AGanerbschaft (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" (GesamthandsgemeinschaftorGemeinschaft zur gesamten Hand).
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 castleorpalace, 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).
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.
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.
In the 13th century Trappstadt was divided by the counts of Henneberg and the monasteries of Theres and Veilsdorf. Three hundred years later in 1524, there were already twelve Ganerben issued.[1]
The possession of the Ganerben quarters were divided as follows:
Ahrenthal: von Wildberg, von Effern, Meerscheid von Hillesheim, von Spee
Burg Altenstein: von Stein zum Altenstein, von Horneck zu Weinheim
Alten Limpurg: von Horneck, Frankfurter Patriziat
Assenheim: Hessen-Kassel, von Isenburg- Waechtersbach, Solms Roedelheim
Bechtolsheim: von Mauchenheim, von Dalberg, Knebel von Katzenelnbogen, von Dienheim, von Hallberg, von Sturmfeder- Oppenweiler, von Wallbrunn, Beckers, von Boyneburg, Nebel zu Rabenau, Nordeck von Westerstetten, von Partenheim, Mertz von Quirnheim, von Weyers.
Kuenzelsau, Comburg and Bartenau: Archbishopric of Mainz, Bishopric of Wuerzburg, von Stetten, von Hohenlohe, Stadt Schwaebisch Hall, von Crailsheim, von Berlichingen, Sulmeister von Hall, von Bachenstein.
Landskron (Ahrweiler): von Manderscheid, von Plettenberg, von Harff, von Eltz, Waldbott von Bassenheim, von der Leyen, von Clodt, von Stein, Quadt zu Wykradt, von Nesselrode-Rath, Sombresse.
Langenau: von Eltz-Langenau, von Eltz Risbenau, Wolff-Metternich
Lengsfeld: Provostry of Fulda, Apel-Reckrodt, Schade-Leipolds, von Pfersdorf, von Boyneburg, von Herbilstadt, von Mueller.
Leutersdorf: von Lichtenberg, von Eltz-Kempenich, von Limpurg, von Welz, von Rechteren, vo Loewenstein-Virneburg, von Gravenitz.
Lindheim: Hesse-Darmstadt, von Oeynhausen, von Rosenbach, von Schlitz, von Schrantenbach (1723-83).
Lichtenstein: Archbishopric of Treviri, von Nassau Usingen, von Rotenhan, von Lichtenstein
Mommenheim: von Bechtolsheim, von Mundolsheim, von Dalberg-Hessloch, von Dienheim, von Ebersberg, von Greiffenklau, 1/8 Koeth von Manscheid (-1788), von Wallbrunn, von Hallberg, 1/7 von Langenwerth.
Montfort im Pfalz
Nieder Saulheim: Electorate of the Palatinate, von Walbrunn, von Langenwerth, von Hundt, von Horneck, von Dienheim, von Haxthausen, 1/2 von Vorster, von Mauchenheim.
Friedrich Karl Alsdorf: Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgestalt und Teilung deutscher Ganerbenburgen. Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 1980, ISBN3820464085 (Rechtshistorische Reihe. Vol. 9).
Christoph Bachmann: Ganerbenburgen. In: Horst Wolfgang Böhme: Burgen in Mitteleuropa. Ein Handbuch. Vol. 2. Theiss, Stuttgart, 1999, ISBN3-8062-1355-0, pp. 39–41.
Johannes Hoops: Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Band 11, 2. Auflage. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 1998, ISBN3-11-015832-9, p. 85 (online)
Helmut Naumann: Das Rechtswort Ganerbe. In: Mitteilungen des Historischen Vereins der Pfalz. No. 71, 1974, ISSN0073-2680, pp. 59–153.
Werner Ogris: Ganerben. In: Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (HRG). Vol. 1, Lfg. 8, 2nd edn. Schmidt, Berlin, 2008, ISBN978-3-503-07912-4, Sp. 1928–1930.
Francis Rapp. Zur Geschichte der Burgen im Elsaß mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ganerbschaften und der Burgfrieden. In: Hans Patzke (ed.): Die Burgen im deutschen Sprachraum. Ihre rechts- und verfassungsgeschichtliche Bedeutung. Vol. 2. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1974, pp. 229–248.
Robert Schneider (ed.): Neue kritische Jahrbücher für deutsche Rechtswissenschaft. Jg. 5, No. 9, Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1846, pp. 326–327 (online)
