Lorch (Württemberg)

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (February 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary (using German): Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Exact name of German article]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|de|Lorch (Württemberg)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

This article contains translated text and needs attention from someone fluent in German and English. Please see this article's entry on Pages needing translation into English for discussion. If you have just labeled this article as needing attention, please add {{subst:Duflu |pg=Lorch (Württemberg) |Language=German |Comments= }} ~~~~ to the bottom of the WP:PNTCU section on Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English.

Lorch
Coat of arms
Lorch Location of Lorch within Ostalbkreis district
Coordinates: 48°47′54″N 09°41′18″E / 48.79833°N 9.68833°E / 48.79833; 9.68833Coordinates: 48°47′54″N 09°41′18″E / 48.79833°N 9.68833°E / 48.79833; 9.68833
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Stuttgart
District	Ostalbkreis
Government
• Mayor	Karl Bühler
Area
• Total	34.28 km2 (13.24 sq mi)
Elevation	288 m (945 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
• Total	10,800
• Density	320/km2 (820/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	73547
Dialling codes	07172
Vehicle registration	AA
Website	www.stadt-lorch.de

Lorch is a small town situated in the Ostalbkreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Rems, 8 kilometers west of Schwäbisch Gmünd.

Geography[edit]

Lorch is situated in the valley of the river Rems, a tributary of the Neckar River, between Schwäbisch Gmünd to its east and Schorndorf to its west. To the north of Lorch lies the Swabian-Franconian Forest, to the south there are the Swabian Alps. Lorch is part of the Swabian-Franconian Forest Nature Park and is located at the Limes hiking route (HW 6) of the Swabian Alp Association. Lorch merged with the formerly-independent municipality of Waldhausen. Since December 31, 1971 it has included 35 different hamlets, villages and farms. As of 2012, Lorch has been divided into 5 boroughs: Kirneck (396 inhabitants), Lorch (6492 inhabitants), Rattenharz (251 inhabitants), Waldhausen (2698 inhabitants) and Weitmars (1030 inhabitants).^[2]

History[edit]

During the Roman Era, it served as a vital link in the Limes Germanicus. The monastery at Lorch was founded by Frederick I of Swabia in 1102.^[3]

Roman Era[edit]

View of Lorch from the East. Steeple and buildings of monastery are visible on hill at right.

Lorch Monastery, Württemberg

The Roman Empire expanded its sphere of control to the north of the Alps into the borders of today's Switzerland, southern Germany and Austria guided by Emperor Augustus shortly before the Christian era (15 B.C.). First, the rivers Danube and Rhine formed the frontier. About 100 years later, the Romans took possession of the so-called "Dekumatenland", which is the area of Lorch nowadays. During this process the two provinces Raetia (Rhaetia) and Germania Superior (Upper Germany) were founded. Over the decades, this new border was protected and secured by what the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes originated. Thereby the different borders formed a so-called "Limesknie" (limes knee) between today's cities Lorch and Schwabisch Gmund. ^[4]

The fort Lorch was established under the Emperor Antoninus Pius (reign 138-161 A.D.) as a cohort fort to secure the Limes. It was the southernmost fort of the Upper Germanic Limes; east concurred with the Rhaetian Limes. The center of the fort was in the yard of today's Protestant town church, the sides of the fort were approximately 150 to 160 meters long. The fort was joined by a civilian settlement (vicus), which is about a kilometer away along the run through the Remstal Roman highway developed. ^[4] The time strategically important road leading from Augsburg ( Augusta Vindelicorum ) on today's Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt to Mainz ( Mogontiacum ).

Today often the name "Lorch" is not used to describe the city during the Roman period; often Lauriacum is believed to be the medieval name. There is also a Lauriacum in Upper Austria calles Lorch, so there could be an analogy. Between 260 and 268 A.D. the Romans gave up the northwestern part of Raetia and the eastern part of Upper Germany including Lorch because of the pressure from the Alemanni. (Limes case)^[4]; The Romans retreated to the west behind the Rhine, to the south behind Lake Constance and the Upper Rhine and eastwards behind the Iller back (Donau-Iller-Rhine-Limes). The Germans, the Romans called them Alemanni, moved to and settled in the cleared area by the Romans down.

Middle Ages[edit]

The early medieval history is unknown; it is unclear whether the city has been inhabited continuously. ^[4] In the mid-11th century a so-called "Kollegiatstift" was founded in the parish church of Lorch. It was the tomb of the ancestors of the Staufer family. Around 1100, the Staufer donated the monastery Lorch, a Benedictine, as their home monastery on the mountain, where unsecured according to tradition was a castle. ^[5] The monastery determined from now on the future of the town. Conrad III. had the mortal remains of his ancestors, which were buried in the parish church, moved to the monastery. The city can be found in the 12th century in various documents under the name Loricha and Lorche, in Latin as Laureacus and Laureacum monasterium. ^[5] The monastery was in the 13th century under the bailiwick of the Counts of Württemberg. The pin on the parish was abolished in the second half of the 14th century. The village had in the late Middle Ages, the market law . At central facilities existed a court and a bathhouse. ^[5]

Modern period[edit]

Duke Ulrich introduced the Reformation in Lorch in 1535. In the wake of the Schmalkaldic War in 1548 Catholic worship forms were first reintroduced, but from 1553 Protestant pastors were reinstated. Another result of the Reformation was the foundation of a school, for which a special building was built. As Monastery of the Württemberg duchy the Lorch monastery was abolished in the 16th century.^[6] During the Thirty Years' War the population of Lorch decreased to one third of the original number. In the following decades a lively reconstruction began. In 1660 the city regained the right to hold two fairs, which it lost before the war. From 1810 to 1819 Lorch was the registered office of a "Oberamt", which was tranferred to Welzheim shortly after. 1831 and 1832 Lorch received permission for another two markets.^[6]

With the opening of the Bad Cannstatt-Wasseralfingen section of the Rems Railway in 1861, tourism gained economic importance in Lorch. Accommodation options were reconstructed and rebuilt. On June 22, 1865 King Karl became head of the city. In addition to the City Council, a club promoted tourism, and Lorch turned into a popular health resort. For the year 1898, 464 spa visitors were recorded, including 64 foreigners.^[7][8] During the same time, industrial enterprises were founded, for example in 1876 a pasta factory owned by the Daiber brothers was founded. In 1904 it already had 125 employees and was thus the most important local employer. A few years earlier in 1893 it was also the first company to make use of electricity in Lorch. This itself generated power that was passed to private homes in the village.^[7][8]

National Socialist period[edit]

In the elections at the beginning of the 1930s, the Nazi Party gained voters in Lorch and Waldhausen, the number was well above the average.^[9] One of the reasons for such a result could have been the high rate of unemployment. In January 1932, 340 people in Lorch were unemployed, many of those lost their jobs because of a major fire in the pasta factory. On the other hand there was not a single employee of this company among the eight founding members of the local NSDAP from 1932. ^[9] Ortsgruppenleiter was the stamp dealer Hermann E. Sieger.^[10]

Born in Lorch[edit]

Fraas

• Matthias Hafenreffer (1561-1619), Lutheran theologian
• Karl Philipp Conz (1762-1827), poet and writer
• Oscar Fraas (1824-1897), priest, naturalist and geologist

Lived in Lorch[edit]

• Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) famous german poet and writer lived in Lorch from 1764 to 1766

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lorch (Württemberg).

This Ostalbkreis location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e