Städte and Freiheiten in Berg

Throughout the Holy Roman Empire, one of the implications of a place receiving city rights was that it became self-administering. In other words, it was no longer considered part of the surrounding Amt (or whatever the surrounding subdivision was called). My practice has generally been to recognize that separation between Städte and Ämter. In Berg, however, the term “Amt” was regularly applied to areas that included self-governing Städte. To conform to the conventions used in my sources, I follow the same practice. Thus, if a place in Berg is a Stadt or a Freiheit, the simplified place name will still reflect the Gericht and Amt with which itr was commonly associated.

 

If you are uncomfortable with that, I provide here a list of places in Berg that held city rights (with the year they received them in parentheses) and a list of so-called “Freiheiten” (literally “freedoms”) that generally had fewer rights than cities, but nevertheless were considered to be outside of any Amt. If you choose, you can omit the Gericht and Amt associated with the listed places from the simplified place name.

 

Städte and Freiheiten

 

Some sources place Freiheit Burg an der Wupper entirely outside of any Amt. Others associate it with Amt Solingen, as I do.

 

Master list of countries and subdivisions in the Berg region