Esthal
Esthal is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The municipality lies on a plateau in the Palatinate Forest, it belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Lambrecht. Esthal's Ortsteile, or Annexen, as they are known, are Esthal, Breitenstein and Sattelmühle. In 1380, Esthal had its first documentary mention as Estall, it was held until 1794 by the Lords of Erfenstein. In 2007, 71% of the inhabitants were Catholic and 17% Evangelical; the rest practised none. The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, the honorary mayor as chairman; the municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: The German blazon reads: Unter silbernem Schildhaupt in Schwarz ein schwebendes kugelbesetztes goldenes Tatzenkreuz. The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Under a chief argent sable a cross pattée couped, the lower arm longer than the others, in each end a roundle Or.
The arms were approved in 1954 by the Mainz Ministry of the Interior and they date from a 1772 court seal. On the village's outskirts is found Saint Mary's Convent of the Niederbronn Sisters, built in 1951-1959, which functions as a provincial mother house; the building was planned by the architect Hebgen, the church was consecrated on 7 March 1959. Worth mentioning as an unusual piece of decoration is a cross, now found in the church's chancel, acquired from a private owner in Switzerland and that holds importance for art history; the greater part of the rest of the décor was newly created in 1986 by Josef Henger. In the village centre stands the Catholic Saint Konrad's Church built in 1933 and 1934, whose nave joins onto the former Baroque church; the church was built to plans by architects Schönwetter and Schaltenbrand, who in turn were influenced by Albert Boßlet. The consecration date is 23 September 1934; the windows and the chancel décor stem in the main from Günter Zeuner. In the Baroque part of the church is found a Classicist high altar by Bernhard Würschmitt from about 1825.
In the area around Esthal are several historic washing fountains. Within Esthal's limits stands Erfenstein Castle, across the dale, just inside Neustadt an der Weinstraße is Spangenberg Castle. A further castle ruin is to be found in the outlying centre of Breitenstein. Near the ruins of Erfenstein Castle, in the eponymous Ortsteil, there is a halt on the Little Cuckoo Railway; this is a heritage railway running between der Weinstraße and Elmstein. Gemeinde Esthal, Geschichte des Walddorfes Esthal, 1980 Niederbronner Schwestern, Provinz Pfalz 1951-2001, 2001 Municipality’s official webpage
Meckenheim, Rhineland-Palatinate
Meckenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The municipality lies at the edge of the Weinstraße region and is part of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. Meckenheim belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Deidesheim; the Frankish village of Meckenheim is believed to have arisen in the 5th century AD. In 768, a first donation from Meckenheim to Lorsch Abbey was documented. In 991, some Meckenheim holdings passed to Duke Otto of Weißenburg. In the 12th century, Saint Giles’s Church was built. In 1287, Meckenheim was bought by Count Palatine Louis II, thus it thereafter belonged to the Electorate of the Palatinate. In 1459 or 1460, Meckenheim was burnt down by the Counts of Leiningen. With the introduction of the Reformation into the Electorate of the Palatinate, Meckenheim became Protestant. In 1585, Saint Giles’s Church was newly built. After widespread destruction in the Thirty Years' War, Meckenheim’s inhabitants forsook it in 1641.
The Meckenheim church passed to the Catholics in 1707. During the French Revolutionary Wars in the late 18th century, Meckenheim sustained great damage; as a result of decisions made at the Congress of Vienna, Meckenheim passed in 1816, together with the rest of the Palatinate to the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1824, the schoolhouse-municipal house was built, in 1872 the building that now serves as town hall. In 1894, the agricultural coöperative society and the Raiffeisen credit coöperative, which were merged in 1938, were founded. In 1911, the Lokalbahn – or local railway – between Ludwigshafen and Dannstadt, which had opened in 1890, was extended to Meckenheim. Service continued until 1955. In 1913, Meckenheim was connected to a public electrical grid, in 1928 to a public water supply system. In 1922, the Meckenheim Winemakers’ Association was founded. In 1936, the fruit market hall was built. After the Second World War, Meckenheim passed in 1946 together with the rest of the Palatinate to the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Between 1952 and 1955, the sporting ground with the clubhouse was laid out. In 1956, Meckenheim was connected to a public gas supply system. In 1961, a new folk high school opened and in 1964, it was connected to a public sewer system. In 2007, 54.4% of the inhabitants were Evangelical and 29.4% Catholic. The rest adhered to none; the municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: The German blazon reads: In geviertem Schild oben rechts und unten links in Schwarz ein rotbewehrter, -bezungter und -bekrönter goldener Löwe, oben links und unten rechts von Silber und Blau gerautet, in der Mitte belegt mit einem schwarzumrandeten goldenen Kreis, darin ein schwarzes M. The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Quarterly and fourth sable a lion rampant Or armed and crowned gules and third bendy lozengy argent and azure, surmounting the whole at the fess point a roundel of the first, itself surmounted by a bezant charged with the letter M of the first.
The arms were approved in 1926 by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior and go back to a court seal from 1473. It is similar to arms borne by Electoral Palatinate; the first and fourth quarters show the Palatine Lion, the second and third show the Bavarian “bendy lozengy” pattern. The M in the middle is an old municipal symbol used for marking the municipal area. Meckenheim fosters partnerships with the following places: Lugny, Saône-et-Loire, France since 1980 Meckenheim’s vineyards belong to the Palatinate wine region and more locally to the Mittelhaardt-Deutsche Weinstraße growing area. Belonging to Meckenheim are two local appellations, namely Neuberg and Spielberg, themselves both within the greater appellation of Hofstück. In Meckenheim there are 51 winegrowing businesses with planted vineyard areas of 0.3 ha or more. All together, vineyards cover 258 ha within Meckenheim’s municipal area. White wines produced by Meckenheim winegrowing businesses account for 57% of the production, while the other 43% is red wines.
Norbert Meder, educator Ludwig Scharf and translator Municipality’s official webpage
Elmstein
Elmstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Elmstein lies in the Palatinate Forest; the municipality belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Lambrecht. Elmstein’s Ortsteile are, besides the namesake one, Erlenbach, Helmbach, Iggelbach, Mückenwiese, Röderthal, Schwabenbach, Stilles Tal and Wolfsgrube. Clockwise from the northwest, these are Waldleiningen, Esthal, an exclave of Kirrweiler, an exclave of Venningen, an exclave of Rhodt unter Rietburg, an exclave of Edesheim, an exclave of Landau in der Pfalz, Wilgartswiesen and Kaiserslautern. Elmstein arose from the Castle Elmstein, which itself was built in the 12th century by the Counts Palatine of the Rhine; the outlying centres arose mostly as extension settlements for lumberjacks, as a location of a sawmill or, like Röderthal, as a mining settlement. On 1 January 1976, a centre with 207 inhabitants was transferred from the municipality of Wilgartswiesen to Elmstein.
In 2007, 51.5 % of the inhabitants were 30.3 % were Catholic. One peculiarity is the Free Religious Community founded in 1921, which with a 5% share of the population stands as the Palatinate’s second biggest Free Religious Community; the rest practised none. The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, the honorary mayor as chairman; the municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: The German blazon reads: In Silber zwei gekreuzte rote Doppelhaken, bewinkelt von vier sechsstrahligen goldenen Sternen. The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Argent two cramps per cross gules, the one per fess surmounting the one per pale, between four mullets Or; the arms were approved by date from a 1772 seal. The “forest hooks” refer to Elmstein’s location in the middle of the forest, it is unknown, what the mullets mean. Waldarbeitsmuseum Elmstein Wappenschmiede Elmstein Water-powered sawmill in the Elmsteiner valley Geisskopf estate ruins near the Geisswiese Electoral Palatinate hunting lodge with: Wine cellar building from 1754 Katholische Kirche Herz Mariä in Elmstein Katholische Kirche Mariä Heimsuchung with historical Schlimbach organ Elmstein Protestant Church Elmstein Castle ruins Appenthal churchtower ruins, once part of the Pilgrimage Church of Mary, built in 1488.
Katholische Kirche St. Wendelinus und St. Hubertus in Speyerbrunn, built in 1931/1932 Historical timber rafting sites near Erlenbach and in the Legelbach valley between Mückenwiese and Elmstein Belltower in Iggelbach, built in 1889 Belltower in Appenthal with historical set of bells Running from Neustadt an der Weinstraße to Elmstein is the heritage railway known as the Kuckucksbähnel; the municipality can be reached on Landesstraße 499 from either Johanniskreuz or Frankeneck Moreover, there is a bus link with route 517. The travel time on the bus is an hour. Owing to the many motorcycle accidents in the past, the road through the Elmstein valley is closed to motorcycles on weekends from April to October. Heinrich Seibert, politician Rudolf Kühner, politician Peter Marx, politician Elmsteiner Heimatschriften Nr.1 Februar 2000 Elmsteiner Heimatschriften Nr.2 Juni 2000 Municipality’s official webpage Homepage of the Wappenschmiede Elmstein
Bockenheim an der Weinstraße
Bockenheim an der Weinstraße is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The municipality lies in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, it belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Leiningerland, whose seat is in Grünstadt, although that town is itself not in the Verbandsgemeinde. Bockenheim lies at the north end of the 85 km-long German Wine Route, has adopted an epithet referring to its location there: an der Weinstraße means “on the Wine Route” in German; the Route runs concurrently here with Bundesstraße 271. Bockenheim is made up of two smaller centres called Großbockenheim and Kleinbockenheim, which were merged in 1956; the two places arose from small settlements that themselves had grown out of Frankish estates after the Franks took the land about 500. In 770, Bockenheim had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch codex. In April 1525, in the Palatine Peasants’ War – part of the German Peasants' War – the Bockenheimer Haufen was formed, a rabble of peasants who joined the uprising.
Until 1969, Bockenheim belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal. Since it has been in what was the newly formed district of Bad Dürkheim. In 2018, it was grouped into the newly formed Verbandsgemeinde of Leiningerland; the council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Per fess azure Saint Martin of Tours nimbed Or and vested argent cutting his mantle gules with a sword of the third, riding a horse passant of the third, argent on a mount vert a goat clymant sable attired of the second. Martin of Tours is the local church’s patron saint bearing his name; the billygoat is a canting charge for the municipality’s name. Bockenheim’s arms are based on the two constituent communities’ coat of arms; the Saint Martin charge came from Kleinbockenheim’s old arms, the goat from Großbockenheim’s.
The arms have been borne since 1959. Grandvilliers, Franceblog: http://grandvilliers-bockenheim.blog4ever.com/ The village’s appearance is characterized by many old homesteads, of which more are being restored. From the 11th century comes the tower at the Romanesque Saint Martin’s Church, which once stood next to the Emichsburg, a castle belonging to the Counts of Leiningen, after which today’s community centre is named; the castle, after being destroyed many times, was converted into a residential castle, which itself was destroyed. Its remnants have been incorporated into a winery, which bears the name Schlossgut in memory of the now vanished complex. In 1995, to offer a counterpart to the “German Wine Gate” at the other end of the German Wine Route in Schweigen, which since 1936 had been marking the route’s far end, the Haus der Deutschen Weinstraße was built between Großbockenheim and Kleinbockenheim. Built in the style of a Roman castrum, the House spans the road like a bridge and affords room not only for a 120-place restaurant with a lakeside terrace, but for various event venues.
In the Turmzimmer with its view of the surrounding vineyards, the Upper Rhine Plain and the Odenwald, those wishing to be wed may have a Weinstraßenhochzeit. Since 1953, the Palatine Dialectal Poetry Contest has been being held each October, at which participants who speak and write in the Palatine Dialect meet; the jury chooses the best ten poems from among their entries. At the Bockenheimer Mundarttagen, held each year on a weekend in May, dialectologists give lectures in public about dialects and discuss them, too – traditionally in dialect – at the podium. Bockenheim is an old winegrowing centre in which the craft has been practised for more than 1,200 years. Today, it is still the village’s most important industry. Bockenheim’s vineyards stretch for more than 400 ha. Tourism is growing in importance. Along Bundesstraße 271, which still runs as a narrow and winding road through the middle of the village, is an interchange on the Autobahn A 6 that runs by 6 km to the south. For years, there have been efforts to have a village bypass built.
The Pfälzische Nordbahn between Monsheim and Grünstadt runs by at the village’s eastern edge. The halt Bockenheim-Kindenheim is served by Regionalbahn trains running on “Rhineland-Palatinate timing”; the public transport is integrated into the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar, whose fares therefore apply. Jakob Kautz and reformer Anton Straub, Catholic priest, Jesuit and book author Heinrich Janson, politician Karl-Heinz Spieß, historian Bodo Mattern, footballer Kultur- und Verkehrsverein Bockenheim (culture and transport club Bockenheim history Information about Bockenheim Bockenheim in the collective municipality’s Web pages
Deidesheim
Deidesheim is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with some 3,700 inhabitants. The town lies in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration and since 1973 it has been the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Deidesheim; the most important industries are winegrowing. Deidesheim's two biggest folk festivals revolve around wine: the Geißbockversteigerung and the Deidesheimer Weinkerwe. Deidesheim lies in the Palatinate in the Weinstraße region. Deidesheim's municipal area stretches for 26.53 square kilometres, covering parts of three morphological and ecological units, namely the Palatinate Forest, the Weinstraße region's uplands and the Upper Rhine Plain: 23.9% of this area is used for agriculture grape-growing for wine, 67.9% of it is wooded, 0.6% is water, 7.4% is residential or transport-related and 0.1% of the land fits under none of these headings. The town itself lies some 1 000 m east of the Haardt. Deidesheim is found in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban region in the middle of the Palatinate wine region.
Running through the town is the German Wine Route. Clockwise from the north, these are Forst an der Weinstraße, Friedelsheim, Rödersheim-Gronau, Niederkirchen bei Deidesheim, Ruppertsberg, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Lambrecht, Frankeneck and Wachenheim an der Weinstraße. Macroclimatically, Deidesheim is characterized by the surrounding relief: The Palatinate Forest to the west forces the main, rainbearing winds from the west and southwest upwards, whereupon they cool and their water condenses, raining down on the Palatinate Forest; the now drier air falls at the forest's east side warming back up, making for a drier, less cloudy climate with warmer temperatures to the forest's lee. The number of summery days far exceeds the countrywide average by 40 or 50 each year, the yearly precipitation level of just over 500 mm is below the threshold, set at 600 mm, for German regions that are considered dry. From a local climatic point of view, Deidesheim is part of the climatically favoured foothill zone of the Weinstraße region.
With a mean elevation of 235 m above sea level at the forest's edge, the lands of the Deidesheim area reach down to some 130 m above sea level at the lower mid-slope area in the foothill zone. The outliers of the Madental and the Sensental, as well as those of the Einsteltal northwest of Deidesheim, form outflow pathways for the cold winds coming from the Haardt. Affecting the local climate are small hollows and dells in which cold air can gather. Climatic conditions in Deidesheim have Mediterranean traits as witnessed by ripening figs and bitter oranges in the area. Profiting from the favourable climate are warmth-loving crops such as grapes; this favours the growing of Qualitätsweine, done here on a grand scale. With its long growing season, the wine can age fully. Fermented wines have a high quality, frost damage is rare; the most important event in the Deidesheim area's, indeed the whole eastern Palatinate's, geological development was the rifting and downfaulting relative to the Haardt of the Upper Rhine Plain, whose onset was some 65,000,000 years ago in the Lower Tertiary and which has lasted until today.
The area before the Haardt range was over time scored by brooks. During the ice ages, there were gradual solifluction on the slopes and wind abrasion; these processes led to a transformation of the original surface relief in whose wake an alluvial fan with embanked or eroded terraces formed. In colder, drier phases of the Würm glaciation, loess beds came into being through the influence of the wind, whereby the loess gathered at faults and alee of small hollows. West and northwest of Deidesheim, the Voltziensandstein that predominates in the middle of the Palatinate Forest from the Triassic represents the oldest stratigraphic unit within Deidesheim's limits, the so-called “Rehberg Layer”. In Deidesheim's southwest, Pleistocene deposits can be found. In the north, Deidesheim is girded by a band of Pliocene deposits that formed some 3,000,000 years ago. In Deidesheim's east are found the newest stratigraphic units in the Holocene deposits. With foreign material such as basalt and dung, man has altered the natural soil composition.
The most important soil types in the Deidesheim area are various rigosols, rendzina and limestone-bearing terra fusca. The name Deidesheim had its first documentary mention in 699, although the town now standing in its current location only arose, it is believed, in the 13th century around the former Deidesheim Castle. From 770 onwards, there is proof of winegrowing here. In the early 19th century, Deidesheim was the first place in the Palatinate whose wineries were growing Qualitätsweine. Today, Deidesheim is one of the Palatinate wine region's biggest winegrowing centres; the first time when the placename was mentioned in 699 was in a document in which the Lotharingian nobleman Erimbert bequeathed estates under his ownership to Weißenburg Monastery in Alsace. Further mentions came in documents from Fulda Abbey and Lorsch Abbey, in the latter of which Deidesheim is named as being a winegrowing centre. Documentary mentions from the Early and High Middle Ages, deal with various settled places that lay not in the town's current place, but rather elsewhere within a greater municipal area around Deidesheim.
Frankish burial grounds in and around the neighbouring mun
Wachenheim
Wachenheim an der Weinstraße is a small town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany 1 km south of Bad Dürkheim and 20 km west of Ludwigshafen. It is known above all else for its various businesses in the field of winegrowing, in particular for Sekt. Wachenheim lies in the Middle Haardt at the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest and is the seat of the eponymous Verbandsgemeinde, to which belong the neighbouring places of Friedelsheim, Gönnheim and Ellerstadt, themselves characterized by winegrowing and partly by fruitgrowing; the first traces of settlement in the Wachenheim area come from the early Iron Age. At this time, Celts were settling in the Upper Rhine Plain area. About 60 BC, Germanic tribes the Nemetes, pushed into the region and drove the Celts out; the Romans intervened in the disputes between the Germanic peoples and the Celts, after their victory over Ariovistus subdued the Nemetes and ruled the region for the next 400 years. Under Roman influence, crop farming was improved and fruitgrowing and winegrowing began.
Running through what is now Wachenheim's municipal area was a Roman road: from Mußbach along the Haardt and through Rhenish Hesse to Bingen. After a brief invasion by the Huns about AD 450, the Alamanni advanced into the area, although by the late 5th century, they were being driven out of the region by the Franks. Wachenheim's first documentary mention – as Wackenheim – dates from Carolingian times and is found in the Lorsch codex. There, on 30 March 766, the donation of a Wachenheim vineyard is noted. In the 11th century, Wachenheim's lords were the Salians; the town passed on Emperor Heinrich V's death to the House of Hohenstaufen. From this time comes the castle complex, which nowadays is only ruins, but which at one time belonged to a system of castles planned and built by the Hohenstaufens. On 24 June 1341, Wachenheim was granted town rights by Emperor Louis the Bavarian. In 1436, Emperor Ruprecht III's son, Duke Stefan built a mint, in operation until 1471. In that year, after hitherto having been under Duke Louis the Black's ownership, was taken over by Frederick I, Elector Palatine.
At the time of this conquest, Wachenheim Castle was burnt down and destroyed, with only partial reconstruction taking place later. The castle and town weathered the War of the Bavarian-Palatine Succession, emerging unscathed. During the German Peasants' War, the castle was used by marauding peasants as a base for their raids. During the Thirty Years' War, Wachenheim was occupied beginning in 1621 by Spanish troops, who were driven out in 1631 by Swedish troops under King Gustav II Adolf. After the Swedes' defeat in 1634, little is known about the years. There are, indications that the townsfolk had to flee several times to the nearby Hardenburg near Dürkheim. After the Thirty Years' War, the region was time and again beset with war. One of the highlights was the Nine Years' War, in the course of which Wachenheim was burnt down. In the 18th century, Wachenheim was newly built and was developing favourably when along came the turmoil of the French Revolution with its attendant hardships and destruction.
In 1794, French troops plundered it. Thereafter, until 1815, Wachenheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre, the Arrondissement of Speyer and the Canton of Durkheim in the French Empire. After Napoleon's downfall, the Palatinate on the Rhine’s left bank, thereby Wachenheim as well, was governed by the Kingdom of Bavaria beginning in 1816. In both the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War, Wachenheim was spared further destruction and was occupied by France at the end of the latter war, until the French pulled out of the Rhineland on 1 July 1930. Late in the Second World War, on 18 March 1945, parts of the Old Town were destroyed by several Allied air raids, as parts of the German Army Command had stopped in town; the council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: Torsten Bechtel, since 21 June 2009 Arnold Nagel, 1979–2009 The town's arms might be described thus: Quarterly and fourth sable a lion rampant armed and crowned gules and third bendy lozengy argent and azure, in a chief of the second, a letter W of the first.
As early as 1390, the town of Wachenheim used a seal with the quarterly composition charged with the Palatine Lion and the Bavarian “bendy lozengy” pattern, although alongside this, another coat of arms, this one with the escutcheon party per pale, but showing the Palatine Lion and the Bavarian “bendy lozengy” pattern, is known. On the dexter side appears the lion holding a W. Both coats are found alongside each other; the current composition is first known from 1739 in a seal. The lion holding the W was adopted again in 1748 in the so-called small seal, only this time by himself; this coat, along with the quarterly shield as the great seal, prevailed in the time that followed, the Royal conferral acceded to Wachenheim's wish to be allowed to bear both coats, albeit with a chief added to the great arms with a black W. The chief's tincture was argent. App
Dackenheim
Dackenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The municipality lies in the Palatinate along the northernmost stretch of the German Wine Route. Dackenheim lies in the foothills between the Upper Rhine Plain, it belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Freinsheim. Yearly precipitation in Dackenheim amounts to 534 mm, low, falling into the lowest tenth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 8% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations are lower figures recorded; the driest month is January. The most rainfall comes in May. In that month, precipitation is. Precipitation otherwise hardly varies over the year. At 32% of the weather stations, lower seasonal swings are recorded; as the Dackenheim golf course was being built in 1998, witnesses to prehistory were unearthed in the shape of potsherds, which were identified as being from the Rössen culture, leading to the inference that Dackenheim, like the neighbouring town of Freinsheim, might have been settled as early as the New Stone Age.
Another find with a sandstone human head, might be from the Bronze Age. It can now be found in the Historisches Museum der Pfalz. Any evidence of human activity in Roman times has not been forthcoming; the placename ending —heim suggests that Dackenheim might have been founded about 600, at the time when the Franks were taking the land. Clear clues as to settlement in Merovingian times come from grave goods unearthed in 1910 in the rural cadastral area “In den 24 Morgen”, others brought to light in 1976 in the field “Am Liebesbrunnen”; the village had its first documentary mention on 22 November 766 in the acts of Lorsch Abbey as Donatio Nantheri in Dagastisheim. In the 12th century, Dackenheim was within the Leiningen Counts’ sphere of influence, it was in this time. In the wake of the Mainz Monasterial Feud – known as the Baden-Palatinate War – and after Margarethe von Leiningen-Westerburg’s death, Dackenheim passed in 1471 to Electoral Palatinate; the main source for the time that followed is the Dackenheimer Weistum of 1485, 1496 and 1579.
Until the late 18th century, Dackenheim remained in Electoral Palatinate’s ownership. In this time, work on the new Lutheran church was begun in 1716. After having been occupied by the French for a number of years towards the end of the 18th century, the Palatine lands on the Rhine’s left bank were incorporated de jure into the French Republic under the Treaty of Campo Formio; the council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, the honorary mayor as chairman. The German blazon reads: In Rot auf grünem Grund nebeneinander, je in goldener Kleidung mit goldener Krone und silberner Gloriole, rechts die Gottesmutter mit dem Kind auf dem rechten Arm, links die heilige Katharina, in der Rechten ein gesenktes silbernes Schwert mit goldenem Knauf und einem zerbrochenen roten Rad zu ihren Füßen, oben zwischen den Kronen und Gloriolen ein sechsstrahliger goldener Stern. Dackenheim’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Gules on a mount vert, both vested and crowned Or and nimbed argent, dexter Mary Mother of God holding the Christ Child on her dexter arm and sinister Saint Catherine, in her dexter hand a sword proper palewise, point on the mount, her sinister arm embowed, at their feet on the mount, surmounting the sword, a broken half wheel spoked of four of the field, in chief between the two crowns and nimbi a mullet of the third.
The two figures represent patron saints and Catherine, the latter with her attributes, the sword and the wheel, the former with the baby Jesus. The mullet stands for the local court. Although the arms were in use by the early 20th century, they were not conferred until 13 April 1973; the design comes from the village’s oldest known seal, from 1513. The centre of this village that grew together from five monastic estates in the 12th century is its Catholic parish church St. Maria. Beginning in 1147 it belonged to Höningen Abbey. Still bearing witness to this time are the Romanesque tower with its round-arch frieze on the ground floor and double arcades on the upper floor, the apse whose back wall forms three sides of an octagon; the nave was renovated in the 18th and 19th centuries, at which time a relief of the Fall of Man from an earlier church building – from the Tympanon Portal – was integrated into the gable. In the single-nave interior, the chancel columns with their richly decorated capitals are still Romanesque.
Beside the church is a small winemaker’s fountain with a Bacchus figure. Building work on the Protestant church began in 1716, after Electoral Palatinate once again had a Catholic Elector in Johann Wilhelm beginning in 1698 and the village’s two denominations had to share the only church building. Finished in 1717, the Protestant church was converted into a gallery church, taking on its current form, a hall church with a gallery and a ridge turret with an eight-sided belfry and an onion-shaped cupola. On the south wall are found the altar table and the pulpit, reached by a stairway from the
Cuisery, Saône-et-Loire, France
Pegau, Leipzig, Saxony
