On Fri, 17 Nov 2000, Lowell Kuntz <jlkuntz@fuse.net> wrote: > A 1789 map of the Pfalz indicates that the village of Bruchweiler was > under the control of Freiherr Schenk von Waldenburg. My Wordsworth > Concise German Dictionary says that Freiherr means Baron. I am guessing > that Waldenburg is an area-name for the region. What I can't determine is > the meaning the word Schenk. Could this be the surname of the Baron who > controlled the area? A different 1789 map says that the area was > controlled by the Hochstift Speyer. Could it be that the Baron was > appointed by the Bishopric of Speyer to administer to this region? Bruchweiler belonged to the Amt or Herrschaft of Dahn, which was ruled jointly by the Hochstift Speyer (3/4; as part of the Oberamt Lauterburg) and by the family of Schenk von Waldenburg (1/4). Source: Friedrich Gilardone, 'Herrschaften in der Pfalz vor Ausbruch der franz"osischen Revolution,' in _Beamtenverzeichnis und Statistik des K"oniglich- Bayerischen Regierungs-Bezirkes der Pfalz_ (Speyer 1870), pp. 225 and 228. Gilardone lists 45 separate jurisdictions in the Palatinate at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Schenk von Waldenburg is a family name. It is derived from the medieval office of Schenk or Mundschenk = hereditary cupbearer. There are several German families unrelated to one another that derive their names from the office of Schenk, the most well known of which is the family of Schenk von Stauffenberg. Michael Palmer --- Michael Palmer Claremont, California mpalmer@panix.com