Burgrave of Nuremberg

Burgraviate of Nuremberg
Burggrafschaft Nürnberg
State of the Holy Roman Empire
1105–1440
Flag under the Raabs Coat of arms under the Hohenzollern
Capital		Nuremberg
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	First documentary     mention	1050
•	Burgraviate granted     to House of Raabs	1105
•	City administration     transferred	1173/74
•	Raabs line extinct;     to Hohenzollern	1191
•	Großer Freiheitsbrief     granted to city	1219
•	Raised to     princely status	1363
•	Burgraviate sold to     city, exc. Blutgericht	1427 1440
•	Partitioned to     Ansbach & Bayreuth	1440
Preceded by Succeeded by Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg Imperial City of Nuremberg Brandenburg-Ansbach Brandenburg-Bayreuth
Today part of		Germany

The Burgraviate of Nuremberg (German: Burggrafschaft Nürnberg) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; the burgraviate soon lost power over the city, which became independent from 1219. Eventually, the burgraviate was partitioned in twain, to form Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth.

Nuremberg was probably founded around the turn of the 11th century, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, as the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the Nordgau. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes. King Conrad III established the burgraviate and the first administration and courts over the surrounding Imperial territories. The first burgraves were from the Austrian House of Raabs but, with the extinction of their male line around 1190, the burgraviate was inherited by the last count's son-in-law, of the House of Hohenzollern. From the late 12th century to the Interregnum (1254–73), however, the power of the burgraves diminished as the Staufen emperors transferred most non-military powers to a castellan, with the city administration and the municipal courts handed over to an Imperial mayor (German: ) from 1173/74. This castellan not only administered the imperial lands surrounding Nuremberg, but levied taxes and constituted the highest judicial court in matters relating to poaching and forestry; he also was the appointed protector of the various ecclesiastical establishments, churches and monasteries, even of the Bishopric of Bamberg. The privileges of this castellanship were transferred to the city during the late-14th and early-15th centuries. The strained relations between the burgraves and the castellan finally broke out into open enmity, which greatly influenced the history of the city.

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