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26-630: The Kastel castle was built between 1260 and 1270 by the Lords of Schwarzenberg. Like the Schwarzenburg on the opposite side of the valley its purpose was to defend the town Waldkirch and to control the trade route through the Elz valley. The first inhabitant of the castle was Johann I of Schwarzenberg. The Schwarzenbergs died out already in 1345 and the castle was sold to Martin Malterer from Freiburg who fell in 1386 in

52-424: A seigneur or "lord", 12th century), which gives rise to the expression "seigneurial system" to describe feudalism. Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the 8th century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only

78-610: A Seigneur or Dame that owns the fief. The Guernsey fiefs and seigneurs existed long before baronies, and are historically part of Normandy . While nobility has been outlawed in France and Germany, noble fiefs still exist by law in Guernsey. The owners of the fiefs actually convene each year at the Court of Chief Pleas under the supervision of His Majesty's Government. There are approximately 24 private fiefs in Guernsey that are registered directly with

104-458: A fief in 1560. In 1567, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria took over the debt-ridden territory. He ordered the demolition and removal of the dilapidated Schwarzenburg castle in 1578. This order was not carried out, however. An inspection in 1583, by the Further Austrian government agency of Ensisheim led to the report: Badly dilapidated . In accordance with the report of an annalist of

130-582: A few wall foundation are visible. The castle was probably built as a refuge castle and as well as for security, possibly to protect the political power of the Schwarzenberg family. Such a castle, on a vantage point visible from far away in the Rhine Valley , was clear evidence of their status as free noblemen , subordinate in rank only to the Holy Roman Emperor . In sharp contrast to Waldkirch and

156-485: A land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a beneficium (Latin). Later, the term feudum , or feodum , began to replace beneficium in the documents. The first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory

182-540: A standard feudal system, nor did there exist only one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations. In ancient Rome, a " benefice " (from the Latin noun beneficium , meaning "benefit") was a gift of land ( precaria ) for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state. In medieval Latin European documents,

208-538: Is a castle near Waldkirch in the district Emmendingen in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany . Along with the Kastelburg , the less well known Schwarzenburg is one of two ruined castles owned by the town Waldkirch . The ruins of the former hill castle , 656.2 m (2153 ft) above sea level on the top of the Schwarzenberg ('Black Mountain'), a spur of the Kandel have decayed to such an extent that only

234-437: Is first attested around 1250–1300 (Middle English); the word "fief" from around 1605–1615. In French, the term fief is found from the middle of the 13th century (Old French), derived from the 11th-century terms feu , fie . The odd appearance of the second f in the form fief may be due to influence from the verb fiever 'to grant in fee'. In French, one also finds seigneurie (land and rights possessed by

260-549: Is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd , in which *fehu means "cattle" and -ôd means "goods", implying "a moveable object of value". When land replaced currency as the primary store of value , the Germanic word *fehu-ôd replaced the Latin word beneficium . This Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century. A theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis

286-508: Is that the origin of 'fief' is not feudum (or feodum ), but rather foderum , the earliest attested use being in Astronomus 's Vita Hludovici (840). In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says "annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant" , which can be translated as "(Louis forbade that) military provender which they popularly call 'fodder' (be furnished)." In

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312-906: The Battle of Sempach . In 1429 the castle was passed on to Berthold of Staufen. In the Thirty Years' War the castle was destroyed by troops of the Kaiser on 14 March 1634 so that it did not fall into the hands of the advancing Swedish troops. In recent years attempts have been made to conserve the edificial structure of the ruin that is standing romantically above the historic center of Waldkirch (Action Kastelburg). •Alfons Zettler, Thomas Zotz: Die Burgen im mittelalterlichen Breisgau, I. Nördlicher Teil: Halbband L-Z. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2006, ISBN   3-7995-7365-8 , pp. 470–496. Schwarzenburg (Breisgau) The Schwarzenburg (Black Castle), historically called Schwarzenberg (Black Mountain),

338-566: The Kastelburg , which was built later, the Schwarzburg was not a fief of Further Austria , but the allodial property of the Schwarzenbergs until they died out in the mid-15th century. The Schwarzenburg was built around 1120 by the patrons of the monastery St. Margaret in Waldkirch under Conrad Waldkilcha, who after 1120 called himself Conrad of Suarzinberg and thus became the founder of

364-549: The Margarethenstift Waldkirch of 1590, not much was left of the roof structure and the walls had collapsed. The ruin was eventually used as a quarry. From 1975, the castle was successively researched and restored and, since 1980, has been accessible to the public. In 1995, the town of Waldkirch erected an information board of the history of the castle next to the ruins. Fiefdom List of forms of government A fief ( / f iː f / ; Latin : feudum )

390-405: The 10th and 11th centuries the Latin terms for 'fee' could be used either to describe dependent tenure held by a man from his lord, as the term is used now by historians, or it could mean simply "property" (the manor was, in effect, a small fief). It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, when it received formal definition from land lawyers. In English usage, the word "fee"

416-417: The documents) for the life of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation. By the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a " relief " for the land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property). Historically,

442-427: The estate and the office of bailiff ( Amtmann ). In 1503, Martin of Rechenberg succeeded his late father, Henry; he, in turn, was succeeded in 1540 by his son Hans Louis of Rechberg. After the death of Hans Louis in 1542, Sebastian of Ehingen acquired the estate. During the wedding ceremony of his daughter in 1559, he was stabbed by his son, whereupon the rule of Schwarzenberg was transferred to Hans Raphael Reischach as

468-591: The fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility. The second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. During the 10th century in northern France and the 11th century in France south of the Loire , local magnates either recruited or forced the owners of allodial holdings into dependent relationships and they were turned into fiefs. The process occurred later in Germany, and

494-533: The noble family of Schwarzenberg. With Conrad, the male branch of the Conradines of Waldkirch died out. In 1213, their estates were transferred to Conrad's sister, Adelheid, wife of Walter I of Eschenbach-Schnabelburg. In 1270, John, a descendant of Adelheid who came with his nephew William from Switzerland , inherited the territory and called himself John I of Schwarzenberg. On 8 August 1300, John and William of Schwarzenberg granted Waldkirch town privileges . In 1315,

520-478: The right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals. The privilege of minting official coins developed into the concept of seigniorage . In 13th-century Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain the term "feodum" was used to describe a dependent tenure held from a lord by a vassal in return for a specified amount of knight service and occasional financial payments ( feudal incidents ). However, knight service in war

546-547: The service of mercenaries . A list of several hundred such fees held in chief between 1198 and 1292, along with their holders' names and form of tenure, was published in three volumes between 1920 and 1931 and is known as The Book of Fees ; it was developed from the 1302 Testa de Nevill . The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a group of several of the Channel Islands that is a Crown Dependency . Guernsey still has feudal law and legal fiefs in existence today. Each fief has

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572-572: The territory was divided: John took over the Kastelburg and William remained on the Schwarzenburg. The Schwarzenberg family line died out in 1347 with Lord Ulrich II of Schwarzenberg. He was succeeded by John III of the Kastelberg line. This led to the reunification of the two lines. After the death of Hans Werner of Schwarzenberg in 1459, his son-in-law Henry of Rechenberg zu Hohenrechberg inherited

598-413: The use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. In Francia , Charles Martel was the first to make large-scale and systematic use (the practice had remained sporadic until then) of the remuneration of vassals by the concession of the usufruct of lands (a beneficatium or " benefice " in

624-681: Was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal , who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property like a watermill , held in feudal land tenure : these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms . However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms . There never existed

650-400: Was far less common than: A lord in late 12th-century England and France could also claim the right of: In northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries, military service for fiefs was limited for offensive campaigns to 40 days for a knight. By the 12th century, English and French kings and barons began to commute military service for cash payments ( scutages ), with which they could purchase

676-473: Was still going on in the 13th century. In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage. The discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215. Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes,

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