Vögterei

A Vogt (German: [ foːkt], from the Old High German, also Voigt or Fauth; plural Vögte; Dutch (land-) voogd; Danish foged; Norwegian fogd; Swedish fogde; Polish: wójt; Finnish vouti; Romanian voit; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was a title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord (mostly of nobility) exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice (Blutgericht) over a certain territory (Landgericht). The territory or area of responsibility of a Vogt is called a Vogtei (from [ad]vocatia). The term also denotes a mayor of a village.

The range of social status and degrees of responsibility of persons so titled varied greatly, from the humble—the equivalents of the English reeve or bailiff—to the very elevated. At the upper end of its social range, the office of Vogt was frequently held by noble and princely families in relation to ecclesiastical territories, a position which such families often exploited to their own advantage, and it is in this connection that it is most commonly referred to.

The concept of the Vogt was related to the Old German idea of the Munt, or guardian, but also included some ideas of physical defence and legal representation (whence the connection with advocatus or 'advocate').

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