Ganerbschaft

A Ganerbschaft (plural: Ganerbschaften in German), according to old German inheritance law, was a joint family estate, mainly land, over which the co-heirs (Ganerben) only had rights in common. In modern German legal parlance it corresponds to a "community of joint ownership" (Gesamthandsgemeinschaft or Gemeinschaft zur gesamten Hand).

History

Ganerbschafts arose as a result of the simultaneous nomination of several co-heirs to the same estate; this occurred mainly in the Middle Ages for reasons of family politics.

Subject of such legal relationships was usually a jointly-built or conquered castle or palace, which was then referred to as a Ganerbenburg ("common inheritance castle"). The peaceful coexistence of the heirs, the rules by which they lived daily, side by side, and the rights of use of common facilities were usually comprehensively regulated by so-called Burgfrieden agreements.

Ganerbschaften were established in order to keep an important family property, like a castle, without dividing it or disposing of it. Although the initially very close community of co-heirs (Ganerben) tended to become looser over the decades, the unity of the estate to the outside world was maintained. This often expressed itself through the use of a common family and emblem.

Another form of inheritance which permitted similar arrangements, was the fee tail (Fideikommiss).


Examples of Ganerbschaften

Künzelsau in Hohenlohekreis

Coats of arms of the co-heirs on the Old Town Hall in Künzelsau

In the late 11th century, the von Stein family, owners of Künzelsau (today in the county of Hohenlohekreis), was about to die out. One of the last members of the family, Mechthild von Stein, donated a large portion of her estates to Comburg Abbey. On her death, the remaining part of the estate went to her close relatives: the lords of Künzelsau and the lords of Bartenau. Over the centuries, the divisions of the estate were inherited, partly or wholly purchased or went into other hands by marriage.

Around 1500 the lords of Stetten owned 25 % of Künzelsau, 20 % belonged to the House of Hohenlohe and 15 % to the imperial town of Schwäbisch Hall. Another 10 % was owned by the Archbishopric of Mainz, the Bishopric of Würzburg owned 10 %, and 20 % was divided amongst various individuals (Sulmeister von Hall, Ritter von Bachenstein, Berlichingen, Crailsheim, Neuenstein etc.).

In the period that followed the division of the estate changed hands many times. Following the Tierberg Feud of 1488 a burgfrieden treaty was agreed in 1493 that governed the joint management of the estate under a Gemeinschaftlichen Ganerben-Amts-Schultheißen ("Common Ganerben Office Sheriff"). The co-heirs pledged themselves henceforth only to transfer their share of the estate to one another, not to anyone outside the community. Only Comburg Abbey was allowed, in 1717, to buy the share of the estate belonging to the lords of Stetten, because they had formerly been members of the Ganerbschaft.

In 1802 the estate lost its status as a Ganerbschaft in the wake of secularisation, and the castle and lands all went to the imperial princes of Hohenlohe. However, in 1806 the whole estate was seized by the Duke of Württemberg and became part of the Kingdom of Württemberg.

Literature

External links

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