We are with Rev. Henckel in the Palatinate just above the area from where most of the Second Colony came. The political situation is that most of the area was in the possession of "Barons" whose boss was the Elector of the Palatinate. The Barons had acquired the land hundreds of years before this time when they had fought in the service of the ruler, who had rewarded them with fiefs, which included land, forests, villages, and even the peasants who lived on the land. Through marriage and purchase, the boundaries of the fiefs changed. In general, the peasants owed the Barons labor and tithes.
Ownership of the forests was cloudy. Through custom and usage, the peasants usually had the rights to forage animals in the forests and to procure some wood from there. Typically, this ownership came to be represented through the villages and governments in the villages. But again and again, conflict developed because of the confused status of the ownership.
The lines of authority were also confused in both civil and ecclesiastical matters. At the top was the Emperor of all the German States, whose status hardly merited the title of Emperor. There were hundreds of rulers of the smaller territories. Some of the more important ones were designated Electors to choose the Emperor. This was the position of the Palatinate Elector. Under the larger rulers, there were Barons. In some areas, these Barons were independent and reported directly to the Emperor. (The Barons of Gemmingen and Schwaigern were in this category.)
There was a Lutheran church body which had jurisdiction in Palatinate and in Hesse. Many times it was not clear whether the political leaders or the church leaders had the responsibility for the local churches. And the political leaders were not always in agreement.
We have seen that the faith of the Palatinate changed several times with the rulers; however, at the local level, the Barons often did not agree with the Elector. It was not the congregation who determined their own faith. On the contrary, it was mixture of many elements.
When Johann Wilhelm became Elector in 1690, he began a systematic suppression of the Protestants. In some areas, the Protestants were compelled to share or give up their churches, parsonages, and schoolhouses. There was much opposition to these measures. In 1698, it was declared that all of the Palatine churches would be used simultaneously by the three Confessions, Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran.
In 1705, came a new order. Five of every seven churches were to be Reformed, and two of every seven were to be Catholic. The Lutherans got nothing. So we see the struggle that Rev. Henckel was faced with. The region was trying to recover from war, and the Lutheran church was trying to keep its presence alive.
(24 Feb 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.