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52-454: The first precursor of Mespelbrunn Castle was a simple house. The owner was Hamann Echter, vizedom of Aschaffenburg , a title which means that he was the representative of the ruling prince, the Archbishop of Mainz Johann von Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein  [ de ] at the castle and town of Aschaffenburg. On 1 May 1412, Johann gave the site, a forest clearing next to a pond, to Echter,

104-499: A Vogtei in German, or a Voogdij in Dutch (Latin advocatia ). During earlier periods the jurisdiction could also be called a comitatus , literally a countship, because these offices were similar to those of early medieval counts, and "counties" were not yet necessarily seen as geographically defined. Terminology and customs evolved over time. In German for example, the delegated governor of

156-580: A knight , who constructed a house without fortifications. It was a reward for Echter's services against the Czechs. The Echter family  [ de ] originates from the Odenwald region. Their name presumably means " der die Acht vollstreckt ", the executor of the ostracism. In the 15th century the Spessart was a wild and unexploited virgin forest, used as a hideout by bandits and Hussites , who despoiled

208-477: A Vogt could also be known locally as a Vogtland ( terra advocatorum ), a name still used to refer to a region, the Vogtland , that adjoins the principalities of Reuss and adjacent portions of Saxony , Prussia and Bavaria . Imperial advocacies tended to become hereditary. Sometimes the emperor himself assumed the title of Vogt , in application to parts of his eminent domain. An imperial ( Reichsvogt )

260-629: A city could be called a Stadtvogt , while the governor or rural estates could be called a Landvogt . A Burgvogt was a castle administrator or castellan , responsible for the general running of a castle and also for exercising judicial powers there. In addition to governing lands, forts and cities, the term advocatus (or Vogt, Voogd etc.) could be applied to more specific administrative functions delegated by territorial rulers, equivalent to English reeves and bailiffs . However other terms were also sometimes used for these such as Dutch schout , and German Schultheiss . Land administered by

312-399: A court system, to protect law and order. They exercised civil jurisdiction in the domain of the church or monastery and were bound to protect the church with arms in the event of an actual assault. Finally, it was their duty to lead the men-at-arms in the name of the church or monastery, and to command them in time of war. In return for these services, the advocate received certain revenues from

364-465: A house near the episcopal palace, a domain within and without the city, and sometimes the right to levy certain dues on the city. Advocatus#In France An advocatus , sometimes simply advocate , Vogt (German), or avoué (French), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire , who was delegated some of the powers and functions of

416-517: A major feudal lord, or for an institution such as an abbey. They typically had responsibility for the "comital" functions which defined the office of early medieval " counts ", such as taxation, recruitment of militias, and maintaining law and order. This type of office could apply to specific agricultural lands, villages, castles, and even cities. In some regions, advocates came to be governors of large provinces, sometimes distinguished by terms such as Landvogt . In different parts of medieval Europe,

468-426: A rural gmina , whereas heads of urban gminas are called burmistrz (burgomaster), or president . In Danish , the word foged carries different connotations, all pertaining to guarding or keeping watch over something. In modern Danish law , the fogedret ( vogt court) administers the forcible enforcement and execution of judgments or other valid legal claims. The local bailiff ( distrainer )

520-611: A side valley of the Elsava, surrounded by forests, the castle was one of the few in Franconia spared destruction in the Thirty Years' War . In 1665, the last male member of the Echter family died. In 1648, Maria Ottilia, Echterin of Mespelbrunn, had married Philipp Ludwig of Ingelheim, a member of a family of barons, later made Grafen (Counts) of Ingelheim. By permission of the emperor, the name of

572-542: A sovereign canton , or acting on behalf of the Confederacy, or a subset thereof, administering a condominium ( Gemeine Herrschaft ) shared between several cantons. In the case of condominiums, the cantons took turns in appointing a Landvogt for a period of two years. In exceptional cases, the population of the Landvogtei was allowed to elect their own Landvogt . This concerned Oberhasli in particular, which

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624-662: Is now Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium , Luxembourg , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia as well as parts of neighbouring regions. In these lands title of advocate (German Vogt , Dutch Voogd ) was given not only to the advocati of churches and abbeys but also, from relatively early in the Middle Ages , to officials appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor to administer lands, castles and towns directly under his lordship. Such offices or jurisdictions were called for example

676-634: Is the result of reconstruction done between 1551 and 1569 by Peter Echter of Mespelbrunn and his wife, Gertrud of Adelsheim. The most famous member of the family was Julius Echter , Prince-bishop of Würzburg . A prominent proponent of the Counter-Reformation , he founded the Juliusspital , a hospital, in Würzburg, in 1576, and re-founded the University of Würzburg in 1583. Due to its remote location in

728-429: The advocatus being chosen, either by the abbot alone, or by the abbot and bishop concurrently with the count . In the post-Carolingian period, it developed into a hereditary office, and was held by powerful nobles, who constantly endeavoured to enlarge their rights in connection with the church or the monastery. Conciliar decrees were passed as early as the ninth century to protect ecclesiastical institutions against

780-556: The Old German idea of the Munt , or guardian, but also included some ideas of physical defence and legal representation (whence the connection with advocatus or "advocate"). Under the Carolingians , the duties of the church advocate were enlarged and defined according to the principles of government which prevailed in the reign of Charlemagne ; henceforward the advocatus ecclesiæ in

832-536: The novella by Wilhelm Hauff . Vidame Vidame ( French: [vidam] ) was a feudal title in France , a term descended from mediaeval Latin vicedominus . Like the avoué or advocatus , the vidame was originally a secular official chosen by the bishop of the diocese —with the consent of the count —to perform functions on behalf of the church's earthly interest that were religiously inappropriate; this especially included violence, even in

884-511: The rediscovery of Roman law . The common thread which connects the different meanings of advocate is that someone is called upon to perform a function for others. While the term was eventually used to refer to many types of governorship and advocacy, one of the earliest and most important types of advocatus was the church advocate ( advocatus ecclesiae ). These were originally lay lords , who not only helped defend religious institutions from violence, but were also responsible for exercising

936-495: The vidame de Picquigny was the representative of the Bishop of Amiens , the vidame de Gerberoy of the Bishop of Beauvais (since King Philip Augustus himself was a pair de France , i.e. peer of the realm ). In many sees there was no vidame , the functions being exercised by a viscount or a châtelain . With the growth of the central power and of that of the towns and cities, the vidames gradually lost their functions, and

988-523: The 1930s, economic pressures forced the Ingelheim family  [ de ] to open the site to the public. Today, Mespelbrunn Castle is still owned by the family of the Counts of Ingelheim, who live in the southern wing of the castle, having moved out of the main rooms. In 1957, Mespelbrunn Castle was one of the locations of the German film Das Wirtshaus im Spessart ( The Spessart Inn , 1958), based on

1040-474: The Echter family was preserved, because they were allowed to merge their names to Counts of Ingelheim called Echter von und zu Mespelbrunn. In 1875, a Romanesque Revival chapel was built as a burial place for the Ingelheim family overlooking the Elsava valley. The main building of Mespelbrunn Castle is built on an almost square base on the eastern side of a lake. On the whole northern, western and southern side,

1092-773: The English terms advocate and advowee , German terms are sometimes mentioned in English accounts of the Holy Roman Empire, and these include Vogt ( German: [foːkt] , from Old High German , also Voigt or Fauth ; plural Vögte ). The territory or area of responsibility of a Vogt is called a Vogtei (from [ad]vocatia ). Related terms include Dutch : (land-) voogd ; Danish : foged ; Norwegian : fogd ; Swedish : fogde ; Polish : wójt ; Finnish : vouti ; Lithuanian : vaitas ; and Romanian : voit . Ecclesiastical advocates were specially bound to represent their lords by managing

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1144-470: The Netherlands. In surrounding parts of Europe the original Frankish church advocacies, and the later imperial advocacies were also influential, and evolved in various ways. In France , the advocati , known as avoués , were of two types. The first included secular lords, who held the advocateship ( avouerie ) of an abbey or abbeys, rather as an office than a fief, though they were indemnified for

1196-577: The advocates gave rise to disputes between them and the churches or monasteries. The bishops and abbots, who found their rights curtailed, appealed to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope for protection. In the twelfth century, warnings were issued from Rome, restraining the high-handed actions of the advocates under pain of severe ecclesiastical penalties, which still did not put an end to all the abuses that prevailed. On occasions, emperors and princes exercised

1248-445: The church since late antiquity, as it was not to act for itself in worldly affairs. Therefore, in areas such as the territories of abbeys and bishoprics, which by virtue of their ecclesiastical status were free (or immune) from the secular government of the local count ( Graf , in origin an administrative official in charge of a territory and reporting to the emperor), the Vogt fulfilled

1300-522: The close of the fifth century, but Pope Gregory I confined the office to members of the clergy. It was the duty of these defensores to protect the poor and defend the rights and possessions of the church. In the Frankish Kingdom , under the Merovingians , these lay representatives of the churches appeared as agentes, defensores and advocati . The concept of the Vogt was related to

1352-503: The comital or lordly responsibilities within the church's lands, such as the management of courts which could inflict a death penalty. In return they received an income from the lands, and the positions of these office-holders often came to be seen as inheritable titles themselves, with their own feudal privileges connected to them. The terms used in various European languages derive from a general Latin term for any person called upon ( Latin : ad vocatus ) to speak for another. Apart from

1404-407: The court is surrounded by two storied houses. On the northeastern and southwestern corner, towers of similar height are added to the houses. These are decorated with stepped gables on the western side. The main entrance is on the left side of the southern building. On the western side, the court is limited by two framed transits to the water and the main tower in center, which surmounts the castle. In

1456-519: The end of the 11th century the title was being bestowed on mere castellans. The monks usually consulted their advocate before electing a new abbot, giving the advocate influence over the selection. When a nobleman founded or reformed a monastery, he usually became its advocate. In the 12th century, the office of the advocate was on the decline - a result of the Gregorian reforms . The Cistercian Order , for example, never allowed lay advocates. In England ,

1508-428: The excessive claims of their advocates, who indeed became a burden to their ecclesiastical clients in many ways. They dealt with the possessions entrusted to them as with their own property, plundered the church estate, appropriated tithes and other revenues, and oppressed in many ways those whom they were appointed to protect. The office, since it offered many advantages, was eagerly sought after. The excessive claims of

1560-486: The function of a protective lordship, generally commanding the military contingents of such areas ( Schirmvogtei ). Beyond that, he administered the high justice instead of the count from the Vogt court ( Landgericht , Vogtgericht or Blutgericht ). In private and family monasteries (see proprietary church ), the proprietor himself often also held the office of Vogt , frequently retaining it after reform of

1612-493: The law, and owning property in the—then still administrative—countship ( Grafschaft ). The churches, monasteries and canonries, as such, received advocates alike, who by degrees assumed the position above defined. Under the Carolingians, it was made obligatory for bishops , abbots and abbesses to appoint such officials in every county where they held property . The office was not at first hereditary nor even for life,

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1664-444: The medieval sense. A Capitulary of about 790 ordained that the higher clergy, "for the sake of the church's honour, and the respect due to the priesthood" ( pro ecclesiastico honore, et pro sacerdotum reverentia ) should have advocates. Charlemagne, who obliged bishops, abbots and abbesses to maintain advocati , commanded to exercise great care in the choice of persons to fill the office; they must be judicious men, familiar with

1716-476: The office of an advocate, in which case they appointed deputy-advocates ( subadvocati ) to represent them. From the time of Charlemagne, who had such officials appointed in ecclesiastical territories not directly under the control of his counts, the Vogt was a state functionary representing ecclesiastical dignitaries (such as bishops and abbots) or institutions in secular matters, and particularly before secular courts. Such representatives had been assigned to

1768-515: The possessions of the church in the form of supplies or services, which he could demand, or in the form of a lien on church property. Such advocates were to be found even in Roman times; a Synod of Carthage decreed, in 401, that the emperor should be requested to provide, in conjunction with the bishops, defensores for the churches. There is evidence, moreover, for such defensores ecclesiæ in Italy, at

1820-670: The proprietorship (see also lay abbot ). The three-way struggle for control of the Vogtei of the more important abbacies, played out among the central monarchy, the Church and the territorial nobility, was well established as a prerogative of the nobility; the Hirsau formulary (1075) confirmed count Adalbert of Calw as hereditary advocate of the Abbey, an agreement so widely copied elsewhere in Germany that from

1872-403: The protection they afforded by a domain and preach revenues granted by the abbey: thus the duke of Normandy was advocatus of nearly all the abbeys in the duchy . The second class included the petty lords who held their advocateships as hereditary fiefs and often as their sole means of subsistence. An abbey's avoué , of this class, corresponded to a bishop's vidame . Their function

1924-530: The regions nearby. Therefore, in 1427 Hamann Echter, the son of the first owner, began to rebuild his father's house to a fortified castle with walls, towers, and a moat using the nearby lake. Only the Bergfried , the round tower, remains from the 15th century. The following generations changed the defense structures to a typical manor-house, mainly built in the Renaissance style. Today's fundamental appearance

1976-462: The service of justice, and to act as protector. Unlike the advocatus , however, the vice- dominus was at the outset an ecclesiastical official, who acted as the bishop's lieutenant ( locum tenens ) or vicar . But the causes that changed the character of the advocatus operated also in the case of the vidame . The title of Vidame de Chartres is much the best known, having been held by several people distinguished in various fields and known by

2028-454: The tenth century, the office developed into a hereditary possession of the higher nobility, who frequently exploited it as a way of extending their power and territories, and in some cases took for themselves the estates and assets of the church bodies for whose protection they were supposedly responsible. In Austria, the teaching of the Church that, according to canon law individuals were prohibited from exercising authority over Church property,

2080-533: The term advocate developed different meanings, and other terms were also sometimes used to represent similar offices. For example, Anglo-Norman comital functions for larger districts were executed by vicomtes in Normandy, and sheriffs in England. In contrast, the advocatus or advocate as an officer of a court of law , which is still current in modern English, first appeared in the 12th and 13th centuries, concomitant with

2132-464: The title landvoogd or gouverneur-generaal , which was for example the main title of Margaret of Parma . In modern Dutch , the word voogd is the primary word for the concept of legal guardian . After leaving the Holy Roman Empire, the title of Landvogt continued to be used in the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1415. A Landvogt ruled a Landvogtei , either representing

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2184-433: The title became merely honorary. The chief functions of a vidame were to protect the temporal holdings of the see (called accordingly le vidamé or la vidamie), to represent the bishop at the count's court of justice, to exercise the bishop's temporal jurisdiction in his name ( placitum or curia vice-domini ), and to exercise military command of feudal troops attached to the episcopal government. In return, he usually had

2236-399: The title of avoué being commonly reserved for a noble charged with the protection of an abbey , that of vidame for one guarding an episcopal see . With the crystallization of the feudal system in the 12th century the office of vidame , like that of avoué , had become hereditary. As a title, however, it was much less common and also less dignified than that of avoué . An advocatus

2288-504: The title. Although a vidame was in theory a relatively low-ranking title, in practice under the French medieval system it gained in prestige and seniority because of the unusually early dates the titles could be traced back to. During the Carolingian epoch, advocatus and vice-dominus were interchangeable terms; and it was only in the 11th century that they became generally differentiated:

2340-430: The word advocatus was never used to denote a hereditary representative of an abbot; but in some of the larger abbeys there were hereditary stewards whose functions and privileges were not dissimilar to those of the continental advocati . Instead, the word advocatus , or more commonly avowee , was in constant use in England to denote the patron of an ecclesiastical benefice , whose sole right of any importance

2392-409: Was a hereditary one of presenting a parson to the bishop for institution. In this way the hereditary right of presentation to a benefice came to be called in English an advowson ( Latin : advocatio ). In medieval Poland , a wójt was the hereditary head of a town (under the overlordship of the town's owner – the king, church, or noble). In modern Poland, a wójt is the elected head of

2444-508: Was an officer of the king, who served as administrator and judge of a subdivision of royal property, or of a royal abbey. The seat of an imperial Reichsvogt was often at an imperial city . When the imperial cities gained more independence, by the late Middle Ages, they took over their own governance. The land Vogt office of the Alsace , consisting of the ten imperial cities of the Décapole ,

2496-575: Was ceded to the king of France in 1648, but the cities remained part of the Holy Roman Empire. However, the cities were soon thereafter annexed by France. Several small land Vögte continued to exist until the end of the Empire in 1806, mainly in the Swabian Circle . In what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg the Habsburg dynasty continued into modern times to rule through governors who used

2548-467: Was generally to represent the abbot in his capacity as feudal lord, act as his representative in the courts of his superior, exercise secular justice in the abbot's name in the abbatial court , and lead the retainers of the abbey to battle under the banner of the patron saint . The advocatus ecclesiae was also known as a custos or adjutator in the 10th and 11th centuries. Initially, only counts and dukes were appointed advocati , but by

2600-495: Was nominally a subject territory of Bern , but enjoyed a special status as a military ally. The office of Landvogt was abolished in 1798, with the foundation of the Helvetic Republic . Although the title of Duke of Burgundy was extinguished by the French king after the annexation of its ancestral lands in 1477, the Habsburg kings of Spain and archdukes of Austria continued to use the title to refer to their realms in

2652-400: Was often a great baron who added the function of protector of an abbey to his own temporal sovereignty; whereas a vidame was usually a petty noble, who exercised his office in strict subordination to the bishop. A vidame usually took his title from the see he represented, but not infrequently a vidame styled himself, not after his official fief, but after his private seigneury . Thus,

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2704-499: Was only accepted reluctantly by the nobles. The rights of advocacy were bought back by the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century abbeys in alliance with the Babenberg and early Habsburg dukes; the abolition of the Vogtei ( Entvogtung ) thereby exchanged local secular jurisdiction for the protective overlordship of the duke of Austria , sometimes by forging charters that the duke confirmed. The medieval Holy Roman Empire included what

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