Vogtland

County of Vogtland, County of Greiz
Vögte von Weida, Gera und Plauen → terra advocatorum (lat) → Vogtland (de) Královský Rychtář (cs)
State of the Holy Roman Empire
11th century–1563
Coat of arms
The location of the Vogtland, against modern German Land boundaries
Capital		Weida (Osterburg), Gera, Plauen
Languages		"Vogtländisch" (East Franconian German, North Bavarian)
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	11th century
•	Bohemian protectorate	1327
•	Land exchange with     Margraviate of Meissen	1357
•	Power struggles with     Electorate of Saxony	fourteenth–sixteenth centuries
•	Restored to Vögte     after Battle of Mühlberg	1547
•	Annexed to Saxony	1563

Coat of arms

Vogtland (German pronunciation: [ˈfoːktlant],Czech: Fojtsko) is a region reaching across the German free states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and into the Czech Republic (north-western Bohemia). It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former leadership by the Vögte (approximately "advocates" or "lords protector") of Weida, Gera and Plauen.

Nowadays Vogtland also serves as a common colloquial abbreviation for Vogtlandkreis.

The landscape of the Vogtland is sometimes referred to as idyllic, bearing in mind its fields, meadows and wooded hilltops. In the south and southeast, Vogtland rises to a low or mid-height mountain range also called Oberes Vogtland, or Upper Vogtland. Here, monocultural coniferous forest is the predominant form of vegetation. The Vogtland's highest mountain is Schneehübel, reaching 974 metres; another remarkable landmark is the Schneckenstein, above sea level, which gained some renown for its (falsely) alleged unique abundance of topaz crystals. Its mountains spread from Erzgebirge in the south-east to Fichtelgebirge in the south-west, some peaks also belonging to Elstergebirge.