Barony of Westerwald

As a fief of the Electorate of Cologne, the latter had the long-term possession of the Herrschaft zum Westerwald, exercising criminal jurisdiction (Gerichtsbarkeit) and territorial lordship rights.

In a report by the Amtmann in Beilstein there were three groups of people were listed in the Westerwald: The oldest document, in which the rights of the Barony are described, dates to 1396.

In this treaty, Nassau is allocated water and pasture, Gebot und Verbot or the actual suzerainty with the church parishes of Marienberg, Neukirch and Emmerichenhain; Westerburg and Runkel retain eight marks a year of weregild (Manngelder) and rights over the mills, hunting and fishing; serfs (Wiltfänge) were divided.

Other documents record, according to Heyn "that they enjoyed a high degree of independence through their own regional court, something that was not very common in German-speaking lands at that time.

"[Heyn 5] The main duty to the overlords was the Bede; this was based on the yield and nature of the farmland, depending on how much was arable land or was ploughed by oxen or horses.

All this was laid down in edicts (Gebote) which, for example, regulated that the Westerwald peoples had to transport grain and, every eight days, a wine shipment from the Rhine to the castles of Dillenburg, Herborn, Beilstein or Liebenscheid.

Further services were the transport of dung, firewood and lumber, the building of hedges and Landwehren and ditches with gates to secure the country and the lord's castle (Landesburg).

[Heyn 6] The Salzburger Kopf, one of the highest points in the Westerwald, was the location of jurisdiction for the three courts of Marienberg, Emmerichenhain and Neukirch even in 1788.