Royal oak

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Royal Oak in October 2006
Detail of the Volkenrodaer Königseiche at night

The royal oak (also called thick oak , thousand year old oak or Volkenrodaer oak ) is a natural monument on the outskirts of Volkenroda , a district of Körner , in the Unstrut-Hainich district in Thuringia . The pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ) is more than 600 years old and has a trunk circumference of around 9.5 meters. The presumed age of the oak was determined by taking drill cores on the trunk and counting rings on a broken branch. Earlier it was believed that it is an old Germanic at the location of the oak Thingplace handle. However, recent research suggests that the oak grew in a medieval hat forest .

Nowadays, services are held at the royal oak at Pentecost . It is owned by the municipality of Körner and has been professionally renovated several times over the past hundred years.

location

The oak stands about 300 meters northeast of Volkenroda , a little south of the Volkenroder forest at a height of about 285 meters above sea ​​level . It is located in an area sloping south to the Notter on Keuper - Lehm , on the so-called Pfingstrasen , an old field name , about three kilometers northwest of Körner and ten kilometers northeast of Mühlhausen . The oak is surrounded by a hunter fence , which is supposed to protect the root area from damage caused by visitors. To the south, the road to Obermehler , a former trade and military road , leads past the oak. The Gasthof Deutsche Eiche is on the other side of the street .

history

Early history

lili rere
Postcard (around 1900)
View (around 1907)

The royal oak is said to have been mentioned in a document as early as the 12th century in connection with the Volkenroda monastery. However, based on the latest age studies, it is questioned whether the oak mentioned was actually the current royal oak or a previous oak of the same name.

The so-called devil's oak once stood about 150 meters from the royal oak . This was by far the older and with a circumference of over eleven meters the stronger of the two oaks. According to legend, it was given its name in the 8th century when Bonifatius and his preachers passed through , as it was previously assumed that the two oaks were the remains of a pagan oak grove and a place of things. For example, Carl Eduard Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , the last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , wrote in 1903 in the homeland sheets Aus den Coburg-Gothaischen Landen , No. 5, about the oaks in Volkenroda:

“Even in the distant past, when the villages of the area, Konre [Körner], Melre [Obermehler], Buten [Pöthen], were created, there may have been a holy grove in Volkolroth [Volkenroda], in which Germanic paganism cultivated its gods worship. Part of the oak grove was still standing for a long time in Christian times. Then the huge trees no longer shaded sacrificial feasts and bloody sacrificial stones, in the branches there were no longer pale horse skulls and holy weapons, but at their feet there was a colorful fair life, fair and folk festival at Whitsun. "

- Carl Eduard Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha : From the Coburg-Gothaischen Lands . 1903.

Today, on the other hand, they are seen as the last remaining trees of a hat forest from the heyday of the Cistercian monastery of Volkenroda .

In the trunk of this oak, which was hollow at that time, according to tradition, an elderly woman with her goat found shelter from the roaming warriors and robbers during the Thirty Years' War . In 1863, the Holstein forest official Eduard Mielck wrote in Die Giant of the Plant World : “Furthermore, the 'devil's oak ' standing near Volckenrode in the Duchy of Gotha measures a radius of 29 feet two feet above the earth.” In 1871 the oak was struck by lightning and fell over and went up in flames on September 2, 1871 during the peace celebrations (victory over France in the Franco-German War ).

The royal oak replaces the devil oak

Postcard from 1904 with the Königseiche and the Gasthaus Deutsche Eiche

After the devil's oak came to an end at the end of the 19th century, the royal oak was preserved. Due to its growth habit and state of preservation, it was viewed as a replacement tree for the devil's oak . In 1884 the first major damage to the crown occurred when a large branch broke out, leaving a 63 centimeter knot hole. The hole was again overgrown and closed 15 years later.

Maintenance work

Postcard from 1909

In 1903 the first protective measures were taken on the oak. With the help of two ship anchor chains of 14.50 meters in length, rings, bolts and round bars, the master blacksmith Gebert from the neighboring village of Körner hung up the longest branch, which extends almost horizontally at a height of about two meters, and attached both chains to two iron anchors with 2.5 centimeters strong round iron, which he put around a steep main branch at a height of about twelve meters to secure it. From there they led to the outer end of the horizontal branch. In 1955 the anchor chain broke due to age and the heavy weight of the branch. This broke off and left a large knothole in the trunk. The anchor chains hung down on either side of the steep branch around which they led.

In the same year, the oak was completely renovated. On April 7, 1955, the stump of the branch was sawed off, the wound sites were sealed with latex and the hollow trunk was, as was customary at the time, a cement seal. The cut surface of the branch is completely covered with bark, but the hole in between is still visible. During renovation work in 1991, a bottle was found in a stump of a branch with a document on the repair from July 4, 1955 by master carpenters Emil Haase, Siegfried Groß and Heinz Westerheyde. The document states that the remains of broken branches were sawed off and the sores were sealed with latex. In the 1970s, rehabilitation work was carried out twice on behalf of the district council , subject area nature conservation. Hans Gerhard Zimmermann first treated the breakage of a strong branch. A few years later, Oskar Haase and his son-in-law removed the damage from several broken branches. From 1983 onwards nobody felt responsible for the oak from the state side. In June 1989, lightning left a trail on the northeast side of the tree. A strip of bark about ten centimeters wide had been blown off from the top of the crown to the ground. At first there was no further damage to the tree. About three weeks later, an eastern, four-meter-thick main branch, which had formed a large part of the main crown and had also been struck by lightning, broke off. As a result, around a third of the crown volume was lost.

Comprehensive renovation in 1991

Trunk view

After the German reunification in 1991, urgently necessary tree care measures were carried out as part of the Thuringia Aid . Forestry experts from Hessen , who were active in the Hessen Aid for Thuringia campaign, classified the oak as a treasure . In April and May 1991, foresters of the Forestry Commission Jesberg , Schwalm-Eder-Kreis busy in cooperation with the district forester Gerhard Köhler in Volkenroda to redevelop the oak. The Hessian forest administration took over the costs. They removed rotten spots and closed wounds so that no bacteria or fungal spores can enter. The rotten and fungus-infested wood was removed or scraped in places, dexelled , the rest smoothed and the surface treated with fungicidal agents. The experts removed the cement filling that had been placed in the hollow trunk in 1955 . It was recognized that such false seals are more likely to be harmful to the tree, as the wood on the concrete seal can rot. They removed the wood layer in the hollow trunk that had been damaged by the fungal attack. They cut out hollow branches so that no water could remain there, removed the rotten core and closed the knothole from 1955 with bars. The trunk now has three openings, one near the bottom and two more at the top. This leads to a chimney effect that stimulates the extraction of moist air. Inside the trunk, the wood can now dry out more easily, which makes further fungal attack more difficult. The two anchor chains from 1903, which had hung loosely in the crown since the branch broke in 1955 and had grown into the upper part, were removed to reduce the risk of another lightning strike. As in 1955, the helpers deposited a bottle with a rehabilitation certificate in the tree. The broken branches were cut into slices and sold as souvenirs in the Deutsche Eiche restaurant . At the end of the renovation work, the forestry chief Horst Siebert and Ronald Kaiser, head of the environmental office of the Mühlhausen district administration, planted a new oak about 40 meters east of the royal oak on behalf of the Hessian forest administration . As a single oak, it should be a memorial for German reunification.

Protected position

Although the oak is one of the oldest and thickest oaks in Germany, the lower nature conservation authority of the district could not find any evidence that the tree was placed under protection. Given the size and importance of oak, this is surprising. In order to end this legal limbo, an application was made on February 21, 2005 for protection, which came into force on March 28, 2005. Since then the tree has been considered a natural monument . In the future, the nature conservation authority of the district will bear the costs of removing damage to the oak. The tree is inspected by the authorities twice a year, in winter and when it bears leaves. Damage to the oak can be punished with fines of up to 50,000  euros .

description

Bark of the royal oak

How the royal oak got its name is not known. The name is said to come from the majestic stature in earlier years, when she stood like a king on a meadow. She was deeply beastet with a broad crown and the characteristics of a freely grown Hutewaldeiche whose fruits were used for fattening of grazing livestock. It shows the characteristics typical of English oak. The base of the trunk is bulging and wide, the bark on the trunk is deeply furrowed, the branches of the crown are gnarled and twisted. The bark is deeply furrowed even in the upper crown area, which only occurs in very old oaks. So far, the oak was considered the remnant of an ancient oak grove and a place where people and court assemblies , so-called Thing , were held according to Germanic law . Thorough age determinations in recent years and a well-documented development of the oak make a new historical classification possible. It is now regarded as the only remaining tree in the Hutewald from the heyday of the Cistercian monastery of Volkenroda .

The oak is about 23 meters high with a crown diameter of about 16 meters. The crown works without any crown lock . The top of the tree is disheveled, some strong branches, especially in the lower crown area, have broken out or trimmed. This makes the crown look asymmetrical. The tree has probably been fully exposed to wind and storms for centuries. Some of the broken branches left holes in the trunk, some of which have completely overgrown. The hole that was made in 1955 when the largest branch broke out is closed with an iron grating. The trunk is completely hollow, but still closed. The oak makes a very vital impression. The German Tree Archive counts them among the trees of national importance (NBB), with the trunk circumference at a height of one meter serving as the most important selection criterion.

There is a wooden information board by the oak with the following inscription:

Royal Oak
Age: 900–1200 years.
Circumference: 9.30 meters.
Renovation in May 1991.
Diameter: 3.00 meters

Events and church services

The oak on the so-called Pfingstrasen was the focus of many events and festivals in earlier years. Until 1945, celebrations took place under the oak on weekends and at Pentecost . Even after the Second World War , the Deutsche Eiche inn hosted numerous festivities with a band under the oak on the opposite side of the street on weekends. For example, on the first Sunday in August 1991 there was a family afternoon with over 400 guests with music. On August 16, 1991, an ecumenical service was celebrated for the first time with a few hundred participants under the royal oak . On Ascension Day 1992, the pastor von Körner, in continuation of the tradition that existed until 1945, held a service under the oak for around 600 believers, which has been repeated annually since then.

Trunk diameter

Trunk circumference at a height of 1.70 meters
Year of measurement scope Growth
per year
1821 5.65 m ––
1831 6.90 m 12.5 cm
1841 6.99 m 0.9 cm
1851 7.23 m 2.4 cm
1881 7.87 m 2.1 cm
1901 8.10 m 1.2 cm
1921 8.40 m 1.5 cm
1941 8.78 m 1.9 cm
2001 9.50 m 1.2 cm

The growth in thickness of the oak is very well documented. Since 1821 the trunk has been measured regularly at a height of 1.7 meters, the so-called man's height. Scharf compiled these values ​​in 1923 from old forest documents that Engel supplemented in 1942. The first value from 1821 with a trunk circumference of 5.65 meters is clearly too low compared to the later measurements, otherwise the circumference would have increased by 1.25 meters in ten years. Hans-Jürgen Tillich, who tried to determine the age using various methods in the 1990s, therefore suspects that the first measurement was incorrect. During the measurements in Leipzig Customs, there was probably a conversion or write-off error. This value was therefore not taken into account for further investigations. The trunk circumference was 6.90 meters in 1831 and 9.50 meters in 2001. In 170 years, the trunk's circumference has increased by 2.60 meters, which corresponds to an annual increase of about 1.53 centimeters. The royal oak has grown somewhat more slowly in the last almost 200 years than most of its species of comparable size, for which the annual increase in circumference is around 1.8 centimeters to 2 centimeters.

Measurements since 1821 show that the growth in thickness of oak is subject to fluctuations. It grew 2.4 centimeters annually between 1841 and 1851, but only 0.9 centimeters in the previous ten years, 1831 to 1841. These temporary growth spurts can partly be explained by the fact that in certain phases not only the actual cambium grows, but also the bark cambium ( phellem ) is involved in the growth in thickness. This tears the outer bark .

The tree has been measured at different heights in recent years. The German tree archive was in 2002 at the point of least diameter (waist), still below the Astloches, which was created by the breaking of the once strongest branch in 1955, a volume of 9.51, and in 1995 in one meter of 9, 70 meters. The oak is one of the ten strongest naturally grown single-stem oaks in Germany . The forest scientist Hans Joachim Fröhlich gave a circumference of 9.90 meters for the year 1994 at a height of 1.3 meters, the point of the so-called breast height diameter (BHD). In 2005, the Lower Nature Conservation Authority also noted a circumference of 9.90 meters for the same measuring height. In 2005, Anette Lenzing reported a circumference of 10.00 meters in court linden trees and thing places in Germany , also measured at chest height. Greatoaks , a compilation by Jeroen Philippona and Jeroen Pater about the largest oak trees in Europe, gives a chest height of 9.60 meters.

Age

Since the oldest wood is missing in the center of the trunk, neither a complete annual ring count , for example with the help of a drill core removal or a drill resistance measurement using a resistograph, nor an age determination via the radioactive carbon content ( radiocarbon dating , also called 14 C dating) is possible. The age of the oak can therefore only be approximated using various methods.

Different ages

View from the south

There are different information about the age of the oak in the literature. A large part indicates between 800 and 1200 years, a smaller part about 600 years. The higher age information is based on the assumption that the royal oak first mentioned in the 12th century is the same oak as the present one. However, this is not guaranteed. Rather, according to the research of Hans-Jürgen Tillich, these ages are likely to be set too high. On the other hand, the lower age data do not take into account the historical reference, but mainly refer to investigations on the oak by Hans-Jürgen Tillich at the end of the 20th century and the increase in scope in the last almost 200 years.

In Richtlinden and Thingplatz in Germany the age was given in 2005 as around 900 years. In 1994 Hans Joachim Fröhlich assumed an age of around 1000 years. The information board by the oak gives an age of 900 to 1200 years. The oak is listed by the nature conservation authority with an age of over 600 years. The German Tree Archives estimated the age of the oak in 2009 on the basis of the documented circumference measurements from the years 1831 to the measurement in 2001 at 450 to 620 years, based on an annual increase in circumference of 1.53 centimeters. As early as 1923, Scharf gave an estimated age of 500 years in the Zeitschrift für Forst- und Jagdwesen , based on a 30-year growth rate. In 1942 Engel tried to determine the age of the oak from the period 1841 to 1941, taking into account the circumference measurements by Scharf. In a hundred years the trunk circumference increased by 1.79 meters, which results in a calculated increase in radius of 28.5 centimeters or an average annual ring width of 2.85 millimeters. However, since the bark was included in the calculation, this value is somewhat falsified. If one assumes the mean annual growth from 1841 to 1941 for the entire lifespan, according to Engel, the oak would have been 491 years old in 1941. The age data from Scharf, Engel and the German Tree Archives, which were determined on the basis of traditional circumferential measurements, roughly coincide with the scientific study by Hans-Jürgen Tillich in 1995. Further age studies were carried out in 2003. A forest engineer tried to determine the age of the oak using simpler methods than Hans-Jürgen Tillich and estimated it to be 900 years.

Age determination by Hans-Jürgen Tillich

Hans-Jürgen Tillich examined the age of the oak using various methods. In the autumn of 1989, he carried out annual ring measurements on the branch that had broken off by lightning, sawing the branch into pieces one meter in length. The cut closest to the trunk, which was made entirely of wood, had a circumference of four meters with a slightly oval cross-section. The radius of the cut surface was 64 centimeters, with about five centimeters on the bark. There remained 59 centimeters on which the annual rings were distributed. Counting them resulted in an age of 320 years for the branch. However, it is not known when the tree formed this branch. A decade-by-decade profile of the annual ring widths showed that the growth in the thickness of the branch in the first 80 years, averaging 2.78 centimeters per decade, was significantly stronger than in the following period. After the eightieth year of life of the branch examined, growth has leveled off at an average of 1.53 centimeters per decade. The average growth of the branch, transferred to the trunk measuring 9.42 meters in circumference, gave an age of 928 years. According to Tillich, however, this age is doubtful, as it is fundamentally not justified to transfer the growth of a branch to the trunk in the same proportion.

A further step in determining the age was the procurement of an incremental drill with the support of the district forester G. Köhler from Volkenroda. On July 2, 1992, three drill cores were pulled from the trunk at chest height up to the cavity inside the trunk. One core came from the southeast side, one from the north side and one from the northeast side, directly on the lightning trail. About a third of the diameter of all three cores was removed lengthways with the help of a strong razor blade . The orientation of the cores to one another resulted in an exact cross-section of wood on which the annual rings were clearly visible. True- to-original drawings were made with the drawing arm of a stereo microscope . This enabled every single annual ring to be measured precisely. Due to the preparation of the drill cores, the outermost three to five annual rings had disintegrated and could not be taken into account. On the first core, 63, on the second 43 and on the third 41 annual rings could be reliably evaluated. This only affected the outermost part of the trunk, as the inside no longer existed. It is striking that the average annual growth in relation to the trunk cross-section was not the same everywhere. The growth rates were also significantly stronger than those determined on the broken branch. The mean annual growth rate, which resulted from the average of all annual rings of the three drill cores, was 2.3 millimeters. This corresponds to an annual increase in circumference of 1.44 centimeters. If one takes the radius of the trunk with 1.50 meters minus the bark with eight centimeters and the mean annual ring width of 2.3 millimeters, one comes to an age of 617 years. This value would only apply if there had been a lifelong linear increase. The annual ring measurements on broken branches and investigations on other oaks showed that there was a significantly stronger growth in thickness in the first 80 to 100 years of life. The growth curve was therefore relatively steep at first and then leveled off on a relatively linear course. Taking these circumstances into account, an age of around 600 years can be assumed for the royal oak in 2010. All measured values ​​handed down since 1831 are very close to or exactly on the determined values.

literature

  • R. Weise, U. Fickel, R. Halle, W. Hochstrate, E. Lehnert, R. Faupel & R. Kaiser: Natural monuments in the Unstrut-Hainich district . Ed .: Nature Conservation Information Center North Thuringia. 2007.
  • Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees . 5th expanded edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8354-0183-9 .
  • Anette Lenzing: Court linden trees and thing places in Germany . Karl Robert Langewiesche's successor, Hans Köster Verlagbuchhandlung KG, Könighaus im Taunus 2005, ISBN 3-7845-4520-3 .
  • Hans-Jürgen Tillich: The age of the "1000 year old" oak near Volkenroda (Unstrut-Hainich district) . In: Mühlhausen museums (ed.): Mühlhäuser contributions . Booklet 18. Verlag und Druck GmbH C. Schröter Mühlhausen, Mühlhausen 1995, p. 5-12 .
  • Heinz Freybote: Local Chronicle Volkenroda - Municipality of Körner . Self-published, municipality of Körner 1994.

Web links

Commons : Volkenrodaer Eiche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Joachim Fröhlich : Old lovable trees in Germany . Cornelia Ahlering Verlag, Buchholz 2000, ISBN 3-926600-05-5 , p. 356 .
  2. ↑ Heinz Freybote, p. 128 (see literature).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Heinz Freybote, p. 121 (see literature).
  4. ↑ a b c d Richtlinden and Thingstätten, p. 181
  5. ^ Hugo Keil Wölfis: From the Coburg-Gothaischen Landen . Gotha 1903.
  6. ↑ a b c d e R. Weise et al., P. 51 (see literature).
  7. ↑ a b Hans-Jürgen Tillich, In: Mühlhausen museums in cooperation with the Mühlhäuser Geschichts- und Denkmalpflegeverein e. V., pp. 11-12 (see literature).
  8. ↑ Eduard Mielck: The giants of the plant world . CF Winter'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig and Heidelberg 1863, p. 30 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Heinz Freybote, p. 123 (see literature).
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees . 5th expanded edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8354-0183-9 , p. 81 .
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Hans-Jürgen Tillich, In: Mühlhausen museums in cooperation with the Mühlhäuser Geschichts- und Denkmalpflegeverein e. V., pp. 5-6 (see literature).
  12. ↑ Heinz Freybote, p. 75 (see literature).
  13. ↑ Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees . 5th expanded edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8354-0183-9 , p. 184 .
  14. ↑ a b c d e Bernd Ullrich, Stefan Kühn, Uwe Kühn: Our 500 oldest trees: Exclusively from the German Tree Archives . BLV Buchverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8354-0376-5 , p. 135 .
  15. ↑ a b c d Thüringer Allgemeine (Hrsg.): A giant is protected - the “1000-year-old oak” in Volkenroda has only officially been a natural monument since the end of March . April 8, 2005.
  16. ↑ a b Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees . 5th expanded edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8354-0183-9 , p. 80 .
  17. ↑ a b c d e Hans Joachim Fröhlich: Paths to old trees, Volume 10, Thuringia . WDV-Wirtschaftsdienst, Frankfurt 1994, ISBN 3-926181-24-9 , p. 34 .
  18. ↑ a b Anette Lenzing, p. 180 (see literature).
  19. ↑ a b Heinz Freybote, p. 126 (see literature).
  20. ↑ Heinz Freybote, p. 127 (see literature).
  21. ↑ Heinz Freybote, p. 69 (see literature).
  22. ↑ Heinz Freybote, p. 72 (see literature).
  23. ↑ Uwe Kühn, Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich: Trees that tell stories . BLV Buchverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-405-16767-1 , p. 110 .
  24. ↑ Bernd Ullrich, Stefan Kühn, Uwe Kühn: Our 500 oldest trees: Exclusively from the German Tree Archives . BLV Buchverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8354-0376-5 , p. 105 .
  25. ↑ Uwe Kühn, Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich: Trees that tell stories . BLV Buchverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-405-16767-1 , p. 7 .
  26. ↑ Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees . 5th expanded edition. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8354-0183-9 , p. 80-81 .
  27. ↑ Jeroen Philippona, Jeroen Pater: Königseiche. Greatoaks, accessed June 19, 2010 .
  28. ↑ Hans Joachim Fröhlich: Old lovable trees in Germany . Buchholz, Ahlering 2000, ISBN 3-926600-05-5 , pp. 22 .
  29. ↑ a b c d Hans-Jürgen Tillich, In: Mühlhausen museums in cooperation with the Mühlhäuser Geschichts- und Denkmalpflegeverein e. V., pp. 5–12 (see literature).

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 8.6 ″  N , 10 ° 34 ′ 17 ″  E

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on October 2, 2010 in this version .