Dernbacher Feud

The Dernbacher Feud (German: Dernbacher Fehde) was an over 100-year-long (c. 1230 – 1333) ongoing dispute in present-day Germany between the House of Nassau, several knightly families, and the Landgrave of Hesse. The conflict erupted mainly over property rights in Herborn and the surrounding area (the Herborner Mark).

The feud was named after the knightly House of Dernbach, a powerful Ganerbschaft (jointly-owned inheritance) with almost sovereign rights. The Dernbachers, along with the Lords of Bicken (the present-day administrative center of Mittenaar), carried the primary burden of opposing Nassau’s quest for the territorial dominion of the area.

In the middle of the 12th century, the emerging House of Nassau greatly expanded its possessions. In 1231, it received the sovereignty over the Herborner Mark as a sub-fief from the Landgrave of Thuringia, who had been awarded it by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. As early as 1230, violent incidents between the local nobility and Nassau were reported. By the death of Count Henry (Heinrich) II, the Rich in 1251, the feud was already in full swing.

The cause of the feud was the ambition of Nassau to curtail or take away the rights (including mining, hunting, and customs rights) and possessions (forests and ore mines in the Schelderwald) of the local aristocracy. The Landgraves of Thuringia and later of Hesse supported the local nobility. The leading figures of the lower nobility against Nassau were the Lords of Dernbach. Parallel with this conflict, Count Henry II was also fighting a vendetta against the Knight of Wilnsdorf in the Siegerland, who soon allied himself with the Dernbachers.

Not much is known about the fighting itself, but presumably it followed the usual pattern of feuds: essentially the looting and devastation of enemy possessions. At the beginning of the feud, according to tradition, Nassau destroyed a castle of the Dernbachers near Herborn, in the territory of the present-day borough of Seelbach, and the small Hessian castle of Lixfeld. However, historians cannot substantiate this allegation. In connection with the feud, Nassau constructed their first castle near Dillenburg and the Herborn Castle.

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