Vogt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the title Vogt. For the surname, see Vogt (surname). For the place in Germany, see Vogt, Germany. For the musical group, see Funker Vogt.
Vogt (also Voigt; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; Polish: Wójt; equivalent in Latin advocatus) is probably derived from Old High German vogeten, "to protect". Originally, it referred in medieval German-speaking areas to the guardianship or military protection executed by an overlord over ecclesiastical institutions and their territory. The territory or area of responsibility of a Vogt is called a Vogtei. In addition to his protective military function, the Vogt dispensed secular justice.
Contents |
[edit] Frankish Empire
- Further information: Grafschaft
The range of social status and degrees of responsibility of persons so titled varied greatly, from the humble — the equivalents of the English reeve or bailiff — to the very elevated. At the upper end of its social range the office of Vogt was frequently held by noble and princely families in relation to ecclesiastical territories, a position which such families often exploited to their own advantage, and it is in this connection that it is most commonly referred to.
The concept of the Vogt was related to the Old German idea of the Munt, or guardian, but also included some ideas of physical defence and legal representation (whence the connection with advocatus or advocate).
From the time of Charlemagne, who had such officials appointed in ecclesiastical territories not directly under the control of his counts, the Vogt was a state functionary representing ecclesiastical dignitaries (such as bishops and abbots) or institutions in secular matters, and particularly before secular courts. Such representatives had been assigned to the church since late antiquity, as it was not supposed to act for itself in worldly affairs. Therefore, in areas such as the territories of abbeys and bishoprics, which by virtue of their ecclesiastical status were free (or immune) from the secular government of the local count (Graf, in origin an administrative official in charge of a territory and reporting to the emperor), the Vogt fulfilled the function of a protective lordship, generally commanding the military contingents of such areas (Schirmvogtei). Beyond that, he administered the high justice instead of the count from the Vogt court (Vogtgericht or Blutgericht).
[edit] Holy Roman Empire
In private and family monasteries (see proprietary church) the proprietor himself often also held the office of Vogt, frequently retaining it after reform of the propietorship (see also Lay abbot).
The three-way struggle for control of the Vogtei of the more important abbacies, played out among the central monarchy, the Church and the territorial nobility,[1] was pretty well established as a prorogative of the nobility; the Hirsau formulary (1075) confirmed count Adalbert of Calw as hereditary advocate of the Abbey, an agreement so widely copied elsewhere in Germany that from the tenth century the office developed into an hereditary possession of the higher nobility, who frequently exploited it as a way of extending their power and territories, and in some cases took for themselves the estates and assets of the church bodies for whose protection they were supposedly responsible. In Austria, the teaching of the Church that, according to canon law individuals were prohibited from exercising authority over Church property, was only with reluctance accepted by the nobles. The rights of advocacy were bought back by the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century abbeys in alliance with the Babenberg and early Hapsburg dukes; the abolition of the Vogtei (Entvogtung) thereby exchanged local secular jurisdiction for the protective overlordship of the duke of Austria, sometimes by forging charters that the duke confirmed.[2]
[edit] Old Swiss Confederacy
 |
It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled Landvogtei. (Discuss) |
The title of Landvogt appears in the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1415. A Landvogt ruled a Landvogtei, either representing a sovereign canton, or acting on behalf of the Confederacy, or a subset thereof, administring a condominium (Gemeine Herrschaft) shared between several cantons. In the case of condominiums, the cantons took turns in appointing a Landvogt for a period of two years.
In exceptional cases, the population of the Landvogtei was allowed to elect their own Landvogt. This concerned Oberhasli in particular, which was nominally a subject territory of Berne, but enjoyed a special status as a military ally. The office of Landvogt was abolished in 1798, with the foundation of the Helvetic Republic.
[edit] Parallels in medieval England and France
The status of protective lordship, however, in relation to ecclesiastical estates as held, and notoriously abused, by the nobility in Germany throughout the Middle Ages, is without close parallel. There is no single equivalent in English history. The office of reeve was much the same at a village or peasant level, and in other contexts the roles of sheriff, bailiff, seneschal and castellan of course included similar elements. In France, the office of vidame, the temporal administrator for certain bishoprics, showed some connection. The most frequent translations in that connection are either advocate or lord protector.
[edit] Modern Europe
In Poland the title of Wójt (the same origin as Russian vozhd' - chieftain, leader, somebody who conducts, leads, makes others follow) was used to denote hereditary heads of towns (under the overlordship of the town's owner - the King, the Church or a nobleman). Today Wójt denotes the elected mayor of a rural commune (gmina), i.e. one consisting only of villages (mayors of towns and cities take different titles).
In Danish the word vogt carries different connotations, all pertaining to guarding or keeping watch over something. In modern Danish law, the fogedret (vogt court) administers the forcible enforcement and execution of judgments or other valid legal claims.
[edit] Notes
- ^ This institutional struggle is analysed by Theodor Mayer, Fürsten und Staat: Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichte des deutschen Mittelalters (Weimar, 1950) chapters i to xii.
- ^ Folker Reichert, Landesherrschaft, Adel, und Vogtei: Zur Vorgeschichte des spätmittelalterlichen Ständestaates im Herzogtum Österreich (Cologne and Vienna, 1985).
[edit] References
- Arnold, Benjamin, 1991. Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany. Cambridge:CUP.
