Kloster and Amt Reinfeld

The Reinfeld monastery (Kloster) was founded in 1186 and began acquiring land shortly thereafter (some of it far removed from Holstein). During the reformation, the monastery lost most of its lands outside of Holstein and in 1582 it was turned over to the spin-off Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (the simplified name of which, when applied to Reinfeld, is Holstein-Sonderburg), secularized, and its Holstein lands converted into an Amt. I apply the term “Amt” to the Kloster, but add an * to signal that the designation was not always formal.

 

In 1623, the Amt was assigned to a the secondary spin-off Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön) or Holstein-Plön. When the Plön line died out in 1762, the Amt reverted to the core Duchy of Holstein (Holstein-Glückstadt until 1773; just Holstein thereafter).

 

There were two occasions after 1544 when the Kloster or Amt lost a significant amount of territory:

 

1. The creation of Gut Ahrensburg in 1567, which took 8 villages, and
2. The spin-off of Holstein-Rethwisch from Holstein-Plön in 1671, which shifted 4 villages to Amt Rethwisch.