In medieval law in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
, the term ''Burglehn'' described two things:
# The castle with all its accessories as a
feud
A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...
, which the king could give to a vassal.
# A defined area outside the walls of a
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
, where the houses of the ''
burgmann
From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...
en'' were found.
The ''burgmannnen'' were given these houses by their lords as part of their remuneration as well as a feud. The area of the ''burglehn'' and its inhabitants were under a special law. That is, they were neither subject to the
territorial lord (''Landesherr''), nor to the town
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
, not even if the ''burglehn'' was within the town walls. In law, they were subject to the holder of the castle.
Such houses were often also
freihaus
A Freihaus (German for "free house") was a house that, although physically within the city walls of a medieval or early modern city, was legally outside it. That is, the residents of a Freihaus legally lived in the surrounding countryside and were ...
es. There were frequent disputes between the people of the ''burglehn'' and the adjacent town, about whether the inhabitants of these houses could exercise crafts that were otherwise regulated by the town's
guilds
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
.
The ''burglehn'' began to be dissolved and placed under the local government in the 17th century. This process was completed in the 19th century. Some ''burglehns'' lasted much longer than the associated castles, which had often lost their military significance. Even today in some towns and cities a street name refers to the location of the former ''burglehns''.
References
*
* Karl-Friedrich Krieger: ''The suzerainty of the German kings in the late Middle Ages (ca. 1200-1437)'', Scientia, Aalen 1979, {{ISBN, 3-511-02843-4 (''Studies on the German political and legal history'' N.F. 23). Also: Regensburg University, thesis, 1976/77, p. 174-177.
German feudalism