Gemünden (Westerwald)

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coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the local community Gemünden
Gemünden (Westerwald)
Map of Germany, position of the municipality Gemünden highlighted

Coordinates: 50 ° 34 '  N , 8 ° 1'  E

Basic data
State : Rhineland-Palatinate
County : Westerwaldkreis
Association municipality : Westerburg
Height : 315 m above sea level NHN
Area : 5.19 km 2
Residents: 984 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 190 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code : 56459
Area code : 02663
License plate : WW
Community key : 07 1 43 224
Association administration address: Neumarkt 1
56457 Westerburg
Website : www.gemuenden-ww.de
Local Mayor : Dietmar Wolf
Location of the local community Gemünden in the Westerwaldkreis
map

Gemünden is a municipality in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the community of Westerburg .

Geographical location

Gemünden is east of Westerburg , in a valley area protected by mountains to the north and east and wide open to the south. The three streams Holzbach , Elbbach and Schafbach flow together in the village .

Gemünden also includes the Hammermühle, Jeremiasmühle, Neumühle, Höttergesmühle, Lexenmühle, Patchesmühle, Hessenmühle and Steinmühle residential areas .

history

In 879, Gemündens was first mentioned in a document. This year, the St. Severus monastery , built by Count Gebhard im Lahngau , was consecrated. The deed is lost. Only a copy from 1333 still exists. The monastery owned large possessions that were concentrated in the southern, eastern and central Westerwald as well as in the Untertaunus and Lahn valley. By the end of the 12th century, the importance of the monastery and its possessions grew. It was only when the bailiffs gained more and more power in the 13th century that the decline began. In 1336 the bailiffs who sat in Westerburg were authorized by Emperor Ludwig IV to appoint the bailiff of Gemünden. In fact, the pen had lost its independence.

Fires in 1430 and 1440 are said to have severely damaged the collegiate church. In 1566, bailiff Reinhard II ordered the Reformation to be introduced in Gemünden. In 1580 the first pastor of Gemünden was installed. Due to disputes between the Lords of Leiningen-Westerburg and the Lords of Wied-Runkel , gunmen attacked the Wied-Runkel side of Gemünden in the same year. Before the dispute was finally settled in 1599, there was another attack on Gemünden in 1597. The monastery became extinct as a political power factor before 1600 and finally after the mediatization and the establishment of the Duchy of Nassau in 1806.

A Heimberger in Gemünden is recorded for the first time in 1539, and a mayor in 1568.

On April 14, 1608 a fire destroyed 14 buildings in the village.

→ For Jewish life in Gemünden see main article: Jewish community Gemünden

Economic history

Gemünden was on a trade route between Ahrweiler and Marburg in 1232 at the latest. In 1506 at the latest, Leiningen-Westerburg levied customs there. November 9th was the most important market day in Gemünden as the monastery’s church consecration day. The place was also a commercial center for the surrounding area. A metal caster has been handed down for 1462, five blacksmiths for 1664. Oven makers are first mentioned in 1644, in 1760 with 14 men in this trade and in 1791 with their own guild. Also in the 18th century, guilds of tanners and shoemakers, tailors, builders (with numerous related trades), shopkeepers as well as bakers and brewers were formed for Gemünden and the surrounding area. Some of these guilds had split off from those of the neighboring Westerburg.

In 1478 a mill near Rosenthal, which may have fallen into desolation at that time, was mentioned for the first time, but at this point in time its ownership had already been split up due to the division of inheritance and must therefore have been considerably older. Another mill was built in 1545. In the following centuries there were several mills in Gemündener Marktung, including at least one saw, fulling, oil and bone mill as well as three tan mills. From 1740 on, at least one wire hoist was operated with water power and from 1755 on an iron hammer. In 1830 the hammer passed to the Budrus family of industrialists , who gave it up in 1853 and converted it into a grinding mill. A brickworks was first mentioned in 1613.

The "Gemündener Rebellion"

1706 there was a rebellion of farmers from Gemünden and the surrounding area against Count Georg II. Karl Ludwig von Leiningen-Westerburg-Neuleiningen. The farmers refused taxes and compulsory labor on the grounds that the count had increased them contrary to the law. They were supported by Kurköln , to whom the Leininger had handed over the sovereignty over the rule Westerburg and thus over Gemünden in 1656 as part of a surrogation . Kurköln saw this as an opportunity to strengthen this feudal sovereignty, which in practice had almost no consequences.

George II assessed the refusal to perform as a criminal act and, due to the lack of troops of his own, called the Upper Rhine Reichskreis for imperial execution , which he was granted in January 1707, since the peasants' refusal to pay also affected amounts to which the district was entitled. On January 19, 1707, the Nassau-Weilburg district regiment occupied Gemünden with 60 horsemen. Two farmers were shot and all residents were expelled. In February the soldiers withdrew. In the further course of 1707 there seems to have been renewed occupations by district troops, which were, however, also in connection with a French offensive as part of the War of the Spanish Succession .

At the same time, the peasants filed a complaint with the Reichshofrat against the actions of George II, in which they believed they recognized an abuse of the Reich execution. They still did not serve their taxes and duties. There were also disputes over various agricultural usage rights between the community and the rulers, as well as the expansion of several domain farms. In December 1707 the Reichshofrat set up a commission of inquiry, which, however, was made up of supporters of George II. Since the peasants refused to give evidence to the commission, on January 27, 1708, district troops again occupied Gemünden to forcibly bring the peasants to the front. However, they only managed to arrest three men. On February 1, 1708, the commission saw the guilt of the subjects as proven and recommended criminal trials against the ringleaders, fines and reparations for the lost payments by clearing the community forest in favor of the sovereign. In March the soldiers withdrew from Gemünden and the residents returned to start cultivating the fields.

On May 11, 1708 the Reichshofrat rejected the commission report because of obvious bias and instructed Kurtrier to join the commission. The further negotiations proceeded only slowly. In 1721 the conflict flared up again, but with a focus on the city of Westerburg, where citizens now refused to make payments to the count. Until 1723 and 1724 the situation came to a head in the form of several meetings, protest speeches and resistance to seizures and arrests in the city and the surrounding area. In 1724, the Reichshofrat finally decreed that the subjects had to provide all disputed services and behave appropriately towards the authorities. After another execution team was drawn up in December 1725, the subjects stopped their resistance for the time being. In the years 1728 and 1729, compromises were reached between government and subjects on several points, in particular regarding the rights of use of real estate.

Population development

The development of the population of the municipality of Gemünden, the values ​​from 1871 to 1987 are based on censuses:

year Residents
1466 21 Westerburger liable persons
1520 130 people subject to the sacrament
1586 71 without strangers own people
1617 53 houses
1661 39 houses
1725 52 households
1760 533 and 31 Jews
1815 905
1835 1,020
1871 1.014
year Residents
1905 955
1939 967
1950 1,013
1961 995
1970 1.107
1987 1,075
1997 1,152
2005 1,091
2019 984

Desolation

In 1338 Nerendorf (meaning probably "Niederdorf") is mentioned for the first time, which was probably about one kilometer south-southwest of Gemündungen and east of the road from Berzhahn to Gemünden. Its location close to the mouth of the stream, which gives Gemünden its name, indicates that Nerendorf was older than today's Gemünden. A nobility from Nerendorf family can be proven from the middle of the 14th to the middle of the 15th century. Her court there then fell to Westerburg as a castle fief. The place Nerendorf was mentioned for the last time in 1426, then only as a field name.

Rosenthal is mentioned for the first time in 1453, possibly as early as 1394 in a personal name, and is likely to have been located on the Schafbach near the boundary with Westerburg. There was the oldest demonstrable mill in today's Gemündener district. The place should have been desolate by 1519 at the latest.

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council in Gemünden consists of 16 council members, who were elected by a majority vote in the local elections on May 26, 2019 , and the honorary local mayor as chairman.

mayor

Dietmar Wolf became the local mayor of Gemünden in 2003. Since there was no candidate in the direct election on May 26, 2019, the local mayor was elected by the council. At the constituent meeting on June 26, 2019, he confirmed Wolf for another five years in his office.

Wolf's predecessor as local mayor, Dieter Keßler, held the office from 1985 to 2002.

coat of arms

The coat of arms of the municipality of Gemünden shows an eagle over three wavy ribbons. The coat of arms is based on history and landscape. The eagle, the heraldic animal of the empire , featured the family coat of arms of the Counts of Leiningen , but it also indicates that the St. Severus pin belonged directly to the empire for about 300 years . The wavy ribbons represent the three brooks from which the village takes its name, the Holzbach, the Elbbach and the Schafbach.

The coat of arms designed by Manfred Limbach was adopted by the local council on October 14, 1977 and approved by the Koblenz district government on May 8, 1978 .

Culture and sights

Buildings

The church of St. Severus (Protestant collegiate church) was probably built around the year 1100 and offers the visitor, among other things, remains of Romanesque painting from the 12th century.

See also

List of cultural monuments in Gemünden (Westerwald)

Regular events

  • The annual fair takes place on the Corpus Christi weekend (second weekend after Pentecost) .

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Personalities

  • Eduard Wissmann (1824–1899), German politician and writer ("Erwin Wester"), member of the Prussian House of Representatives
  • Dieter Fritsch (* 1950), Professor of Photogrammetry and Surveying at the University of Stuttgart

literature

Web links

Commons : Gemünden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, municipalities, association communities ( help on this ).
  2. ↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Official directory of the municipalities and parts of the municipality. Status: January 2019 [ Version 2020 is available. ] . S. 81 (PDF; 3 MB).
  3. ↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate - regional data
  4. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections
  5. ↑ a b Schultheißen - Schulzen - Mayor. Gemünden municipality (Westerwald), accessed on July 11, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Minutes of the constituent meeting on June 26, 2019. In: Wäller Wochenspiegel - Anzeiger for the Verbandsgemeinde Westerburg, edition 27/2019. Linus Wittich Medien GmbH, accessed on July 11, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Description of the coat of arms for the local community of Gemünden