I could not locate any gazetteers that covered the Ottonian Nassau region, but there were numerous other sources to rely on. For the most part, I had two primary tasks:
- Assigning villages to subdivisions, and
- Assigning subdivisions to countries.
Assignments of villages to subdivisions:
The primary source for assigning villages to subdivisions was the following, published in 1799:
Beginning on page 45, this documents lists villages by subdivision—sometimes Gerichte, sometimes Herrschaften divided into Zenten, sometimes stand-alone Kirchspiele. These subdivisions reflect the situation shortly after the Ottonian-Walmerian split and do not include the County of Dietz. The assignments for Dillenburg and Siegen correspond closely to those in Schmidt (below) and I was able to reconcile all differences.
For the County of Dietz, I relied on the following, published by H.B. Wencks in 1783:
Hessische Landesgeschichte – Google Books
Villages that were assigned to Nassau-Dillenburg in 1564 are listed by Zent on page 531. To group those Zenten in Ämter, I relied on the Wikipedia entries for Amt Diez, Amt Rennerod, and Amt Dauborn.
To identify villages in the Amt der Vierdorfschaften, I relied on a list found at Beschreibung der Grenzen der Gemarkungen in den Ämtern Freudenberg, Krombach, Ferndorf, Hilchenbach und im Amt der vier Dorfschaften – Archivportal-D. I inferred that villages on both this list and in the “Kirschspiel Siegen und Gericht vor dem Hain” list in Arnoldi were placed in the Amt der Vierdorfschafter in 1624.
To supplement the above, I referred to Handbuch des Rheinischen Particular-Rechts: Entwickelung der Territorial … – Wilhelm von der Nahmer – Google Books, published in 1832. Beginning on page 99, this document lists all of the subdivisions in the Principality of Orange-Nassau (except those in Siegen) as of 1806, when the data base ends. On page 101, it recapitulates the subdivisions listed in Arnoldi (above), then documents the addition of territory between 1255 and 1564. Of particular interest is the coverage of the County of Dietz on pages 105 and 106.
Also of use was Glaube – Herrschaft – Disziplin – Google Books by Sebastian Schmidt, published 2005. Page 380 contains a map of villages by parish in Landesteil (the author calls it an Amt) Dillenburg in 1590. Boundary changes through 1636 are described in footnotes. Page 381 contains a similar map and footnotes for Landesteil (“Amt”) Siegen.
Finally, I relied on the Wikipedia entry for Amt Beilstein to distribute its villages among other Ämter when it was abolished in 1782.
Assigning subdivisions to countries
Assigning subdivisions to countries was largely a matter of documenting the various partitions of Ottonian lands. Both the 1607 partition of the unified Ottonian county into Siegen, Dillenburg, Beilstein, Hadamar, and Dietz, and the 1620 partition of Beilstein after its ruling line was extinguished are thoroughly documented on page XXI of the 1802 publication Weisthum der Gesetze, Ordnungen und Vorschriften, welche in die Nassauische… – Google Books.
The 1624/1648 partition of Siegen is documented in Fürstentum Siegen, Oranien-Nassauische Behörden, Zentralbehörden in Dillenburg (Bestand) – Archivportal-D. This is a long, unpaginated document. Search on the term “Primogeniturordnung”. The partition is described immediately below the only instance of that term.
The 1717 partition of Hadamar after its ruling line was extinguished is documented in a 1918 article by P. Egenolf, titled “Die Erbfolge in Fürstentum Nassau-Hadamar von 1711-1743”, Nassauer Annalen – Google Books pages 28-29. This article contains a major typographical error that I feel constrained to point out. In the middle of page 28, it describes the first part (“erste Teil”) of the agreement, which assigned territory to the Catholic Siegen line. Two paragraphs below that, the second part (“zweite Teil”) describes territory assigned to the Calvinist Siegen line. The paragraph below that describes the third part of the agreement, which assigns territory to the Dietz line. However, it is also characterized as the “zweite Teil”, just like the Calvinist Siegen part. Don’t be fooled by that. Similarly, the first full paragraph on page 29 describes the fourth part, which assigned territory to the Dillenburg line. It is incorrectly characterized as the “dritte Teil”. Despite that numbering error, the content of the four parts is comprehensive and reliable.
The acquisition of the territory of extinct lines of Siegen and Dillenburg by Nassau-Dietz is covered on page 106 of von der Nahmer (above).
Special cases
- Holzappel-Schaumburg. The German Wikipedia entries on Grafschaft Holzappel and Schloss Schaumburg are not adequate to the task of creating simplified country names. For that purpose, I relied more on entries for the following people:
- Elisabeth Charlotte von Holzappel
- Lebrecht (Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym)
- Victor I Amadeus Adolf (Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym)
- Freier Grund. Both the Nassau and non-Nassau participants in the condominium are identified in the following: Freier Grund Sel- und Burbach (Bestand) – Archivportal-D. You can find the description beginning in the paragraph containing the only instance of the term “Gesamtterritorium”.
- Kirberg and Löhnberg. I inferred the Walmerian participants in the two condominia using the German Wikipedia entry for Haus Nassau.
- Dorf Wasenbach. The village’s website contains a thorough history: Our village (wasenbach.com).