Draft:House of Winkhaus
House of Winkhaus
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The House of Winkhaus is among the oldest titled families in Germany dating back to the Saxon Wars (772–804 AD).
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Submission declined on 27 March 2026 by Robert McClenon (talk). This draft is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Wikipedia's verifiability policy requires that all content be supported by reliable sources.
Declined by Robert McClenon 4 months ago.
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Comment: This draft has one or more reference errors, which indicate errors in the formatting or use of the references. The reference errors should be corrected before resubmitting this draft. This draft cannot be reviewed in detail until the reference errors are corrected.See Referencing for Beginners for instructions on how to format references. If you do not know how to correct the reference errors, you may ask for help at the Teahouse or the Help Desk. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:18, 27 March 2026 (UTC)
History
The House of Winkhaus is of Saxon origin.[1] Its name has developed over the centuries. The oldest documented version of the family name is Von Wynkhusen at around 1250 AD.[2] According to local legend the name Winkhaus or Winkhausen derives from the name Widukind.[3] Widukind means the wolf (lit. forest child) in old Saxon language. It was the by-name Saxons gave to their aristocratic leaders.[4]. It is therefore highly likely that the original family name around 800 AD was Von Widukindhuus.
The history of the House of Winkhaus can be traced back to the Saxon Wars (772–804 AD) because of the particular type of privileged rights that were granted to the family and its land Winkhausen. The territory still exists today as the suburb Winkhausen of the city of Lüdenscheid in Westphalia, Germany. The bridge over the river Volme at the family land Winkhausen was in medieval times an important strategic traffic hub and used as location for holding the King's Court which was the highest court in the Holy Roman Empire deciding cases of nobles and free men. The House of Winkhaus provided the logistics of the King's Court, and family members participated as judges in the trials.[5]. Those privileged personal and landed rights were first granted by the Lex Saxonum which Charlemagne introduced in 802 AD after his victory over the Saxons. This law recognised the rights of the Saxon Athelingi (nobles) and Frilingi (free men) after Charlemagne's conquest of the tribe. It ensured that Saxon noble and freemen kept their legal standing and landed rights within the Carolingian Empire, provided they fulfilled their duties to the king. The Saxons "gave up" their old pagan tribal ownership and received their lands back as protected, Christian property under the King's peace. Important part of the King's peace was The King's Court which was the highest court in the Carolingian empire.[6]
The land of Winkhausen was also located along an ancient military road (Herweg) which was already used by the Romans during their military campaigns against German tribes 12BC -16AD.[7]
The oldest house still standing today in Winkhausen is the former family home, the „Lindenhof”, which was first mentioned in documents around 1500 AD.[8]
Through the centuries the House of Winkhaus used Winkhausen also for industrial wire production with hammers powered by the Volme river.[9] The products were marketed already around the 15th century through the Westphalian Hanse, particularly to Belgian Flanders and England.[10]
The Westphalian Archive of Economy The Westphalian Archive of Economy (WWA) in Dortmund, Germany, preserves many documents of the industrial history of the House of Winkhaus.
The legal standing and landed rights of the House of Winkhaus recognised by Charlemagne in the Lex Saxonum of 802 AD remained effective until 1807 the Napoleonic-French occupation of Westphalia introduced a new constitution heavily influenced by the French Revolution abolishing any pre-existing peerage- and privilege rights in the new Kingdom of Westphalia.[11] Feudal privileges were further eliminated when in 1815 after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo the Kingdom of Prussia annexed Westphalia applying the Prussian October Edict of 1807 to their new Province of Westphalia.[12]
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