County of Dassel
Encyclopedia
The County of Dassel emerged shortly after the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries when, after the extinction of the male line of the Billungs, its seat in Suilbergau
, north of the Solling
hills was divided into the domains of Einbeck
and Dassel
. Reinold of Dassel was able to secure rights similar to comital rights. The county lasted about 200 years, till it was abandoned in 1310 when there were no heirs. The most prominent member of the comital family was Rainald of Dassel
, chancellor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
and Archbishop of Cologne.
in Dassel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, there was a spirit of optimism all over the county, which allowed the economy and trade to flourish. The height of the county's prosperity was in the mid-13th century. The county was broken up by sales of property around the end of the 13th century. It disappeared finally in the early 14th century, with the absence of male descendants.
(roughly the area of the present-day Solling-Vogler Nature Park
) and its eastern foreland as far as the Leine valley.
It was subsequently divided into two parts due to a split in the family tree. The Adolfic line, with its seat at Hunnesrück castle
in the northern part of the county, fell briefly to the county of Ratzeburg
at the beginning of the 13th century, its domain thereby increasing considerably. The county of Ratzeburg was lost again very soon thereafter, however, as a consequence of its losing the Battle of Waschow.
The Ludolfic line flourished in the south, around Nienover
, and benefited after 1180 initially from the fall of Henry the Lion
. In the middle of the 13th century the territory was expanded to the south, but this gain was only temporary. The counts of Dassel had not only to hold their own against their neighbouring counties, but also against the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as well as the bishoprics of Mainz, Paderborn and Hildesheim. Inheritance divisions saw the territorial fragmentation of the county of Dassel but its eventual demise was caused by a lack of heirs.
The last count of Dassel, Simon, from the Adolfic line, gradually sold all the remaining land around his family seat and thereby dissolved the county.
As well as their immediate domination over the region around their family seats, where they had comprehensive rights secured by military force, from time to time, the counts of Dassel also had numerous other rights that extended their influence to other areas. To the south these included the Reinhardswald
in a coarse triangle between the Weser, Fulda confluence and Diemel
; to the north along the Leine, as well as other places scattered along the Elbe
and Ruhr. But the power of the counts was limited here either by their geographic remoteness or the reduction of rights to a single aspect of social life or by having to share rights with other counts.
and North Rhine-Westphalia
. The village of Mackensen
marked the northern border toward Everstein throughout the existence of the county of Dassel. Today, this section of Dassel marks the border between the districts of Northeim
and Holzminden
. To the east, lies the last border of the county of Dassel prior to its sale in 1310. Today, it is part of the city limits of Dassel. This is an example of the common problem during the Middle Ages
of retaining property that was spread out. The counts of Dassel were not able to extend themselves eastward, thus in 1310, only Markoldendorf was fully theirs. Nonetheless, Simon of Dassel was able to retain several oxgang
s, as well as iron processing rights on his privately owned property, all now a section of present-day Dassel.
The border today between the districts of Northeim and Kassel
give a rough idea of the southern county border, which was less stable. One of the counts of Dassel's last displays of power in the mid-13th century took place much further south of the border, in an arc formed by Körbecke, Grebenstein
, and Reinhardshagen
. This display shows how weak the counts were at the end. The modest remainder of their territory in 1310 was marked in the south by Dassel's villages, Relliehausen (then known as Reylinghehusen) and Hilwartshausen, which still form the southern edge of the city of Dassel.
of the counts of Dassel, established in 1210, features an eight-tine deer
antler
and was adopted by the city of Dassel in 1646. Today, there are 12 small balls in the space around the antler; earlier, the number varied. All the important elements of the counts' coat of arms are today also on the coat of arms of Lauenberg, a section of Dassel. Although Lauenberg wasn't founded until the second half of the 14th century, after the demise of the county of Dassel, the town was established just below the counts' hunting castle, called Lauenburg (Lauen castle).
The counts' eight-tine deer antler is also present in the coat of arms of Nienover, a rural housing estate
in Bodenfelde
. At one time, the Ludolfic line had its primary seat here. At the time of the county of Dassel, Bodenfelde was the southwestern boundary on the Upper Weser and the counts set up a customs
post there. Nienover was sold in 1270, along with the village of Wahmbeck. Bodenfelde's coat of arms today retains elements of the counts' shield.
The extension of the county of Dassel southward during the Ludolfic period is visible today in the Schönhagen coat of arms, as well. The eight-tine antler of the counts of Dassel are depicted on a deer's skull. Between the branches of the antler, there are six balls forming a cross and two additional balls on either side of the skull.
or the Hellweg
bridge in Corvey, while the north-south trade route moved through Einbeck
along the Leine
. Nonetheless, the trades
and agriculture
was sufficient to sustain continual economic development of the region in the centuries following.
Around 1210, the counts of Dassel began circulating their own coin
s, which were mint
ed with their coat of arms. By 1250, however, they had to stop because the production costs were greater than the value of bracteate
s.
, i.e. knights not subordinate to any except the king or emperor. However, they first became known by their family seat, Dassel, in 1126. Dassel is today part of the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony.
schaft (county) in the Dassel area. His domain eventually extended to the upper Weser and Diemel
, to the Reinhardswald
, and toward Thuringia
, the result of diverse connections from service, fief and family.
He is first mentioned as a noble
, "von Dassel" ("of Dassel"), in 1126. His parents were Dietrich and Kunhild. Of his children, three are known by name, Ludolf, Rainald and Gepa. His wealth allowed him to provide his son Rainald with a comprehensive education at the prestigious bishopric of Hildesheim. In addition, between 1113 and 1118, he made several gifts to Corvey Abbey
.
in 1167 outside Rome
in the military camp
of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The County of Dassel was then split into two separate lines under his sons Ludolf II and Adolf I.
, Reinold's second son, is the best-known member of the noble house. He was chancellor under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Archbishop of Cologne. In 1164, he had the bones of the Magi
transported to Cologne, whereupon their reverence in the Christian world increased and Cologne became an important place of pilgrimage. Rainald of Dassel also died of dysentery in 1167 near Rome.
. Her daughter, Richenza, who married Heinrich I of Hoya, was also married here.
with Nienover castle and its rights, as well as the adjacent land in Solling. Ludolf made Nienover his family seat
, while his brother lived at Hunnesrück castle. Both brothers were, like most Saxon nobles, decided opponents of Henry the Lion and gained substantially in both property and rights when Henry was stripped of his lands in 1180, allowing them uninterrupted expansion of their authority and control in southern parts of Lower Saxony
. Ludolf took part in the Third Crusade
in 1189.
Of Ludolf's children, the following are known by name:
by the electorate of Mainz
. In 1244, Adolf was also given Gieselwerder as a fiefdom
by the electorate of Mainz and made its burgmann
.
. Her dowry contained the rights to several localities, splitting this territory from the ancestral seat southward. The county of Dassel then lost this territory, Hümme, Ostheim and Gut Dinkelburg near Körbecke. With marriage, this property all transferred to her husband.
The County of Dassel emerged shortly after the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries when, after the extinction of the male line of the Billungs, its seat in Suilbergau
, north of the Solling
hills was divided into the domains of Einbeck
and Dassel
. Reinold of Dassel was able to secure rights similar to comital rights. The county lasted about 200 years, till it was abandoned in 1310 when there were no heirs. The most prominent member of the comital family was Rainald of Dassel
, chancellor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
and Archbishop of Cologne.
in Dassel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, there was a spirit of optimism all over the county, which allowed the economy and trade to flourish. The height of the county's prosperity was in the mid-13th century. The county was broken up by sales of property around the end of the 13th century. It disappeared finally in the early 14th century, with the absence of male descendants.
(roughly the area of the present-day Solling-Vogler Nature Park
) and its eastern foreland as far as the Leine valley.
It was subsequently divided into two parts due to a split in the family tree. The Adolfic line, with its seat at Hunnesrück castle
in the northern part of the county, fell briefly to the county of Ratzeburg
at the beginning of the 13th century, its domain thereby increasing considerably. The county of Ratzeburg was lost again very soon thereafter, however, as a consequence of its losing the Battle of Waschow.
The Ludolfic line flourished in the south, around Nienover
, and benefited after 1180 initially from the fall of Henry the Lion
. In the middle of the 13th century the territory was expanded to the south, but this gain was only temporary. The counts of Dassel had not only to hold their own against their neighbouring counties, but also against the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as well as the bishoprics of Mainz, Paderborn and Hildesheim. Inheritance divisions saw the territorial fragmentation of the county of Dassel but its eventual demise was caused by a lack of heirs.
The last count of Dassel, Simon, from the Adolfic line, gradually sold all the remaining land around his family seat and thereby dissolved the county.
As well as their immediate domination over the region around their family seats, where they had comprehensive rights secured by military force, from time to time, the counts of Dassel also had numerous other rights that extended their influence to other areas. To the south these included the Reinhardswald
in a coarse triangle between the Weser, Fulda confluence and Diemel
; to the north along the Leine, as well as other places scattered along the Elbe
and Ruhr. But the power of the counts was limited here either by their geographic remoteness or the reduction of rights to a single aspect of social life or by having to share rights with other counts.
and North Rhine-Westphalia
. The village of Mackensen
marked the northern border toward Everstein throughout the existence of the county of Dassel. Today, this section of Dassel marks the border between the districts of Northeim
and Holzminden
. To the east, lies the last border of the county of Dassel prior to its sale in 1310. Today, it is part of the city limits of Dassel. This is an example of the common problem during the Middle Ages
of retaining property that was spread out. The counts of Dassel were not able to extend themselves eastward, thus in 1310, only Markoldendorf was fully theirs. Nonetheless, Simon of Dassel was able to retain several oxgang
s, as well as iron processing rights on his privately owned property, all now a section of present-day Dassel.
The border today between the districts of Northeim and Kassel
give a rough idea of the southern county border, which was less stable. One of the counts of Dassel's last displays of power in the mid-13th century took place much further south of the border, in an arc formed by Körbecke, Grebenstein
, and Reinhardshagen
. This display shows how weak the counts were at the end. The modest remainder of their territory in 1310 was marked in the south by Dassel's villages, Relliehausen (then known as Reylinghehusen) and Hilwartshausen, which still form the southern edge of the city of Dassel.
of the counts of Dassel, established in 1210, features an eight-tine deer
antler
and was adopted by the city of Dassel in 1646. Today, there are 12 small balls in the space around the antler; earlier, the number varied. All the important elements of the counts' coat of arms are today also on the coat of arms of Lauenberg, a section of Dassel. Although Lauenberg wasn't founded until the second half of the 14th century, after the demise of the county of Dassel, the town was established just below the counts' hunting castle, called Lauenburg (Lauen castle).
The counts' eight-tine deer antler is also present in the coat of arms of Nienover, a rural housing estate
in Bodenfelde
. At one time, the Ludolfic line had its primary seat here. At the time of the county of Dassel, Bodenfelde was the southwestern boundary on the Upper Weser and the counts set up a customs
post there. Nienover was sold in 1270, along with the village of Wahmbeck. Bodenfelde's coat of arms today retains elements of the counts' shield.
The extension of the county of Dassel southward during the Ludolfic period is visible today in the Schönhagen coat of arms, as well. The eight-tine antler of the counts of Dassel are depicted on a deer's skull. Between the branches of the antler, there are six balls forming a cross and two additional balls on either side of the skull.
or the Hellweg
bridge in Corvey, while the north-south trade route moved through Einbeck
along the Leine
. Nonetheless, the trades
and agriculture
was sufficient to sustain continual economic development of the region in the centuries following.
Around 1210, the counts of Dassel began circulating their own coin
s, which were mint
ed with their coat of arms. By 1250, however, they had to stop because the production costs were greater than the value of bracteate
s.
, i.e. knights not subordinate to any except the king or emperor. However, they first became known by their family seat, Dassel, in 1126. Dassel is today part of the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony.
schaft (county) in the Dassel area. His domain eventually extended to the upper Weser and Diemel
, to the Reinhardswald
, and toward Thuringia
, the result of diverse connections from service, fief and family.
He is first mentioned as a noble
, "von Dassel" ("of Dassel"), in 1126. His parents were Dietrich and Kunhild. Of his children, three are known by name, Ludolf, Rainald and Gepa. His wealth allowed him to provide his son Rainald with a comprehensive education at the prestigious bishopric of Hildesheim. In addition, between 1113 and 1118, he made several gifts to Corvey Abbey
.
in 1167 outside Rome
in the military camp
of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The County of Dassel was then split into two separate lines under his sons Ludolf II and Adolf I.
, Reinold's second son, is the best-known member of the noble house. He was chancellor under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Archbishop of Cologne. In 1164, he had the bones of the Magi
transported to Cologne, whereupon their reverence in the Christian world increased and Cologne became an important place of pilgrimage. Rainald of Dassel also died of dysentery in 1167 near Rome.
. Her daughter, Richenza, who married Heinrich I of Hoya, was also married here.
with Nienover castle and its rights, as well as the adjacent land in Solling. Ludolf made Nienover his family seat
, while his brother lived at Hunnesrück castle. Both brothers were, like most Saxon nobles, decided opponents of Henry the Lion and gained substantially in both property and rights when Henry was stripped of his lands in 1180, allowing them uninterrupted expansion of their authority and control in southern parts of Lower Saxony
. Ludolf took part in the Third Crusade
in 1189.
Of Ludolf's children, the following are known by name:
by the electorate of Mainz
. In 1244, Adolf was also given Gieselwerder as a fiefdom
by the electorate of Mainz and made its burgmann
.
. Her dowry contained the rights to several localities, splitting this territory from the ancestral seat southward. The county of Dassel then lost this territory, Hümme, Ostheim and Gut Dinkelburg near Körbecke. With marriage, this property all transferred to her husband.
The County of Dassel emerged shortly after the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries when, after the extinction of the male line of the Billungs, its seat in Suilbergau
, north of the Solling
hills was divided into the domains of Einbeck
and Dassel
. Reinold of Dassel was able to secure rights similar to comital rights. The county lasted about 200 years, till it was abandoned in 1310 when there were no heirs. The most prominent member of the comital family was Rainald of Dassel
, chancellor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
and Archbishop of Cologne.
in Dassel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, there was a spirit of optimism all over the county, which allowed the economy and trade to flourish. The height of the county's prosperity was in the mid-13th century. The county was broken up by sales of property around the end of the 13th century. It disappeared finally in the early 14th century, with the absence of male descendants.
(roughly the area of the present-day Solling-Vogler Nature Park
) and its eastern foreland as far as the Leine valley.
It was subsequently divided into two parts due to a split in the family tree. The Adolfic line, with its seat at Hunnesrück castle
in the northern part of the county, fell briefly to the county of Ratzeburg
at the beginning of the 13th century, its domain thereby increasing considerably. The county of Ratzeburg was lost again very soon thereafter, however, as a consequence of its losing the Battle of Waschow.
The Ludolfic line flourished in the south, around Nienover
, and benefited after 1180 initially from the fall of Henry the Lion
. In the middle of the 13th century the territory was expanded to the south, but this gain was only temporary. The counts of Dassel had not only to hold their own against their neighbouring counties, but also against the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as well as the bishoprics of Mainz, Paderborn and Hildesheim. Inheritance divisions saw the territorial fragmentation of the county of Dassel but its eventual demise was caused by a lack of heirs.
The last count of Dassel, Simon, from the Adolfic line, gradually sold all the remaining land around his family seat and thereby dissolved the county.
As well as their immediate domination over the region around their family seats, where they had comprehensive rights secured by military force, from time to time, the counts of Dassel also had numerous other rights that extended their influence to other areas. To the south these included the Reinhardswald
in a coarse triangle between the Weser, Fulda confluence and Diemel
; to the north along the Leine, as well as other places scattered along the Elbe
and Ruhr. But the power of the counts was limited here either by their geographic remoteness or the reduction of rights to a single aspect of social life or by having to share rights with other counts.
and North Rhine-Westphalia
. The village of Mackensen
marked the northern border toward Everstein throughout the existence of the county of Dassel. Today, this section of Dassel marks the border between the districts of Northeim
and Holzminden
. To the east, lies the last border of the county of Dassel prior to its sale in 1310. Today, it is part of the city limits of Dassel. This is an example of the common problem during the Middle Ages
of retaining property that was spread out. The counts of Dassel were not able to extend themselves eastward, thus in 1310, only Markoldendorf was fully theirs. Nonetheless, Simon of Dassel was able to retain several oxgang
s, as well as iron processing rights on his privately owned property, all now a section of present-day Dassel.
The border today between the districts of Northeim and Kassel
give a rough idea of the southern county border, which was less stable. One of the counts of Dassel's last displays of power in the mid-13th century took place much further south of the border, in an arc formed by Körbecke, Grebenstein
, and Reinhardshagen
. This display shows how weak the counts were at the end. The modest remainder of their territory in 1310 was marked in the south by Dassel's villages, Relliehausen (then known as Reylinghehusen) and Hilwartshausen, which still form the southern edge of the city of Dassel.
of the counts of Dassel, established in 1210, features an eight-tine deer
antler
and was adopted by the city of Dassel in 1646. Today, there are 12 small balls in the space around the antler; earlier, the number varied. All the important elements of the counts' coat of arms are today also on the coat of arms of Lauenberg, a section of Dassel. Although Lauenberg wasn't founded until the second half of the 14th century, after the demise of the county of Dassel, the town was established just below the counts' hunting castle, called Lauenburg (Lauen castle).
The counts' eight-tine deer antler is also present in the coat of arms of Nienover, a rural housing estate
in Bodenfelde
. At one time, the Ludolfic line had its primary seat here. At the time of the county of Dassel, Bodenfelde was the southwestern boundary on the Upper Weser and the counts set up a customs
post there. Nienover was sold in 1270, along with the village of Wahmbeck. Bodenfelde's coat of arms today retains elements of the counts' shield.
The extension of the county of Dassel southward during the Ludolfic period is visible today in the Schönhagen coat of arms, as well. The eight-tine antler of the counts of Dassel are depicted on a deer's skull. Between the branches of the antler, there are six balls forming a cross and two additional balls on either side of the skull.
or the Hellweg
bridge in Corvey, while the north-south trade route moved through Einbeck
along the Leine
. Nonetheless, the trades
and agriculture
was sufficient to sustain continual economic development of the region in the centuries following.
Around 1210, the counts of Dassel began circulating their own coin
s, which were mint
ed with their coat of arms. By 1250, however, they had to stop because the production costs were greater than the value of bracteate
s.
, i.e. knights not subordinate to any except the king or emperor. However, they first became known by their family seat, Dassel, in 1126. Dassel is today part of the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony.
schaft (county) in the Dassel area. His domain eventually extended to the upper Weser and Diemel
, to the Reinhardswald
, and toward Thuringia
, the result of diverse connections from service, fief and family.
He is first mentioned as a noble
, "von Dassel" ("of Dassel"), in 1126. His parents were Dietrich and Kunhild. Of his children, three are known by name, Ludolf, Rainald and Gepa. His wealth allowed him to provide his son Rainald with a comprehensive education at the prestigious bishopric of Hildesheim. In addition, between 1113 and 1118, he made several gifts to Corvey Abbey
.
in 1167 outside Rome
in the military camp
of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The County of Dassel was then split into two separate lines under his sons Ludolf II and Adolf I.
, Reinold's second son, is the best-known member of the noble house. He was chancellor under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Archbishop of Cologne. In 1164, he had the bones of the Magi
transported to Cologne, whereupon their reverence in the Christian world increased and Cologne became an important place of pilgrimage. Rainald of Dassel also died of dysentery in 1167 near Rome.
. Her daughter, Richenza, who married Heinrich I of Hoya, was also married here.
with Nienover castle and its rights, as well as the adjacent land in Solling. Ludolf made Nienover his family seat
, while his brother lived at Hunnesrück castle. Both brothers were, like most Saxon nobles, decided opponents of Henry the Lion and gained substantially in both property and rights when Henry was stripped of his lands in 1180, allowing them uninterrupted expansion of their authority and control in southern parts of Lower Saxony
. Ludolf took part in the Third Crusade
in 1189.
Of Ludolf's children, the following are known by name:
by the electorate of Mainz
. In 1244, Adolf was also given Gieselwerder as a fiefdom
by the electorate of Mainz and made its burgmann
.
. Her dowry contained the rights to several localities, splitting this territory from the ancestral seat southward. The county of Dassel then lost this territory, Hümme, Ostheim and Gut Dinkelburg near Körbecke. With marriage, this property all transferred to her husband.
Suilbergau
Suilbergau, also known as Suilbergi, and Sülberggau, was an early medieval county in the province of Eastphalia, in the Duchy of Saxony.-Geography:...
, north of the Solling
Solling
The Solling is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of Lower Saxony, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia....
hills was divided into the domains of Einbeck
Einbeck
Einbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.-Economy:Einbeck is famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
and Dassel
Dassel
Dassel is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district Northeim. It is located near the hills of the Solling mountains.-History:...
. Reinold of Dassel was able to secure rights similar to comital rights. The county lasted about 200 years, till it was abandoned in 1310 when there were no heirs. The most prominent member of the comital family was Rainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philip I von Heinsberg....
, chancellor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
and Archbishop of Cologne.
Chronology
The family strengthened its domain by building a castle at the family seatFamily seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
in Dassel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, there was a spirit of optimism all over the county, which allowed the economy and trade to flourish. The height of the county's prosperity was in the mid-13th century. The county was broken up by sales of property around the end of the 13th century. It disappeared finally in the early 14th century, with the absence of male descendants.
Territorial growth and decline
At the beginning of the 12th century, the county covered the forested region of the Upper WeserUpper Weser Valley
The Upper Weser Valley in central Germany has been formed by the Upper Weser river cutting through the Weser Uplands for around between the towns of Hann. Münden and Minden. It lies in the German federal states of Lower Saxony, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia.- Course :The Upper Weser Valley...
(roughly the area of the present-day Solling-Vogler Nature Park
Solling-Vogler Nature Park
The Solling-Vogler Nature Park is a nature park in South Lower Saxony in Germany. It has an area of and was established in 1966.The nature park includes the hill ranges of the Solling and the Vogler but also the Burgberg which lies east of Weser valley between the two upland regions...
) and its eastern foreland as far as the Leine valley.
It was subsequently divided into two parts due to a split in the family tree. The Adolfic line, with its seat at Hunnesrück castle
Hunnesrück Castle
Hunnesrück Castle was a hilltop castle built in the 13th century. Its ruins are located in the Amtsberge hills near Dassel in the district of Northeim in south Lower Saxony....
in the northern part of the county, fell briefly to the county of Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the Kreis of Lauenburg.-History:...
at the beginning of the 13th century, its domain thereby increasing considerably. The county of Ratzeburg was lost again very soon thereafter, however, as a consequence of its losing the Battle of Waschow.
The Ludolfic line flourished in the south, around Nienover
Nienover
Nienover is a rural housing estate which is part of Bodenfelde. It is located in the Solling and contains one of the largest deserted medieval towns in northern Europe.- Local history :...
, and benefited after 1180 initially from the fall of Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
. In the middle of the 13th century the territory was expanded to the south, but this gain was only temporary. The counts of Dassel had not only to hold their own against their neighbouring counties, but also against the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as well as the bishoprics of Mainz, Paderborn and Hildesheim. Inheritance divisions saw the territorial fragmentation of the county of Dassel but its eventual demise was caused by a lack of heirs.
The last count of Dassel, Simon, from the Adolfic line, gradually sold all the remaining land around his family seat and thereby dissolved the county.
As well as their immediate domination over the region around their family seats, where they had comprehensive rights secured by military force, from time to time, the counts of Dassel also had numerous other rights that extended their influence to other areas. To the south these included the Reinhardswald
Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is a range of hills up to and covering an area of over 200 km² in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse...
in a coarse triangle between the Weser, Fulda confluence and Diemel
Diemel
The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg and Trendelburg. It flows into the Weser in Bad Karlshafen. The total length of the...
; to the north along the Leine, as well as other places scattered along the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and Ruhr. But the power of the counts was limited here either by their geographic remoteness or the reduction of rights to a single aspect of social life or by having to share rights with other counts.
Neighbouring territories
- Lords (Edelherren) of HomburgStadtoldendorfStadtoldendorf is a town in the middle Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. Stadtoldendorf is the seat of the Samtgemeinde Eschershausen-Stadtoldendorf.Allocation of seats in the local council electoral period 2006-2011:...
: this territory bordered the county of Dassel immediately to the north and included Lüthorst. - County of Schwalenberg: this large county lay west of the Weser, northwest of the county of Dassel.
- Counts of Everstein: Everstein castle lay to the north, between the domain of Homburg and county of Schwalenberg.
- Lords of BrakelBrakelBrakel is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek and the Flemish Ardennes. The name is derived from a Carolingian villa Braglo first mentioned in 866 and located in the center of Opbrakel. Since 1970, the municipality has comprised the villages of Nederbrakel,...
: they owned a small territory west of the Upper Weser. - Welf hereditary lands: they bordered the county east of the Leine.
- HesseHesseHesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
: to the south the counts of FrankishFranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
HessengauHessengauHessengau is an historical region of modern-day Germany located between Beverungen and Marburg in the north and Bad Hersfeld to the south....
and their successors, the Landgraves of HesseLandgraviate of HesseThe Landgraviate of Hesse was a Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a unity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided between the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.-History:...
, were the most important neighbours.
Boundaries
For over 150 years, the Upper Weser river provided a natural western border and it is today the border between Lower SaxonyLower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
and North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
. The village of Mackensen
Mackensen (Dassel)
Mackensen is a village of about 450 inhabitants which is incorporated into the city of Dassel since 1974.This village lies at the east side of the Solling mountains...
marked the northern border toward Everstein throughout the existence of the county of Dassel. Today, this section of Dassel marks the border between the districts of Northeim
Northeim (district)
Northeim is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Holzminden, Hildesheim, Goslar, Osterode and Göttingen, and the state of Hesse .-History:...
and Holzminden
Holzminden (district)
Holzminden is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Hamelin-Pyrmont, Hildesheim and Northeim, and by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia .-History:...
. To the east, lies the last border of the county of Dassel prior to its sale in 1310. Today, it is part of the city limits of Dassel. This is an example of the common problem during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
of retaining property that was spread out. The counts of Dassel were not able to extend themselves eastward, thus in 1310, only Markoldendorf was fully theirs. Nonetheless, Simon of Dassel was able to retain several oxgang
Oxgang
An oxgang or bovate is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as low as 15.Skene in Celtic Scotland says:...
s, as well as iron processing rights on his privately owned property, all now a section of present-day Dassel.
The border today between the districts of Northeim and Kassel
Kassel (district)
Kassel is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Northeim, Göttingen, Werra-Meißner, Schwalm-Eder, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Höxter...
give a rough idea of the southern county border, which was less stable. One of the counts of Dassel's last displays of power in the mid-13th century took place much further south of the border, in an arc formed by Körbecke, Grebenstein
Grebenstein
Grebenstein is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 16 km northwest of Kassel on the German Framework Road. In 1762 it was the scene of a skirmish between British and French troops during the Seven Years War.-External links:...
, and Reinhardshagen
Reinhardshagen
Reinhardshagen is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 24 kilometers north of Kassel, and 21 kilometers west of Göttingen....
. This display shows how weak the counts were at the end. The modest remainder of their territory in 1310 was marked in the south by Dassel's villages, Relliehausen (then known as Reylinghehusen) and Hilwartshausen, which still form the southern edge of the city of Dassel.
Coat of arms
The coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the counts of Dassel, established in 1210, features an eight-tine deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
antler
Antler
Antlers are the usually large, branching bony appendages on the heads of most deer species.-Etymology:Antler originally meant the lowest tine, the "brow tine"...
and was adopted by the city of Dassel in 1646. Today, there are 12 small balls in the space around the antler; earlier, the number varied. All the important elements of the counts' coat of arms are today also on the coat of arms of Lauenberg, a section of Dassel. Although Lauenberg wasn't founded until the second half of the 14th century, after the demise of the county of Dassel, the town was established just below the counts' hunting castle, called Lauenburg (Lauen castle).
The counts' eight-tine deer antler is also present in the coat of arms of Nienover, a rural housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
in Bodenfelde
Bodenfelde
Bodenfelde is a municipality in the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Weser, approx. 35 km north of Kassel, and 30 km northwest of Göttingen at the southwest border of the Solling-Vogler Nature Park.-History:Bodenfelde was first...
. At one time, the Ludolfic line had its primary seat here. At the time of the county of Dassel, Bodenfelde was the southwestern boundary on the Upper Weser and the counts set up a customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
post there. Nienover was sold in 1270, along with the village of Wahmbeck. Bodenfelde's coat of arms today retains elements of the counts' shield.
The extension of the county of Dassel southward during the Ludolfic period is visible today in the Schönhagen coat of arms, as well. The eight-tine antler of the counts of Dassel are depicted on a deer's skull. Between the branches of the antler, there are six balls forming a cross and two additional balls on either side of the skull.
Economy
Trade flourished under the counts' rule, but after the fall of Nienover, trade in the county collapsed. Without Nienover, the better route traveling east and west proved to be through BodenwerderBodenwerder
Bodenwerder is a municipality in Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It lies on the river Weser, upstream from Hamelin, at a point where the river has carved a gap in the hills...
or the Hellweg
Hellweg
In the Middle Ages the Hellweg was an ancient east-west route through Germany, the main corridor from the Rhine east to the mountains of the Teutoburger Wald, reaching from Duisburg, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, to Paderborn, with the slopes of the Sauerland to its south.In the...
bridge in Corvey, while the north-south trade route moved through Einbeck
Einbeck
Einbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.-Economy:Einbeck is famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
along the Leine
Leine
The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...
. Nonetheless, the trades
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
was sufficient to sustain continual economic development of the region in the centuries following.
Around 1210, the counts of Dassel began circulating their own coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s, which were mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
ed with their coat of arms. By 1250, however, they had to stop because the production costs were greater than the value of bracteate
Bracteate
A bracteate is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age...
s.
Biographies and history
The house of Dassel was certified in 1113 as edelfreiEdelfrei
The term edelfrei was originally used to describe those German noblemen who were distinguished from other free knights by the payment of three times their weregild.Such knights were known as Edelfreie or Edelinge...
, i.e. knights not subordinate to any except the king or emperor. However, they first became known by their family seat, Dassel, in 1126. Dassel is today part of the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony.
Reinold I of Dassel
The first attested member of the house was Reinold I, whose presence in Suilbergau is documented from 1097 to 1127. After Suilbergau was divided in 1113, he acquired the grafGraf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
schaft (county) in the Dassel area. His domain eventually extended to the upper Weser and Diemel
Diemel
The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg and Trendelburg. It flows into the Weser in Bad Karlshafen. The total length of the...
, to the Reinhardswald
Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is a range of hills up to and covering an area of over 200 km² in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse...
, and toward Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, the result of diverse connections from service, fief and family.
He is first mentioned as a noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, "von Dassel" ("of Dassel"), in 1126. His parents were Dietrich and Kunhild. Of his children, three are known by name, Ludolf, Rainald and Gepa. His wealth allowed him to provide his son Rainald with a comprehensive education at the prestigious bishopric of Hildesheim. In addition, between 1113 and 1118, he made several gifts to Corvey Abbey
Corvey Abbey
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey was a Benedictine monastery on the River Weser, 2 km northeast of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany....
.
Ludolf I of Dassel
Reinold's eldest son, Ludolf I, managed the family seat in Dassel as an inheritance. He died of dysenteryAmoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
in 1167 outside Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in the military camp
Military camp
A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent facility for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large campsites. In the Roman era the military camp had highly...
of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The County of Dassel was then split into two separate lines under his sons Ludolf II and Adolf I.
Rainald of Dassel
RainaldRainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philip I von Heinsberg....
, Reinold's second son, is the best-known member of the noble house. He was chancellor under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Archbishop of Cologne. In 1164, he had the bones of the Magi
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
transported to Cologne, whereupon their reverence in the Christian world increased and Cologne became an important place of pilgrimage. Rainald of Dassel also died of dysentery in 1167 near Rome.
Sophie of Dassel
Sophie, daughter of Ludolf I, married Bernhard II of Wölpe at the end of the 12th century and then lived in the Middle Weser regionMiddle Weser Region
The Middle Weser Region includes, in its fullest sense, the land along the Middle Weser between Minden and Bremen. It lies within the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen...
. Her daughter, Richenza, who married Heinrich I of Hoya, was also married here.
Ludolf II of Dassel
Ludolf II (d. between 1197 and 1210) was the oldest son of Ludolf I. During his reign, the house of Dassel was investedInvestiture
Investiture, from the Latin is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent...
with Nienover castle and its rights, as well as the adjacent land in Solling. Ludolf made Nienover his family seat
Family seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
, while his brother lived at Hunnesrück castle. Both brothers were, like most Saxon nobles, decided opponents of Henry the Lion and gained substantially in both property and rights when Henry was stripped of his lands in 1180, allowing them uninterrupted expansion of their authority and control in southern parts of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
. Ludolf took part in the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
in 1189.
Of Ludolf's children, the following are known by name:
- Adolf II of Dassel
- Ludolf III of Dassel, married Benedicta
- Reinold III, Domherr in Hildesheim
- Sigebodo (b. before 1210, d. 1251), Domherr in VerdenVerdenVerden can refer to:* Verden an der Aller, a town in Lower Saxony, Germany* Verden, Oklahoma, a small town in the USA* Verden , a district in Lower Saxony, Germany...
- Adelheid (d. 1238), married in 1220 to Berthold of SchönebergSchöneberg (Hofgeismar)Schöneberg is a village and a municipal district of the town of Hofgeismar in the district of Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany. West of the village, there are the ruins of a castle dating from the 12th century that bears the same name.-Geography:...
(1188–1223)
Adolf II of Dassel and Nienover
Adolf II of Dassel (reigned 1210 to 1257) and his brother Ludolf III (reigned 1209-10 to 1219-20) were given Schöneberg as a fiefdomFiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
by the electorate of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
. In 1244, Adolf was also given Gieselwerder as a fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
by the electorate of Mainz and made its burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
.
Adelheid of Dassel
Adelheid, the daughter of Ludolf II, was married to the Count of SchönebergSchöneberg
Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....
. Her dowry contained the rights to several localities, splitting this territory from the ancestral seat southward. The county of Dassel then lost this territory, Hümme, Ostheim and Gut Dinkelburg near Körbecke. With marriage, this property all transferred to her husband.
The County of Dassel emerged shortly after the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries when, after the extinction of the male line of the Billungs, its seat in Suilbergau
Suilbergau
Suilbergau, also known as Suilbergi, and Sülberggau, was an early medieval county in the province of Eastphalia, in the Duchy of Saxony.-Geography:...
, north of the Solling
Solling
The Solling is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of Lower Saxony, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia....
hills was divided into the domains of Einbeck
Einbeck
Einbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.-Economy:Einbeck is famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
and Dassel
Dassel
Dassel is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district Northeim. It is located near the hills of the Solling mountains.-History:...
. Reinold of Dassel was able to secure rights similar to comital rights. The county lasted about 200 years, till it was abandoned in 1310 when there were no heirs. The most prominent member of the comital family was Rainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philip I von Heinsberg....
, chancellor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
and Archbishop of Cologne.
Chronology
The family strengthened its domain by building a castle at the family seatFamily seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
in Dassel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, there was a spirit of optimism all over the county, which allowed the economy and trade to flourish. The height of the county's prosperity was in the mid-13th century. The county was broken up by sales of property around the end of the 13th century. It disappeared finally in the early 14th century, with the absence of male descendants.
Territorial growth and decline
At the beginning of the 12th century, the county covered the forested region of the Upper WeserUpper Weser Valley
The Upper Weser Valley in central Germany has been formed by the Upper Weser river cutting through the Weser Uplands for around between the towns of Hann. Münden and Minden. It lies in the German federal states of Lower Saxony, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia.- Course :The Upper Weser Valley...
(roughly the area of the present-day Solling-Vogler Nature Park
Solling-Vogler Nature Park
The Solling-Vogler Nature Park is a nature park in South Lower Saxony in Germany. It has an area of and was established in 1966.The nature park includes the hill ranges of the Solling and the Vogler but also the Burgberg which lies east of Weser valley between the two upland regions...
) and its eastern foreland as far as the Leine valley.
It was subsequently divided into two parts due to a split in the family tree. The Adolfic line, with its seat at Hunnesrück castle
Hunnesrück Castle
Hunnesrück Castle was a hilltop castle built in the 13th century. Its ruins are located in the Amtsberge hills near Dassel in the district of Northeim in south Lower Saxony....
in the northern part of the county, fell briefly to the county of Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the Kreis of Lauenburg.-History:...
at the beginning of the 13th century, its domain thereby increasing considerably. The county of Ratzeburg was lost again very soon thereafter, however, as a consequence of its losing the Battle of Waschow.
The Ludolfic line flourished in the south, around Nienover
Nienover
Nienover is a rural housing estate which is part of Bodenfelde. It is located in the Solling and contains one of the largest deserted medieval towns in northern Europe.- Local history :...
, and benefited after 1180 initially from the fall of Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
. In the middle of the 13th century the territory was expanded to the south, but this gain was only temporary. The counts of Dassel had not only to hold their own against their neighbouring counties, but also against the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as well as the bishoprics of Mainz, Paderborn and Hildesheim. Inheritance divisions saw the territorial fragmentation of the county of Dassel but its eventual demise was caused by a lack of heirs.
The last count of Dassel, Simon, from the Adolfic line, gradually sold all the remaining land around his family seat and thereby dissolved the county.
As well as their immediate domination over the region around their family seats, where they had comprehensive rights secured by military force, from time to time, the counts of Dassel also had numerous other rights that extended their influence to other areas. To the south these included the Reinhardswald
Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is a range of hills up to and covering an area of over 200 km² in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse...
in a coarse triangle between the Weser, Fulda confluence and Diemel
Diemel
The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg and Trendelburg. It flows into the Weser in Bad Karlshafen. The total length of the...
; to the north along the Leine, as well as other places scattered along the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and Ruhr. But the power of the counts was limited here either by their geographic remoteness or the reduction of rights to a single aspect of social life or by having to share rights with other counts.
Neighbouring territories
- Lords (Edelherren) of HomburgStadtoldendorfStadtoldendorf is a town in the middle Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. Stadtoldendorf is the seat of the Samtgemeinde Eschershausen-Stadtoldendorf.Allocation of seats in the local council electoral period 2006-2011:...
: this territory bordered the county of Dassel immediately to the north and included Lüthorst. - County of Schwalenberg: this large county lay west of the Weser, northwest of the county of Dassel.
- Counts of Everstein: Everstein castle lay to the north, between the domain of Homburg and county of Schwalenberg.
- Lords of BrakelBrakelBrakel is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek and the Flemish Ardennes. The name is derived from a Carolingian villa Braglo first mentioned in 866 and located in the center of Opbrakel. Since 1970, the municipality has comprised the villages of Nederbrakel,...
: they owned a small territory west of the Upper Weser. - Welf hereditary lands: they bordered the county east of the Leine.
- HesseHesseHesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
: to the south the counts of FrankishFranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
HessengauHessengauHessengau is an historical region of modern-day Germany located between Beverungen and Marburg in the north and Bad Hersfeld to the south....
and their successors, the Landgraves of HesseLandgraviate of HesseThe Landgraviate of Hesse was a Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a unity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided between the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.-History:...
, were the most important neighbours.
Boundaries
For over 150 years, the Upper Weser river provided a natural western border and it is today the border between Lower SaxonyLower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
and North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
. The village of Mackensen
Mackensen (Dassel)
Mackensen is a village of about 450 inhabitants which is incorporated into the city of Dassel since 1974.This village lies at the east side of the Solling mountains...
marked the northern border toward Everstein throughout the existence of the county of Dassel. Today, this section of Dassel marks the border between the districts of Northeim
Northeim (district)
Northeim is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Holzminden, Hildesheim, Goslar, Osterode and Göttingen, and the state of Hesse .-History:...
and Holzminden
Holzminden (district)
Holzminden is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Hamelin-Pyrmont, Hildesheim and Northeim, and by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia .-History:...
. To the east, lies the last border of the county of Dassel prior to its sale in 1310. Today, it is part of the city limits of Dassel. This is an example of the common problem during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
of retaining property that was spread out. The counts of Dassel were not able to extend themselves eastward, thus in 1310, only Markoldendorf was fully theirs. Nonetheless, Simon of Dassel was able to retain several oxgang
Oxgang
An oxgang or bovate is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as low as 15.Skene in Celtic Scotland says:...
s, as well as iron processing rights on his privately owned property, all now a section of present-day Dassel.
The border today between the districts of Northeim and Kassel
Kassel (district)
Kassel is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Northeim, Göttingen, Werra-Meißner, Schwalm-Eder, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Höxter...
give a rough idea of the southern county border, which was less stable. One of the counts of Dassel's last displays of power in the mid-13th century took place much further south of the border, in an arc formed by Körbecke, Grebenstein
Grebenstein
Grebenstein is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 16 km northwest of Kassel on the German Framework Road. In 1762 it was the scene of a skirmish between British and French troops during the Seven Years War.-External links:...
, and Reinhardshagen
Reinhardshagen
Reinhardshagen is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 24 kilometers north of Kassel, and 21 kilometers west of Göttingen....
. This display shows how weak the counts were at the end. The modest remainder of their territory in 1310 was marked in the south by Dassel's villages, Relliehausen (then known as Reylinghehusen) and Hilwartshausen, which still form the southern edge of the city of Dassel.
Coat of arms
The coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the counts of Dassel, established in 1210, features an eight-tine deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
antler
Antler
Antlers are the usually large, branching bony appendages on the heads of most deer species.-Etymology:Antler originally meant the lowest tine, the "brow tine"...
and was adopted by the city of Dassel in 1646. Today, there are 12 small balls in the space around the antler; earlier, the number varied. All the important elements of the counts' coat of arms are today also on the coat of arms of Lauenberg, a section of Dassel. Although Lauenberg wasn't founded until the second half of the 14th century, after the demise of the county of Dassel, the town was established just below the counts' hunting castle, called Lauenburg (Lauen castle).
The counts' eight-tine deer antler is also present in the coat of arms of Nienover, a rural housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
in Bodenfelde
Bodenfelde
Bodenfelde is a municipality in the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Weser, approx. 35 km north of Kassel, and 30 km northwest of Göttingen at the southwest border of the Solling-Vogler Nature Park.-History:Bodenfelde was first...
. At one time, the Ludolfic line had its primary seat here. At the time of the county of Dassel, Bodenfelde was the southwestern boundary on the Upper Weser and the counts set up a customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
post there. Nienover was sold in 1270, along with the village of Wahmbeck. Bodenfelde's coat of arms today retains elements of the counts' shield.
The extension of the county of Dassel southward during the Ludolfic period is visible today in the Schönhagen coat of arms, as well. The eight-tine antler of the counts of Dassel are depicted on a deer's skull. Between the branches of the antler, there are six balls forming a cross and two additional balls on either side of the skull.
Economy
Trade flourished under the counts' rule, but after the fall of Nienover, trade in the county collapsed. Without Nienover, the better route traveling east and west proved to be through BodenwerderBodenwerder
Bodenwerder is a municipality in Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It lies on the river Weser, upstream from Hamelin, at a point where the river has carved a gap in the hills...
or the Hellweg
Hellweg
In the Middle Ages the Hellweg was an ancient east-west route through Germany, the main corridor from the Rhine east to the mountains of the Teutoburger Wald, reaching from Duisburg, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, to Paderborn, with the slopes of the Sauerland to its south.In the...
bridge in Corvey, while the north-south trade route moved through Einbeck
Einbeck
Einbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.-Economy:Einbeck is famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
along the Leine
Leine
The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...
. Nonetheless, the trades
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
was sufficient to sustain continual economic development of the region in the centuries following.
Around 1210, the counts of Dassel began circulating their own coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s, which were mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
ed with their coat of arms. By 1250, however, they had to stop because the production costs were greater than the value of bracteate
Bracteate
A bracteate is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age...
s.
Biographies and history
The house of Dassel was certified in 1113 as edelfreiEdelfrei
The term edelfrei was originally used to describe those German noblemen who were distinguished from other free knights by the payment of three times their weregild.Such knights were known as Edelfreie or Edelinge...
, i.e. knights not subordinate to any except the king or emperor. However, they first became known by their family seat, Dassel, in 1126. Dassel is today part of the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony.
Reinold I of Dassel
The first attested member of the house was Reinold I, whose presence in Suilbergau is documented from 1097 to 1127. After Suilbergau was divided in 1113, he acquired the grafGraf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
schaft (county) in the Dassel area. His domain eventually extended to the upper Weser and Diemel
Diemel
The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg and Trendelburg. It flows into the Weser in Bad Karlshafen. The total length of the...
, to the Reinhardswald
Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is a range of hills up to and covering an area of over 200 km² in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse...
, and toward Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, the result of diverse connections from service, fief and family.
He is first mentioned as a noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, "von Dassel" ("of Dassel"), in 1126. His parents were Dietrich and Kunhild. Of his children, three are known by name, Ludolf, Rainald and Gepa. His wealth allowed him to provide his son Rainald with a comprehensive education at the prestigious bishopric of Hildesheim. In addition, between 1113 and 1118, he made several gifts to Corvey Abbey
Corvey Abbey
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey was a Benedictine monastery on the River Weser, 2 km northeast of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany....
.
Ludolf I of Dassel
Reinold's eldest son, Ludolf I, managed the family seat in Dassel as an inheritance. He died of dysenteryAmoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
in 1167 outside Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in the military camp
Military camp
A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent facility for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large campsites. In the Roman era the military camp had highly...
of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The County of Dassel was then split into two separate lines under his sons Ludolf II and Adolf I.
Rainald of Dassel
RainaldRainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philip I von Heinsberg....
, Reinold's second son, is the best-known member of the noble house. He was chancellor under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Archbishop of Cologne. In 1164, he had the bones of the Magi
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
transported to Cologne, whereupon their reverence in the Christian world increased and Cologne became an important place of pilgrimage. Rainald of Dassel also died of dysentery in 1167 near Rome.
Sophie of Dassel
Sophie, daughter of Ludolf I, married Bernhard II of Wölpe at the end of the 12th century and then lived in the Middle Weser regionMiddle Weser Region
The Middle Weser Region includes, in its fullest sense, the land along the Middle Weser between Minden and Bremen. It lies within the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen...
. Her daughter, Richenza, who married Heinrich I of Hoya, was also married here.
Ludolf II of Dassel
Ludolf II (d. between 1197 and 1210) was the oldest son of Ludolf I. During his reign, the house of Dassel was investedInvestiture
Investiture, from the Latin is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent...
with Nienover castle and its rights, as well as the adjacent land in Solling. Ludolf made Nienover his family seat
Family seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
, while his brother lived at Hunnesrück castle. Both brothers were, like most Saxon nobles, decided opponents of Henry the Lion and gained substantially in both property and rights when Henry was stripped of his lands in 1180, allowing them uninterrupted expansion of their authority and control in southern parts of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
. Ludolf took part in the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
in 1189.
Of Ludolf's children, the following are known by name:
- Adolf II of Dassel
- Ludolf III of Dassel, married Benedicta
- Reinold III, Domherr in Hildesheim
- Sigebodo (b. before 1210, d. 1251), Domherr in VerdenVerdenVerden can refer to:* Verden an der Aller, a town in Lower Saxony, Germany* Verden, Oklahoma, a small town in the USA* Verden , a district in Lower Saxony, Germany...
- Adelheid (d. 1238), married in 1220 to Berthold of SchönebergSchöneberg (Hofgeismar)Schöneberg is a village and a municipal district of the town of Hofgeismar in the district of Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany. West of the village, there are the ruins of a castle dating from the 12th century that bears the same name.-Geography:...
(1188–1223)
Adolf II of Dassel and Nienover
Adolf II of Dassel (reigned 1210 to 1257) and his brother Ludolf III (reigned 1209-10 to 1219-20) were given Schöneberg as a fiefdomFiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
by the electorate of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
. In 1244, Adolf was also given Gieselwerder as a fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
by the electorate of Mainz and made its burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
.
Adelheid of Dassel
Adelheid, the daughter of Ludolf II, was married to the Count of SchönebergSchöneberg
Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....
. Her dowry contained the rights to several localities, splitting this territory from the ancestral seat southward. The county of Dassel then lost this territory, Hümme, Ostheim and Gut Dinkelburg near Körbecke. With marriage, this property all transferred to her husband.
The County of Dassel emerged shortly after the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries when, after the extinction of the male line of the Billungs, its seat in Suilbergau
Suilbergau
Suilbergau, also known as Suilbergi, and Sülberggau, was an early medieval county in the province of Eastphalia, in the Duchy of Saxony.-Geography:...
, north of the Solling
Solling
The Solling is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of Lower Saxony, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia....
hills was divided into the domains of Einbeck
Einbeck
Einbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.-Economy:Einbeck is famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
and Dassel
Dassel
Dassel is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district Northeim. It is located near the hills of the Solling mountains.-History:...
. Reinold of Dassel was able to secure rights similar to comital rights. The county lasted about 200 years, till it was abandoned in 1310 when there were no heirs. The most prominent member of the comital family was Rainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philip I von Heinsberg....
, chancellor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
and Archbishop of Cologne.
Chronology
The family strengthened its domain by building a castle at the family seatFamily seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
in Dassel.
At the beginning of the 13th century, there was a spirit of optimism all over the county, which allowed the economy and trade to flourish. The height of the county's prosperity was in the mid-13th century. The county was broken up by sales of property around the end of the 13th century. It disappeared finally in the early 14th century, with the absence of male descendants.
Territorial growth and decline
At the beginning of the 12th century, the county covered the forested region of the Upper WeserUpper Weser Valley
The Upper Weser Valley in central Germany has been formed by the Upper Weser river cutting through the Weser Uplands for around between the towns of Hann. Münden and Minden. It lies in the German federal states of Lower Saxony, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia.- Course :The Upper Weser Valley...
(roughly the area of the present-day Solling-Vogler Nature Park
Solling-Vogler Nature Park
The Solling-Vogler Nature Park is a nature park in South Lower Saxony in Germany. It has an area of and was established in 1966.The nature park includes the hill ranges of the Solling and the Vogler but also the Burgberg which lies east of Weser valley between the two upland regions...
) and its eastern foreland as far as the Leine valley.
It was subsequently divided into two parts due to a split in the family tree. The Adolfic line, with its seat at Hunnesrück castle
Hunnesrück Castle
Hunnesrück Castle was a hilltop castle built in the 13th century. Its ruins are located in the Amtsberge hills near Dassel in the district of Northeim in south Lower Saxony....
in the northern part of the county, fell briefly to the county of Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the Kreis of Lauenburg.-History:...
at the beginning of the 13th century, its domain thereby increasing considerably. The county of Ratzeburg was lost again very soon thereafter, however, as a consequence of its losing the Battle of Waschow.
The Ludolfic line flourished in the south, around Nienover
Nienover
Nienover is a rural housing estate which is part of Bodenfelde. It is located in the Solling and contains one of the largest deserted medieval towns in northern Europe.- Local history :...
, and benefited after 1180 initially from the fall of Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
. In the middle of the 13th century the territory was expanded to the south, but this gain was only temporary. The counts of Dassel had not only to hold their own against their neighbouring counties, but also against the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg as well as the bishoprics of Mainz, Paderborn and Hildesheim. Inheritance divisions saw the territorial fragmentation of the county of Dassel but its eventual demise was caused by a lack of heirs.
The last count of Dassel, Simon, from the Adolfic line, gradually sold all the remaining land around his family seat and thereby dissolved the county.
As well as their immediate domination over the region around their family seats, where they had comprehensive rights secured by military force, from time to time, the counts of Dassel also had numerous other rights that extended their influence to other areas. To the south these included the Reinhardswald
Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is a range of hills up to and covering an area of over 200 km² in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse...
in a coarse triangle between the Weser, Fulda confluence and Diemel
Diemel
The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg and Trendelburg. It flows into the Weser in Bad Karlshafen. The total length of the...
; to the north along the Leine, as well as other places scattered along the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and Ruhr. But the power of the counts was limited here either by their geographic remoteness or the reduction of rights to a single aspect of social life or by having to share rights with other counts.
Neighbouring territories
- Lords (Edelherren) of HomburgStadtoldendorfStadtoldendorf is a town in the middle Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. Stadtoldendorf is the seat of the Samtgemeinde Eschershausen-Stadtoldendorf.Allocation of seats in the local council electoral period 2006-2011:...
: this territory bordered the county of Dassel immediately to the north and included Lüthorst. - County of Schwalenberg: this large county lay west of the Weser, northwest of the county of Dassel.
- Counts of Everstein: Everstein castle lay to the north, between the domain of Homburg and county of Schwalenberg.
- Lords of BrakelBrakelBrakel is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders in the Denderstreek and the Flemish Ardennes. The name is derived from a Carolingian villa Braglo first mentioned in 866 and located in the center of Opbrakel. Since 1970, the municipality has comprised the villages of Nederbrakel,...
: they owned a small territory west of the Upper Weser. - Welf hereditary lands: they bordered the county east of the Leine.
- HesseHesseHesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
: to the south the counts of FrankishFranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
HessengauHessengauHessengau is an historical region of modern-day Germany located between Beverungen and Marburg in the north and Bad Hersfeld to the south....
and their successors, the Landgraves of HesseLandgraviate of HesseThe Landgraviate of Hesse was a Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a unity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided between the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.-History:...
, were the most important neighbours.
Boundaries
For over 150 years, the Upper Weser river provided a natural western border and it is today the border between Lower SaxonyLower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
and North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
. The village of Mackensen
Mackensen (Dassel)
Mackensen is a village of about 450 inhabitants which is incorporated into the city of Dassel since 1974.This village lies at the east side of the Solling mountains...
marked the northern border toward Everstein throughout the existence of the county of Dassel. Today, this section of Dassel marks the border between the districts of Northeim
Northeim (district)
Northeim is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Holzminden, Hildesheim, Goslar, Osterode and Göttingen, and the state of Hesse .-History:...
and Holzminden
Holzminden (district)
Holzminden is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Hamelin-Pyrmont, Hildesheim and Northeim, and by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia .-History:...
. To the east, lies the last border of the county of Dassel prior to its sale in 1310. Today, it is part of the city limits of Dassel. This is an example of the common problem during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
of retaining property that was spread out. The counts of Dassel were not able to extend themselves eastward, thus in 1310, only Markoldendorf was fully theirs. Nonetheless, Simon of Dassel was able to retain several oxgang
Oxgang
An oxgang or bovate is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as low as 15.Skene in Celtic Scotland says:...
s, as well as iron processing rights on his privately owned property, all now a section of present-day Dassel.
The border today between the districts of Northeim and Kassel
Kassel (district)
Kassel is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Northeim, Göttingen, Werra-Meißner, Schwalm-Eder, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Höxter...
give a rough idea of the southern county border, which was less stable. One of the counts of Dassel's last displays of power in the mid-13th century took place much further south of the border, in an arc formed by Körbecke, Grebenstein
Grebenstein
Grebenstein is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 16 km northwest of Kassel on the German Framework Road. In 1762 it was the scene of a skirmish between British and French troops during the Seven Years War.-External links:...
, and Reinhardshagen
Reinhardshagen
Reinhardshagen is a municipality in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 24 kilometers north of Kassel, and 21 kilometers west of Göttingen....
. This display shows how weak the counts were at the end. The modest remainder of their territory in 1310 was marked in the south by Dassel's villages, Relliehausen (then known as Reylinghehusen) and Hilwartshausen, which still form the southern edge of the city of Dassel.
Coat of arms
The coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the counts of Dassel, established in 1210, features an eight-tine deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
antler
Antler
Antlers are the usually large, branching bony appendages on the heads of most deer species.-Etymology:Antler originally meant the lowest tine, the "brow tine"...
and was adopted by the city of Dassel in 1646. Today, there are 12 small balls in the space around the antler; earlier, the number varied. All the important elements of the counts' coat of arms are today also on the coat of arms of Lauenberg, a section of Dassel. Although Lauenberg wasn't founded until the second half of the 14th century, after the demise of the county of Dassel, the town was established just below the counts' hunting castle, called Lauenburg (Lauen castle).
The counts' eight-tine deer antler is also present in the coat of arms of Nienover, a rural housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
in Bodenfelde
Bodenfelde
Bodenfelde is a municipality in the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Weser, approx. 35 km north of Kassel, and 30 km northwest of Göttingen at the southwest border of the Solling-Vogler Nature Park.-History:Bodenfelde was first...
. At one time, the Ludolfic line had its primary seat here. At the time of the county of Dassel, Bodenfelde was the southwestern boundary on the Upper Weser and the counts set up a customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
post there. Nienover was sold in 1270, along with the village of Wahmbeck. Bodenfelde's coat of arms today retains elements of the counts' shield.
The extension of the county of Dassel southward during the Ludolfic period is visible today in the Schönhagen coat of arms, as well. The eight-tine antler of the counts of Dassel are depicted on a deer's skull. Between the branches of the antler, there are six balls forming a cross and two additional balls on either side of the skull.
Economy
Trade flourished under the counts' rule, but after the fall of Nienover, trade in the county collapsed. Without Nienover, the better route traveling east and west proved to be through BodenwerderBodenwerder
Bodenwerder is a municipality in Holzminden district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It lies on the river Weser, upstream from Hamelin, at a point where the river has carved a gap in the hills...
or the Hellweg
Hellweg
In the Middle Ages the Hellweg was an ancient east-west route through Germany, the main corridor from the Rhine east to the mountains of the Teutoburger Wald, reaching from Duisburg, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, to Paderborn, with the slopes of the Sauerland to its south.In the...
bridge in Corvey, while the north-south trade route moved through Einbeck
Einbeck
Einbeck is a town in the district Northeim, in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road.-Economy:Einbeck is famous for its 600 year old beer brewery, home of Einbecker Bier, the origin for the term Bock beer...
along the Leine
Leine
The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...
. Nonetheless, the trades
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
was sufficient to sustain continual economic development of the region in the centuries following.
Around 1210, the counts of Dassel began circulating their own coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s, which were mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
ed with their coat of arms. By 1250, however, they had to stop because the production costs were greater than the value of bracteate
Bracteate
A bracteate is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age...
s.
Biographies and history
The house of Dassel was certified in 1113 as edelfreiEdelfrei
The term edelfrei was originally used to describe those German noblemen who were distinguished from other free knights by the payment of three times their weregild.Such knights were known as Edelfreie or Edelinge...
, i.e. knights not subordinate to any except the king or emperor. However, they first became known by their family seat, Dassel, in 1126. Dassel is today part of the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony.
Reinold I of Dassel
The first attested member of the house was Reinold I, whose presence in Suilbergau is documented from 1097 to 1127. After Suilbergau was divided in 1113, he acquired the grafGraf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
schaft (county) in the Dassel area. His domain eventually extended to the upper Weser and Diemel
Diemel
The Diemel is a river in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Willingen, in Sauerland. The Diemel flows generally northeast through the towns Marsberg, Warburg and Trendelburg. It flows into the Weser in Bad Karlshafen. The total length of the...
, to the Reinhardswald
Reinhardswald
The Reinhardswald is a range of hills up to and covering an area of over 200 km² in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse...
, and toward Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, the result of diverse connections from service, fief and family.
He is first mentioned as a noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, "von Dassel" ("of Dassel"), in 1126. His parents were Dietrich and Kunhild. Of his children, three are known by name, Ludolf, Rainald and Gepa. His wealth allowed him to provide his son Rainald with a comprehensive education at the prestigious bishopric of Hildesheim. In addition, between 1113 and 1118, he made several gifts to Corvey Abbey
Corvey Abbey
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey was a Benedictine monastery on the River Weser, 2 km northeast of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany....
.
Ludolf I of Dassel
Reinold's eldest son, Ludolf I, managed the family seat in Dassel as an inheritance. He died of dysenteryAmoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
in 1167 outside Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in the military camp
Military camp
A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent facility for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large campsites. In the Roman era the military camp had highly...
of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The County of Dassel was then split into two separate lines under his sons Ludolf II and Adolf I.
Rainald of Dassel
RainaldRainald of Dassel
Rainald of Dassel was archbishop of Cologne from 1159 to 1167 and archchancellor of Italy. He was preceded as archbishop by Friedrich II of Berg and succeeded by Philip I von Heinsberg....
, Reinold's second son, is the best-known member of the noble house. He was chancellor under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Archbishop of Cologne. In 1164, he had the bones of the Magi
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
transported to Cologne, whereupon their reverence in the Christian world increased and Cologne became an important place of pilgrimage. Rainald of Dassel also died of dysentery in 1167 near Rome.
Sophie of Dassel
Sophie, daughter of Ludolf I, married Bernhard II of Wölpe at the end of the 12th century and then lived in the Middle Weser regionMiddle Weser Region
The Middle Weser Region includes, in its fullest sense, the land along the Middle Weser between Minden and Bremen. It lies within the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Bremen...
. Her daughter, Richenza, who married Heinrich I of Hoya, was also married here.
Ludolf II of Dassel
Ludolf II (d. between 1197 and 1210) was the oldest son of Ludolf I. During his reign, the house of Dassel was investedInvestiture
Investiture, from the Latin is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent...
with Nienover castle and its rights, as well as the adjacent land in Solling. Ludolf made Nienover his family seat
Family seat
A seat or family seat is the principal residence of a family. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat , or named their family seat after their own dynasty...
, while his brother lived at Hunnesrück castle. Both brothers were, like most Saxon nobles, decided opponents of Henry the Lion and gained substantially in both property and rights when Henry was stripped of his lands in 1180, allowing them uninterrupted expansion of their authority and control in southern parts of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
. Ludolf took part in the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
in 1189.
Of Ludolf's children, the following are known by name:
- Adolf II of Dassel
- Ludolf III of Dassel, married Benedicta
- Reinold III, Domherr in Hildesheim
- Sigebodo (b. before 1210, d. 1251), Domherr in VerdenVerdenVerden can refer to:* Verden an der Aller, a town in Lower Saxony, Germany* Verden, Oklahoma, a small town in the USA* Verden , a district in Lower Saxony, Germany...
- Adelheid (d. 1238), married in 1220 to Berthold of SchönebergSchöneberg (Hofgeismar)Schöneberg is a village and a municipal district of the town of Hofgeismar in the district of Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany. West of the village, there are the ruins of a castle dating from the 12th century that bears the same name.-Geography:...
(1188–1223)
Adolf II of Dassel and Nienover
Adolf II of Dassel (reigned 1210 to 1257) and his brother Ludolf III (reigned 1209-10 to 1219-20) were given Schöneberg as a fiefdomFiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
by the electorate of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
. In 1244, Adolf was also given Gieselwerder as a fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
by the electorate of Mainz and made its burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
.
Adelheid of Dassel
Adelheid, the daughter of Ludolf II, was married to the Count of SchönebergSchöneberg
Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....
. Her dowry contained the rights to several localities, splitting this territory from the ancestral seat southward. The county of Dassel then lost this territory, Hümme, Ostheim and Gut Dinkelburg near Körbecke. With marriage, this property all transferred to her husband.