Document

The document from the Thursday after the Epiphany in 1430, according to the calendar of the Royal Catholic Diocese of Metz, is the oldest preserved original Saarland mining document. The "iron forges and coal pits" in "Sinnertal" and in the area of Schiffweiler are mentioned on three occasions. The creator of the document is the knight Friedrich Greiffenclau von Volradt, Burgmann and vassal of the pits of Nassau-Saarbrücken, who is part of an old noble family in Lorraine.
In this "Rachtungsbrief" (used to refer to a special type of agreement in ancient German) to the Countess Elisabeth von Lothringen, he renounced all compensation claims which he brought against Elisabeth's deceased husband (Count Philip I. of Nassau-Saarbrücken) and could still bring against his descendants in relation to 3.22 armed conflicts. This also includes dispensing with the continued operation of coal pits and iron works which Greiffenclau's parents ran in the Neunkirchen/Landesweiler district. The document is in this respect a testimony to the territorial state formation and the long process of nationalising the coal mining industry in the Saar region.