County/Principality of Nassau-Hadamar

The first County of Nassau-Hadamar was established in 1303, when Ottonian Nassau lands were partitioned among three counties. It was reabsorbed into Nassau-Dillenburg in 1394, but retained its identity as a Landesteil.

 

In 1607, when the Ottonian lands were partitioned again, the County of Nassau-Hadamar was recreated. When the Beilstein line died out in 1620, Hadamar’s territory was expanded. Before it became a principality in 1650, its territory was further altered by both trades and sales. The changes were as follows:

 

• from Nassau-Beilstein in 1620:
  • Amt Stuhlgebiet;
  • two villages in the Mengerskirchen parish, which formed a new Amt together with the Elsoff parish (already part of Hadamar).
• from Nassau-Dietz in 1620: the Dehrner Zent, which became part of Amt Hadamar.
• trade with Nassau-Dietz in 1628:
  • to Hadamar—the other two villages in the Mengerskirchen parish;
  • to Dietz—Hadamar’s 25 percent share of Amt Camberg.
• trade with Nassau-Saarbrücken (a Walmerian entity) in 1631:
  • to Hadamar—Saarbrücken’s 25 percent share of Gericht Esterau;
  • to Saarbrücken—Hadamar’s 50 percent share of Herrschaft Altweilnau.
• sale to Count Peter Melander in 1643: Gericht Esterau and Vogtei Isselbach to become the independent County of Holzappel.

 

The Hadamar line died out in 1711, but its lands (unchanged since 1643) were not redistributed until 1717. I continue to treat Hadamar as its own country during the interim period. The territory was distributed as follows:

 

• to the Catholic Principality of Siegen: portions of Amt Hadamar and Amt Ellar that I call Quasi-Vogtei Hadamar;
• to the Calvinist Principality of Siegen: the rest of Amt Hadamar, which I call Quasi-Vogtei Dehrn;
• to Dillenburg: Amt Mengerskirchen and the rest of Amt Ellar, which combined to form Amt Mengerskirchen-Ellar;
• to Dietz: Amt Stuhlgebiet and the Ottonian share (50 percent) of Amt Kirberg.

 

From then on, I refer to the above territory as belonging to Landesteil Hadamar in whatever country it falls. In 1742, after the Calvinist Siegen and Dillenburg lines had died out and their territory had become Landesteile of Nassau-Dietz, the entire Landesteil of Hadamar was awarded to the Catholic Siegen line in exchange for sovereignty over the Catholic portion of Siegen proper. Nevertheless, Landesteil Hadamar reverted to Dietz the following year, when the Catholic Siegen line died out. From 1744 until 1775, the entire Landesteil was administered as a single subdivision, known as Amtskollegium Hadamar. After 1775, it was again divided into Ämter.

 

The boundaries of Landesteil Hadamar underwent an adjustment in 1782 when Amt Beilstein was abolished along with its informal subdivision, Herrschaft zum Westerwald. The boundary between Herrschaft zum Westerwald (in Landesteil Dietz) and Amt Rennerod (the post-1775 name for what had been Amt Stuhlgebiet) ran along an east-west axis, with Westerwald to the north and Rennerod to the south. After 1782, the boundary ran along a north-south axis, with Rennerod to the east and a new Amt Marienberg (in Landesteil Dietz) to the west.