1. Terminology and scholarship
At the beginning of the early modern period, an area used for the mining business was designated by the holder (Herr) of mineral rights (Mineral rights, state appropriation of) as a Bergamt (“mining office”) or Berggericht (“mining court”) with the addition of the appropriate toponym. The terminology departed from this legally defined appellation only occasionally: beginning in the last third of the 16th century, the term Revier (“district”), …