Breitensee (Herbstadt)

Breitensee Herbstadt municipality Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 14 ″  N , 10 ° 32 ′ 33 ″  E
Height :	326 m
Residents :	173  (1987)
Incorporation :	January 1, 1978
Postal code :	97633
Area code :	09765
Location of Breitensee in Bavaria

Breitensee is a district of the municipality of Herbstadt in the Lower Franconian district of Rhön-Grabfeld ( Bavaria ).

geography

The church village is located in the Lower Franconian part of the Grabfeld directly on the border with Thuringia .

history

The place name means "settlement on a wide lake". In 1317 Breitensee was mentioned in a land register belonging to the Counts of Henneberg , which recorded the scope and rights of the new Henneberg possessions ( care Coburg ). After the death of Count Berthold VII. Von Henneberg-Schleusingen's son , Count Heinrich VIII. , An inheritance was divided between the count's widow and brother in 1347. As part of the "Neue Herrschaft Henneberg" (care for Coburg), the place came to the count widow, whose share was finally divided among three daughters after her death in 1353.

The eldest daughter Elisabeth inherited the Lower Franconian lands. Elisabeth's husband, Count Eberhard II of Württemberg (Eberhard der Greiner) sold this inheritance to the Würzburg Monastery , which made Breitensee part of the Königshofen office since then . In 1360 the Würzburg bishopric had properties in Breitensee.

In 1588 the brother of the Würzburg prince-bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn , Valentin , acquired the Henneberg manor Breitensee , which had become Protestant during the Reformation , and built it into a "bulwark against Thuringian Protestantism". He had a magnificent four-tower Renaissance castle built, which was demolished in 1835/38. In the following year, the place received a new parish church and became the seat of a Catholic parish. In 1601, the first Christmas tree in the region was erected in the Breitensee castle chapel at Julius Echter's initiative. In 1648 only 90 of the 300 inhabitants saw the end of the Thirty Years' War in the community.

In 1803 the place was secularized in favor of Bavaria, then in the Peace of Preßburg 1805 left to Archduke Ferdinand of Tuscany to form the Grand Duchy of Würzburg , with which it finally fell to Bavaria in 1814 . In the course of the administrative reforms in Bavaria, today's municipality was created with the municipal edict of 1818 .

On January 1, 1978 Breitensee was incorporated into the municipality of Herbstadt.

Culture and sights

Religions

Breitensee has been the seat of a Catholic parish since 1598. The parish church, built in the same year, arose from the remains of a previous Gothic building. It is dedicated to Saint Michael. This church is one of the few originally preserved evidence of the so-called “real Gothic”. The high altar, built in 1597/98, and the organ prospect from the time of construction deserve special mention - one of the oldest in Lower Franconia. In 1995 the church was largely restored to its original condition.

regional customs

Only in Breitensee is an old Thennetian custom to be found in the Königshöfer Grabfeld: the contact of the Christ Child with entourage on Christmas Eve. After dark, it visits every house in the small community to bring the children.

Architectural monuments

→ List of architectural monuments in Herbstadt

In 1966 the first German border information point was set up in Breitensee. The horror of the nearby inner German border , which enclosed the village on three sides until reunification in 1990, was impressively depicted.

Web links

• Breitensee in the Rhön Lexicon

Individual evidence

1. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart and Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 740 .
2. ↑ Breitenseer Customs in the Rhön Lexicon