– ZIEGENHAIN –

The county of Ziegenhain appears to unite two or three distinct jurisdictions. A count named Meginfried documents in 960 for a southeastern section of Hessengau – the approximate region of the later Ziegenhain county – and his name recurs in Count Meginfried of Felsberg († 1099/1100), whose castle was inherited by Count Poppo II of Reichenbach and Ziegenhain. There is every reason to believe that Meginfried’s county also passed to the house of Ziegenhain. While a close relationship should be assumed, there are many evidentiary gaps and much room for speculation in the early history of this county.

The attestation of 960 is quite isolated, and in a variety of ways:

• No other counts of the pagi are documented in this particular region, with the exception of a charter of 1107.
• No information is available for inferable local counts for a century before and a century after the attestation.
• There is no realistic way of assigning this count to the families that inherited from the Konradiner in the Hessengau pagus.
• While this count was an onomastic antecedent of Meginfried of Felsberg, no information is available to bridge the gap directly.

There are Counts Gozmar, one from around 810, the other from 850, who pass their name and their property sphere somehow to the house of Ziegenhain, the earliest known representative of which, however, is Gozmar I (fl. 1090-1117). A Gozmar witnessing for Fulda in 1018 might the provide the bridge from the early Count Meginfried to Burgrave Meginfried of Felsberg. The county in southeastern Hessengau may or may not have remained to these persons. Still more obscure is the path back to the earliest Counts Gozmar.

One assertion may be made confidently, however, and that is the insularity of the Ziegenhain county from the Konradiner power bloc. This is demonstrated by the fact that throughout the twelfth century there were invariably three or more counts of Ziegenhain, suggesting that the family practiced mitosis of the county, whereas the Konradiner counties mostly remained unified and unique. In the thirteenth century the family reunited the county and ceased to practise mitosis, while Konradiner-descended dynasties such as Solms and Nassau took up the practice. The Ziegenhain line became extinct in 1450.

SHIELD

The shield of Ziegenhain bears no relationship with other comital shields in Hessen. Its star device is a feature shared in common with the Schwalenberg-Waldeck group in Saxon Hessengau, yet the Ziegenhain shield presents a unique aspect.

Ziegenhain: or, chef de sable à l’étoile (6 rais) d’argent (Gelre 36v 5, c. 1380)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sources: –

Literature: – Brauer, F. A. Die Grafschaft Ziegenhain. Territorialgechichte des Landes an der mittleren Schwalm. Schriften des Instituts für geschichtliche Landeskunde von Hessen und Nassau 6. Marburg, 1934. – Friderici, R. “Genealogische Beobachtungen zur Frühgeschichte der Stadt Kassel und des Kasseler Patriziats.” HJLG 13 (1963) 39-82. – Heinemeyer, W. “Die Gründung des Klosters Haina in Hessen.” Archiv für Diplomatik, Schriftgeschichte, Siegel- und Wappenkunde 11-12 (1965-6) 413-67 – Witzel, F.-W. Die Reichsabtei Fulda und ihre Hochvögte die Grafen von Ziegenhain im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert. 41. Veröffentlichung des Fuldaer Geschichtsvereins. Fulda, 1963.

[abbreviations]

[section heading]