County of Vogtland, County of Greiz | |
|---|---|
| 11th century–1563 | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Map of the Vogtland in 1350 | |
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire |
| Capital | Weida (Osterburg),Gera,Plauen |
| Common languages | "Vogtländisch" (East Franconian German,North Bavarian) |
| Government | Principality |
| Historical era | Middle Ages |
• Established | 11th century |
| 1327 | |
• Land exchange with Margraviate of Meissen | 1357 |
• Power struggles with Electorate of Saxony | fourteenth–sixteenth centuries |
• Restored toVögte afterBattle of Mühlberg | 1547 |
• Annexed toSaxony | 1563 |
| Today part of | |
Vogtland (German:[ˈfoːktlant]ⓘ;[1][2]Czech:Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states ofBavaria,Saxony andThuringia and north-westernBohemia in theCzech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained withinEuroregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former leadership by theVögte ("advocates" or "lords protector") ofWeida,Gera andPlauen.
The landscape of the Vogtland is sometimes described as idyllic, thanks to its fields, meadows and wooded hilltops. In the south and southeast, Vogtland rises to a low or mid-height mountain range also calledOberes Vogtland, or Upper Vogtland. Here, monoculturalconiferous forest is the predominant form of vegetation. The Vogtland's highest mountain is Schneehübel, reaching 974 metres; another remarkable landmark is theSchneckenstein, 883 m above sea level, which gained some renown for its (falsely) alleged unique abundance oftopaz crystals. Its mountains spread fromOre Mountains in the south-east toFichtel Mountains in the south-west, including theElster Mountains.
Neighbouring regions areFranconian Forest,Ore Mountains,Thuringian Highland andFichtel Mountains. The south-eastern part of the Vogtland belongs toOre Mountain/Vogtland Nature Park, a protected area comparable to anational park.
In its northern part, which averages around 250 m above sea level, the landscape is marked by several river valleys, as theWhite Elster, theZwickauer Mulde and theGöltzsch have theirspring in the Vogtland, while theSaale flows through Bavaria and Thuringia in the west of Vogtland.
The river valley geography in Vogtland's north made it necessary to build comparatively big bridges to channel railroad and automobile traffic streams. Particularly famous are theGöltzsch Viaduct betweenReichenbach im Vogtland andNetzschkau, the world's largest bridge built of bricks, and her "little sister", theElster Viaduct. Both of them are in use as railroad bridges closing the gap betweenDresden andNuremberg.
As road bridges are concerned, the major bridges forming part of theA 72 nearHof,Pirk andWeißensand are the most important ones, while one urban bridge poses as a rarity: TheSyratal Viaduct is Europe's biggest mono-arch bridge made of chunked natural stone - to be found inPlauen, commonly calledFriedensbrücke.
Integral part of the Vogtland landscape are its reservoirs, the shores of which mostly are popular holiday and camping destinations.
Plauen is the largest city and seat of theVogtlandkreis county and informally known as the "capital of the Vogtland". A university city,Gera is the largest city of the historical Vogtland region, yet, also a link in the Thüringer Städtekette(Thuringia city chain) ranging eastwards fromEisenach viaErfurt,Weimar, andJena to Gera.
Other towns of regional significance are:
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The larger settlemental region surroundingGera has been recorded in documents as early as the year 1000. It is thought to have been inhabited since late 7th or early 8th century bySlavic Settlers who tribally belonged to theSorbs. Large portions of the Vogtland, however, were still covered with pristineforests and were not settled before theHigh Middle Ages, especially until the period called theDeutscheOstsiedlung. Those settlers arrived mainly in eleventh and twelfth centuries, ethnically being Slavic or German, coming fromareas of traditionally older settlement [de] likeFranconia,Thuringia andSaxony. Even today this can be traced along lines dividing dialectal areas, providing linguistic differences at close distances of settlement while demonstrating peculiar commonalities with varieties spoken in more distant regions of Germany. For instance, in a number of villages of the upper Vogtland even nowadays a dialect is spoken similar to that inOberpfalz (/ou/ sounds instead of /u:/ as inKou (en.cow) etc.).
The place name Vogtland (formerly also known asVoigtland,Latin:terra advocatorum) originates in the rule of theVogts in this region from the eleventh to the sixteenth century AD, specifically in reference to the Vogts ofWeida,Gera andPlauen. In the 12th century,EmperorBarbarossa appointed the first Vogts as administrators of his imperial forest areas in the east to facilitate his rule. Their headquarters was the Osterburg atWeida, thus giving it the reputation as the cradle of the Vogtland. Among the privileges of the Vogts were the endowment over minerals still unextracted from the ground (Bergregal) and the entitlement to regulating mint and coinage affairs (Münzregal), which were both handed down to them byKaiser Frederick II in 1232.
As in the 14th century claims to power by theMargraves of Meissen emerged, Henry of Plauen submitted to thetenure-based regnancy of theBohemian Crown, excepting only the dominion of Voigtsberg, that stayed tenured to the Reich. In 1349, his equinomic son Henry also handed Voigtsberg over to Bohemian tenure; thus the whole Vogtland had become aReichsafterlehn (a specific status of tenure). In 1357 an exchange of territories was agreed with by the Margraviate of Meissen, effectually making Wiedersberg, Liebau, Adorf, Pausa, Neuenkirchen and Hirschberg (among others) Meissenian while Borna, Geithein and Kohren were handed to the Vogt. The exchange was heavily disputed by branch line cousins of Henry's. The Lords of Plauen, as they called themselves, retrieved Auerbach, Pausa and Liebau as Meissenian tenure in 1379. Since 1426 the Lords of Plauen wereBurggraves of Meissen and found themselves in constant power struggles with the SaxonPrince Electors.
BohemianKing George of Podiebrad took the burning of the royal castle ofGraslitz due to fights between Henry II of Plauen and his enemies to be an occasion to withdraw his tenure and have the Vogtland occupied byErnest in 1466. Henry II von Plauen had fallen into disgrace with him for his open opposition against nobility. Thus, Ernest received tenure over the Vogtland which, at the occasion of theLeipziger Teilung in 1485, was transferred to theHouse of Ernest while keeping theBergregal under joint control. In 1547, after theBattle of Mühlberg, theErnestines forfeited the tenure over the Vogtland andKaiser Ferdinand I handed it down to his Chancellor Henry IV of Plauen, makingMaurice, Elector of Saxony co-tenant to the Vogtland tenure. Henry V and Henry VI could not settle up their debts towardsAugustus, Elector of Saxony. Due to arrears inTithe and other liabilities the brothers pawned the Vogtland to theElectorate of Saxony in 1559.
With Heinrich VI the rule of the Vogts of Plauen over the Vogtland ended, as he could not redeem the pawn any more. In 1566,Augustus acquired the office and towns of Voigtsberg, Oelsnitz, Plauen and Pausa. Matters were further resettled in 1657, among other transactions assigning office over Plauen, Voigtsberg and Pausa toSaxe-Zeitz (asecundogeniture of Electoral Saxony) whileschriftsässige Rittergüter and the town ofSchöneck remained in the possession of the Electorate. In 1718, after the extinction of the Saxe-Zeitz line, the areas in concern reverted to the Electorate. Apart from the Saxon share, the forests aroundAuerbach andSchöneck remained an exceptional area being both electoral and ducal at the same time.
Two major motorways (A 72 andA 9) serve the Vogtland with connection to the surrounding regions and cities. Providing connections locally within the region and beyond state and national borders,Vogtlandbahn is a private railway company which operates the Vogtland Express. Vogtlandbahn services includes direct connections toLeipzig,Regensburg andBerlin independently fromDeutsche Bahn and cooperates with Bohemian (Czech) railway companyViamont as well as withBavaria-based Alex train services to provide further connections toMunich,Prague and further destinations of note in Euregio Egrensis and beyond. There is a bus service that runs from Vogtland to Berlin.
While theEuropean Union develops into aEurope of Regions, Vogtland could experience an increase of significance for transiting traffic and tourism for the region of Euregio Egrensis, independently from the political meaning ofVogtlandkreis.
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50°24′49″N12°10′42″E / 50.41361°N 12.17833°E /50.41361; 12.17833
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