Herrschaft zum Westerwald

Amt Marienberg

The Herrschaft zum Westerwald was originally a condominium in which the Ottonian line of the House of Nassau—specifically, the County of Beilstein—participated. I use the term more narrowly. When the Ottonian lands were unified under Dillenburg in 1561, the former Beilstein territory was divided into two judicial districts. I apply the term “Herrschaft zum Westerwald” to the western district, which consisted of the parishes of Liebenscheid, Neukirch, Emmerichenhain, and Marienberg.

 

When the Ottonian lands were partitioned in 1607, the County of Beilstein reemerged. For lack of better information, I retain “Herrschaft zum Westerwald” as a subdivision thereof. When the Beilstein line died out in 1620, most of its territory fell to the County of Dietz, where it became Amt Beilstein. I treat Herrschaft zum Westerwald, which lost no territory in the transition, as a subdivision of that Amt.

 

The villages of Neunkirchen and Hüblingen were added in 1773 as part of a trade with the County of Nassau-Weilstein (from the Walmerian line). When Amt Beilstein and its subdivisions were abolished in 1782 (after the Ottonian lands had again been reunited—this time under Dietz), the Marienberg parish formed the core of a new Amt in Landesteil Dietz. The rest of Amt Marienberg consisted of the parishes of Rotenhain and Höhn, formerly of Amt Rennerod in Landesteil Hadamar. To compensate, the Westerwald parishes of Liebenscheid, Neukirch, and Emmerichenhain were assigned to Amt Rennerod.