Why did the Germans leave Siegerland in 1713? The best answer to that question was given by the late Heinz Prinz at a Germanna Reunion and in an article by him in " Beyond Germanna ". The article in " Beyond Germanna " was on page 855, if you wish to read it there.
In the late 17th and early 18th Centuries, Siegerland belonged to the Nassau-Orange Principality. There were two Princes of Nassau-Orange, one of whom was Catholic and the other was Protestant. They had divided the Siegerland into two parts and were constantly struggling against each other. Both of them used the town of Siegen as their Capital with the Catholic prince in the Upper Castle, and the Protestant prince in the Lower Castle. The close proximity of the two made matters worse.
At the beginning of the 18th Century, the people of Siegerland were subjected to extreme living conditions due to the rule of the Catholic Prince, William Hyazinth. After the death of his cousin King William III of England, Hyazinth claimed to be the heir to the throne of England. In pursuit of this effort, he visited many monarchs of other countries hoping to gain official recognition. The taxes of Hyazinth's subjects were frequently being raised due to his constant travel and high standard of living. The subjects of Prince Adolf, the Protestant prince of Nassau-Siegen, were being burdened with high taxes which were levied for the reconstruction of the Lower Castle which had been destroyed by fire in 1695.
The Catholic Prince, Hyazinth, banned the delivery of charcoal to Protestant areas in the Siegerland, bringing the iron working to a halt due to a lack of this vital resource which was used in the smelting furnaces and the forges. In addition, the sale of iron products was banned. The miners, ironworkers, and their families were particularly affected by these developments and thus found themselves falling into a deeper state of misery. On December 6, 1706, the subjects of the district of Weidenau (just north of Siegen) rebelled against Hyazinth while he was in Vienna trying to convince the German Emperor to officially recognize him as the heir to the principality of Orange in the southern part of France.
Prince William Hyazinth seized Friedrich Flender, who was supposedly the leader of one of the rebellions of the miners and ironworkers in Weidenau. Flender was taken to the Upper Castle, convicted without a trial, and beheaded.
Josef I, the Holy Roman Emperor, intervened in this tumultuous state of affairs by turning over the administration of the Siegerland to the Archbishop of Cologne. This placed Siegerland under the rule of the Jesuits and living conditions did not improve in the Protestant region. On May 26, 1712, the situation became more violent when the imperial guards of the Upper Castle clashed with those of the Lower Castle. Cannon fire was exchanged, which resulted in a large number of military and civilian casualties in Siegen. The Protestant Prince Adolf requested support form the King of Prussia and the Counts of Hesse in the hope of restoring peace to the Siegerland.
(03 Aug 05)
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.