The larger settlemental region surrounding
Gera has been recorded in documents as early as the year 1000. It is thought to have been inhabited since late 7th or early 8th century by
Slavic Settlers who tribally belonged to the
Sorbs. Large portions of the Vogtland, however, were still covered with pristine
forests and were not settled before the
High Middle Ages, especially until the period called the . Those settlers arrived mainly in eleventh and twelfth centuries, ethnically being Slavic or German, coming from like
Franconia,
Thuringia and
Saxony. Even today this can be traced along lines dividing dialectal areas, providing linguistic differences at close distances of settlement while demonstrating peculiar commonalities with varieties spoken in more distant regions of Germany. For instance, in a number of villages of the upper Vogtland even nowadays a dialect is spoken similar to that in (/ou/ sounds instead of /u:/ as in
Kou (en.
cow) etc.). , Seat of the
Vogts of Weida in Greiz,
Reussian Residency The place name Vogtland (formerly also known as
Voigtland, ) originates in the rule of the
Vogts (bailiffs) in this region from the eleventh to the sixteenth century AD, specifically in reference to the Vogts of
Weida,
Gera and
Plauen. In the 12th century,
Emperor Barbarossa appointed the first Vogts as administrators of his imperial forest areas in the east to facilitate his rule. Their headquarters was the
Osterburg at
Weida, thus giving it the reputation as the cradle of the Vogtland. Among the privileges of the Vogts were the endowment over minerals still unextracted from the ground () and the entitlement to regulating mint and coinage affairs (), which were both handed down to them by
Kaiser Frederick II in 1232. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Vogts of Weida gradually became independent of the
Quedlinburg Abbey on the lands they administered for it. As in the 14th century claims to power by the
Margraves of Meissen emerged, Henry of Plauen submitted to the
tenure-based regnancy of the
Bohemian Crown, excepting only the dominion of Voigtsberg, that stayed tenured to the Reich. In 1349, his equinomic son Henry also handed Voigtsberg over to Bohemian tenure; thus the whole Vogtland had become a (a specific status of tenure). In 1357 an exchange of territories was agreed with by the Margraviate of Meissen, effectually making Wiedersberg, Liebau, Adorf, Pausa, Neuenkirchen and Hirschberg (among others) Meissenian while Borna, Geithein and Kohren were handed to the Vogt. The exchange was heavily disputed by branch line cousins of Henry's. The Lords of Plauen, as they called themselves, retrieved Auerbach, Pausa and Liebau as Meissenian tenure in 1379. Since 1426 the Lords of Plauen were
Burggraves of Meissen and found themselves in constant power struggles with the Saxon
Prince Electors. Bohemian
King George of Podiebrad took the burning of the royal castle of
Graslitz due to fights between Henry II of Plauen and his enemies to be an occasion to withdraw his tenure and have the Vogtland occupied by
Ernest in 1466. Henry II von Plauen had fallen into disgrace with him for his open opposition against nobility. Thus, Ernest received tenure over the Vogtland which, at the occasion of the
Leipziger Teilung in 1485, was transferred to the
House of Ernest while keeping the under joint control. In 1547, after the
Battle of Mühlberg, the
Ernestines forfeited the tenure over the Vogtland and
Kaiser Ferdinand I handed it down to his Chancellor Henry IV of Plauen, making
Maurice, Elector of Saxony co-tenant to the Vogtland tenure. Henry V and Henry VI could not settle up their debts towards
Augustus, Elector of Saxony. Due to arrears in
Tithe and other liabilities the brothers pawned the Vogtland to the
Electorate of Saxony in 1559. With Heinrich VI the rule of the Vogts of Plauen over parts of the Vogtland ended, as he could not redeem the pawn any more. In 1566,
Augustus acquired the office and towns of Voigtsberg, Oelsnitz, Plauen and Pausa. Matters were further resettled in 1657, among other transactions assigning office over Plauen, Voigtsberg and Pausa to
Saxe-Zeitz (a
secundogeniture of Electoral Saxony) while and the town of
Schöneck remained in the possession of the Electorate. In 1718, after the extinction of the Saxe-Zeitz line, the areas in concern reverted to the Electorate. Apart from the Saxon share, the forests around
Auerbach and
Schöneck remained an exceptional area being both electoral and ducal at the same time. The area, which is now generally known as Vogtland, lies mostly in the present-day state of
Thuringia, with a small part belonging to the Free State of
Bavaria. Over time the dominions of the Vogts (bailiffs) extended beyond the original Vogtland into the
Western Ore Mountains, with areas extending into what is now the
Czech Republic. This cross-border Vogtland, as ruled by the Vogts (varying in its extent), stretched over 1,338 square miles over the centuries, which is roughly the size of
Santa Clara County in California. == Transportation and infrastructure ==