Saxony (Sachsen) Land and Property

In the Middle Ages the nobility, the Church, monasteries and kings were the owners of land. Not only were they owners of land but they also wielded administrative and judicial powers. The "Grundherr" as he was known in German, supervised land and forest (some owned several villages) and at the same time was the chief of police and a judge over the people within his domain. The manoral systems not only were a form of agriculture tied to feudalism but also a power and property structure which affected all areas of medieaval life from serfdom, protectorate, judiciary, levying tithe, bailiff power and rural village government. The subjects lived under diverse forms of dependence upon their lords. With the increase in population and the political and social developments in the late 1700s in France, the above structure was eventually dissolved in the middle to late 1800s, administrative and judicial powers taken away and placed into the hand of professional administrators.

The documentations the manors (Grundherrschaften) and cities left behind can be found in the state archives of Saxony. Following are the links to the archives and their listings of Grundherrschaften and cities from all areas of Saxony.

http://www/archiv/sachsen/de/archive/dresden1181.htm

http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/archive/chemnitz/2153.htm

http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/archive/leipzig/1667.htm

http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/archive/freiberg/2639.htm

http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/archve/bautzen/3125.htm

Choosing from the menu Saxony before 1831 (and then clicking on Herrschaften or Kommunen) will show the names of the manors or cities, their archival numbers and the time frame of the collection. Clicking on the name of the manor or city will give a short summary of what happened historically in this area. When clicking on the online Findbuch (archival index) further details of the land and property cases are explained (be sure to click on the little square boxes next to the drop down lists). If you are not sure which village belonged to what manor consult Historisches Ortslexikon von Sachsen (historical gazetteer) online http://hov.isgv.de Here each village of Saxony is listed with a reference to a Grundherrschaft (manor).

For retrieval of actual records the catalog of the Family History Library should be checked. The Genealogical Society of Utah was able to film court records from Saxony. Court records among others cover the land and property cases of the above mentioned dealings between the manor lords and their subjects. For further details of what these records contain and how to retrieve them, see Court Records of Saxony.

Source: Archivwesen in Saxony