ever to be deposed without a papal excommunication. Adolf died shortly afterwards in the Battle of Göllheim fighting against his successor Albert of Habsburg.
A count palatine, also count of the palace or palsgrave, was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ordinary count. The title originated in the Late Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages especially and into modern times, it is associated with the Holy Roman Empire, especially Electoral Palatinate.
Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave, was since the medieval period in Europe the official title for the ruler of a castle, especially a royal or episcopal castle, and its territory called a Burgraviate or Burgravate.
Count is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Especially in earlier medieval periods the term often implied not only a certain status, but also that the count had specific responsibilities or offices. The etymologically related English term "county" denoted the territories associated with some countships, but not all.
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Empire and the title came to be borne by rulers of some Imperial principalities until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. Thereafter, those domains were absorbed into larger realms or the titleholders adopted titles indicative of full sovereignty.
Fürst is a German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. Fürsten were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of the Holy Roman Empire and later its former territories, below the ruling Kaiser (emperor) or König (king).
Graf is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl".
Landgrave was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of Landgraf, Markgraf ("margrave"), and Pfalzgraf are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to Herzog ("duke"), and superior to the rank of a Graf ("count").
In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' to Emperor and Empire and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that status was defined as 'mediate'.
Comes, translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office.
The County of Bentheim was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the south-west corner of today's Lower Saxony, Germany. The county's borders corresponded largely to those of the modern administrative district of Grafschaft Bentheim.
An advocatus, sometimes simply advocate, Vogt (German), or avoué (French), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as an abbey. They typically had responsibility for the "comital" functions which defined the office of early medieval "counts", such as taxation, recruitment of militias, and maintaining law and order. This type of office could apply to specific agricultural lands, villages, castles, and even cities. In some regions, advocates came to be governors of large provinces, sometimes distinguished by terms such as Landvogt.
Herzog is a German hereditary title held by one who rules a territorial duchy, exercises feudal authority over an estate called a duchy, or possesses a right by law or tradition to be referred to by the ducal title. The word is usually translated by the English duke and the Latin dux. Generally, a Herzog ranks below a king and above a Graf ('count'). Whether the title is deemed higher or lower than titles translated into English as prince is dependent upon the language, country, and era in which the titles coexisted.
The County of Diepholz, that was first known as the Lordship of Diepholz, was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower-Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. It was ruled by the Noble Lords, later Counts, of Diepholz from the late tenth century until 1585, when it was mostly incorporated into the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
The Landgericht, also called the Landtag in Switzerland, was a regional magistracy or court in the Holy Roman Empire that was responsible for high justice within a territory, such as a county (Grafschaft), on behalf of the territorial lord.