Stadt Siegen

Gericht vorm Hain

Amt der Vierdorfschaften

Siegen developed as an iron smelting center in the 11th century. It received city rights in 1303 and was acquired by the House of Nassau in 1381. The associated Gericht consisted of the parishes of Siegen and Wilnsdorf-Rödgen. It took the name of “Gericht vor dem Hayn” from an area just outside the city of Siegen. (The name was later shortened to “Gericht vorm Hain” or “Haingericht”. The term “Amt Siegen” was occasionally used for the same territory, but it was more commonly referred to as a Gericht, so I adopt that convention).

 

When the Ottonian lands were partitioned in 1607, Siegen became the seat of its namesake county. Because the count’s oldest son had converted to Catholicism, the count (Johann VII, a Calvinist) preferred that upon his death, the county be divided among his sons rather than allowing his Catholic son to inherit the whole of it. The city itself was not to be partitioned—the three sons were expected to govern it collaboratively. Otherwise, the partition proposed by Johann VII did not always respect the boundaries of the existing Gerichte, so the Gerichte were redefined to accommodate the partition. The Haingericht was actually divided in two, with several (i.e., more than four) villages in the Siegen parish splitting off to form the Amt der Vierdorfschaften in 1624. Despite the rearrangement of subdivisions, the partition of the County was not actually implemented until 1648. At that time, the Haingericht was awarded to the Catholic county (governed out of Siegen’s Upper Castle) and the Amt der Vierdorfschaften was awarded to a Calvinist county (governed out of Siegen’s Lower Castle). Those subdivisions remained in place even after both the Catholic and Calvinist lines had died out. It was not until the end of the Holy Roman Empire (beyond the scope of this project) that they were rearranged.