Vogt

Vogt (plural Vögte), from the Latin advocatus, was a German title for an official who protected and represented church lands and later, more generally, for a lord's or a king's administrator of a district, with judicial and fiscal powers. Some Vögte became territorial rulers in their own right: the Vögte of Weida, Gera and Plauen gave their name to the Vogtland and founded the House of Reuss.