[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Rittergut near old Stettin

[Günther Böhm]

Am 19.06.2012 19:55, schrieb Lloyd Friedrick:
> Recently discovered notes from a deceased cousin tell us that my great grandmother was born approx 1833 in Stettin, Pomerania.
>
> She married a person known only as Baron von Thrun. She inherited a vast estate which she was forced to sell approx 1871. I found a reference to land holdings in this area that showed a property owned by a Gottleib Thrun but the dates indicate that this may be her father in law.
>
> She called this estate Rittergut.  My question is this;  Is Rittergut a proper noun or is it simply a common word describing a land holding.
>
> Lloyd Friedrick in British Columbia

Hello Lloyd,
the main privilege of a Rittergut owner was the "Landstandschaft" resp. "Landtagsfähigkeit" which not just ment his 
membership of a "Landtag" (provincial council in the kingdom of Prussia) but also of the "Ritterschaft" (lower nobility) 
and was connected with tax exemption, patrimonial jurisdiction, game law, fishery right, brewing right and right of ban. 
If a Rittergut fell below its minimal size (in Prussia 10 to 20 hectare) or was inherited by a non-noble person, its 
substantive rights were lost. Maybe in the case of your grandmother the Rittergut was sold to a nobleman to maintain its 
substantive rights.

Günther