Amt Godesberg-Mehlem

Stadt and Herrlichkeit Meckenheim

Stadt and Amt Rheinbach

The title of this page lists three of the four subdivisions of Oberamt Bonn at the end of the Holy Roman Empire (the fourth subdivision being Amt Bonn.) Two of those, Meckenheim and Rheinbach, consist only of the cities of the same name, so their simplified subdivision names are the Oberamt name followed by the city name (Bonn-Meckenheim and Bonn-Rheinbach).  The remaining, and largest, subdivision (Amt Godesberg-Mehlem) is itself subdivided into four jurisdictions. Two of them (Godesberg and Mehlem) are also styled as “Amt” and a third (Wolkenburg) as a “Pfandschaft Amt”. A fourth (Witterschlick) is styled as a Gericht. To minimize the confusion, I ignore Amt Godesberg-Mehlem in my simplified place names and use only the lower-level subdivision names together with the Oberamt name—hence, Bonn-Godesberg, Bonn-Mehlem, Bonn-Wolkenburg, and Bonn-Witterschlick.

 

Godesburg was settled by the 8th century, became the site of a castle in the 13th century, and became the seat of an Amt in the 14th century. Mehlem became the seat of an Amt at the same time and they were governed together (although I treat them as separate Ämter). Wolkenburg, located on the east bank of the Rhein, also became an Amt at the same time. Although Wolkenburg had the characteristics of an Unterherrschaft with hereditary administrators, it was explicitly part of Amt Godesberg-Mehlem. Burggrafschaft Drachenfels was originally based on the east bank of the Rhein, but was awarded territory on the west bank in 1301. It was a true Unterherrschaft, included in the Amt for statistical purposes, but administered by hereditary nobles.

 

Meckenheim was settled by the 9th century and was acquired by a pair of foundations in the 11th century. Once Amt Godesberg-Mehlem was formed, Meckenheim was associated with it as an Unterherrschaft, but it separated from the Amt in 1636 when it was granted city rights. (Because I ignore Amt Godesberg-Mehlem in my simplified subdivision names, the subdivision name does not change in 1636.)

 

Rheinbach was settled by the 8th century and was originally under the sovereignty of the Abbacy of Prüm, although it came to be administered by local nobles. It was transferred to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1246, but the administering nobles achieved effective independence in 1288. It was reclaimed by the Electorate in 1343 and became associated with Amt Neuenahr until that Amt was taken over by the Duchy of Jülich in 1546. Thereafter, it was placed in Oberamt Bonn.

 

All of the subdivisions shown below were part of the Electorate of Cologne throughout the period covered by the database.