Birkensee (Offenhausen)

Birch Lake Community Offenhausen (Mittelfranken) Coordinates: 49 ° 26 '28 "  N , 11 ° 23' 49"  E
Height :	459 m above sea level NHN
Residents :	3  (May 25 1987)
Postal code :	91238
Area code :	09158
View of Birkensee

Birkensee is a district of the community Offenhausen in the district of Nürnberger Land , Middle Franconia .

geography

The wasteland Birkensee

The desert is about 22 kilometers east of Nuremberg , on the southern slope of a small valley basin, which is framed in the northwest by the Buchenberg and in the southeast by the Keilberg .

history

There is no written evidence of the origin of Birkensee, but it must have belonged to the Egensbacher village community since it was founded. The place was first mentioned in a document after the establishment of the Engelthal Monastery by Reich Minister Ulrich II. Von Königstein . This happened on February 21, 1260, when a certain Conradus miles de Pirchense (knight Conrad von Birkensee) witnessed the sale of a farm to Engelthal Abbey. At that time, Birkensee was a farmyard, which was probably built a little later than Egensbach was founded. The complex is believed to have been in a period at the beginning of the 10th century.

In contrast to Egensbach, the name Birkensee does not go back to a personal name, but is based on the landscape and means something like standing water near the birch trees . But although the part of the name " -see " suggests this, at no time did a real lake exist there, only a swampy and water-rich mountain basin below the courtyard, in which there is now a small pond. Due to the temporary growth of birch trees at this point, the current place name was created, which has only changed insignificantly since it was first mentioned.

As in Egensbach, a small castle seat was built in Birkensee during the 13th century. The facility was built by local ministerials, the existence of which is already documented when the place was first mentioned. The origin of these ministerials is not known, but they are probably from the local free - i. H. possessed of allod possession - have emerged from the lower nobility. This original freedom later brought with it the peculiarity that the Birkensee farm - in contrast to Egensbach - was never subject to interest and therefore did not have to pay a tithe .

The former castle seat of Birkensee ( Turmhügel Birkensee ) consisted only of a simple tower hill, which was located about 70 meters south of the current courtyard and was located in what is now a wooded area that is now referred to as Höll . At the end of the Middle Ages, however, this small fortification had already been abandoned, because when there was a change of landlords over Egensbach and Birkensee due to the sale in 1508, Birkensee was only referred to as a courtyard, while the castle seat in Egensbach ( Egensbach tower ) was still at that time was mentioned one last time. In contrast to the castle complex in Egensbach, which fell into disrepair a little later, a small remnant of the Birkensee castle seat can still be seen in the area. This consists of a rectangular stump, which takes up a size of about 15 x 5 meters and is located on an artificially created hill plain.

A significant turning point in the history of Birkensee took place in 1504 when the surrounding area was occupied by the troops of the imperial city of Nuremberg during the Landshut War of Succession . With the conclusion of peace a year later, the imperial city was formally granted this occupied territory, so that Birkensee belonged to its land area for three centuries. During the decay of the Old Kingdom , it was finally taken over by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806, together with Egensbach and the other surrounding villages .

When the village community of Egensbach lost its previously preserved independence with the second Bavarian community edict of 1818 , its district Birkensee was also assigned to the newly formed rural community of Offenhausen and has shared the fate of this community ever since. While there have been no changes since then in communal terms, ownership under private law changed several times after the Second World War and at relatively short intervals. The last change of ownership of the farm took place in 1979, when it became the property of the Christ Brotherhood in Selbitz . Since then, the farm has mainly used it for leisure time and seminars, as well as set-up and guest conferences.

literature

• Georg Polster: Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Egensbach choral society. Offenhausen 1987.

Web links

Commons : Birkensee  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• History of the former Birkensee ministerial headquarters

Individual evidence

1. ^ Association for Computer Genealogy e. V.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Birkensee