History of the Schwalm-Eder district

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The history of the Schwalm-Eder district describes the historical development in the area of ​​the north Hessian Schwalm-Eder district .

prehistory

As archaeological finds near Arnsbach , Züschen ( stone chamber grave of Züschen ) and Rhünda ( skull of Rhünda ) prove, the area of ​​today's Schwalm-Eder district was already settled during the Neolithic Age.

From the Middle Bronze Age (1700 to 1200 BC) there is a barrow near Wiera , which has a special cultural and historical significance due to its stone pillar circles.

In the time around 250 BC Until 450 AD, the field of the Wippchensteine between Willingshausen and Schrecksbach was an important place of worship.

To Roman times the Schwalm-Eder district lived in the territory of the chat that are considered ancestors of Hesse. An important thing field for chats was on the Mader Heide with the Wotanstein near Gudensberg . During the migration , other tribes passed the area of ​​the West Hessian depression , as the Schwalm-Eder area was defended by the well-fortified Chatti. The fate of the Chatti was only marginally influenced by the great migration.

Franconian Hessengau

Since about 719 the area belonged to the Franconian Gaugrafschaft Hessengau , the "Pagus Hassorum" of Franconian Austrasia (Eastern Franconia). At this time the spelling “Hassen” or “Hessen” appears for the first time as a designation for the people living in the old Chattengau , whose center was in the area of ​​the lower Eder. Important settlement and cult sites were located here, such as the Wodansberg near Gudensberg and the Donareiche near the old Chatti fortress on the Büraberg near Frideslar .

After Boniface felled the Donariche near Geismar in 723, the missionary work of the Saxons and their submission to Franconian suzerainty were intensified from the Benedictine monastery founded in Fritzlar in 724 and the Büraberg diocese near Fritzlar in 742 . Lullus downgraded the diocese Büraberg in 747 to a choir diocese and abolished it in 786. The city of Fritzlar became the center of the Hessengau and later of the Mainz hegemonic efforts in Lower Hesse.

To the north, the Hessengau bordered the Saxon area. The border location between the Chatto-Franconian and Saxon settlement areas caused armed conflicts for decades.

Until the 9th century, the Frankish counts of the Esikonen and then the Konradines administered the county. With Werner I , who was enfeoffed with the county of Maden by Konrad II in 1027 , the time of the Counts of Werner began , who administered the central and northern part of the Hessengau in the 11th and 12th centuries. The main town of the county was Gudensberg with the Obernburg not far from Thingplatz on the Mader Heide . In Werner IV. Followed from 1121 for a short time Gisonen with Giso IV. And Giso V. After they died in 1137 was the area handed down to the Thuringian Ludowinger .

Between 1066 and 1079, the Archdiocese of Mainz acquired the monastery and city of Fritzlar through gifts from Emperor Heinrich IV. From royal and imperial property, and from there sought to expand its influence in Lower Hesse. Between 1115 and 1118 both Werner IV. And Giso IV. Entrusted all imperial estates in their possession in Upper and Lower Hesse to Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz as a fief. This led to a long dispute between Mainz and the Landgraves of Thuringia and Hesse. A high point of these disputes was the total destruction of Fritzlar in September 1234 by Konrad of Thuringia .

In the southern part of the Hessengau, the county of Ziegenhain was established in 1144 , which existed until the death of the last count, Johann II. , In 1450 and fell to Hesse in 1495 after a lengthy dispute over succession.

Archdiocese of Mainz and Landgraviate of Hesse

The Archbishopric Mainz had extensive possessions and rights in the area of ​​today's Schwalm-Eder district. In addition to the strongly fortified main town Fritzlar, where a Mainz archdeaconate existed, Jesberg Castle (built by the Lords of Linsingen , sold by them to the Archdiocese of Mainz and received back as a fief), and Heiligenburg Castle near Gensungen .

With the establishment of the Landgraviate of Hesse as a result of the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession (1247–1264) and the elevation of Heinrich I to Imperial Prince in 1291, the competition between Mainz and the new Landgraviate came to a head. It culminated repeatedly in bloody feuds between the feudal bearers and bailiffs and also between the two main actors themselves. It was not until 1427 that the landgraves succeeded in gaining supremacy in Lower Hesse with their victory in the battle of the Großenengliser Platte near Fritzlar in the Mainz-Hessian War secure and push back the influence of Mainz on a few enclaves such as Fritzlar, Amöneburg and Naumburg .

For the administration of the landgrave's possessions and courts , offices were established that were responsible for the areas within the Landgraviate of Hesse. In today's Schwalm-Eder district, these were the offices of Borken , Breitenau , Felsberg , Gudensberg , Homberg , Jesberg , Melsungen , Neukirchen , Spangenberg , Treysa , Raboldshausen and Ziegenhain . The last three were the independent county of Ziegenhain until 1450 .

On the initiative of Landgrave Philipp I , the Homberg Synod took place in the town church of St. Marien in Homberg (Efze) in 1526 , at which the religious affiliation of Hesse was discussed. As a result, the Reformation was introduced in the Landgraviate of Hesse and thus also in the area of ​​today's Schwalm-Eder district. Fritzlar in Mainz remained Catholic and is still a center of Catholicism in Northern Hesse, which is predominantly Protestant. However , the number of Protestant residents of Fritzlar increased sharply in the 20th century due to immigration from the surrounding area and the acceptance of expellees .

After Philip's death in 1567, the landgraviate was divided between his four sons ( Hessen-Kassel , Hessen-Marburg , Hessen-Rheinfels and Hessen-Darmstadt ). The Landgraviates of Hessen-Marburg and Hessen-Rheinfels fell to the Landgraviates of Hessen-Kassel and Hessen-Darmstadt after the ruling houses died out.

Hessen-Kassel

The Fritzlar enclave with the villages Unthanken and Rothhelmshausen remained an Electoral Mainz property and was administered by the Fritzlar Office of Mainz . It came to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel as part of the nominal principality of Fritzlar, formed from the former Mainz free float , only after the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 . Amöneburg , Neustadt (Hessen) and Naumburg (Hessen) also belonged to the Principality of Fritzlar, for which the Landgrave received an additional viril vote in the Reichstag .

Kingdom of Westphalia

In the time of the short-lived Kingdom of Westphalia by Napoleon grace (1807-1813), the area of ​​today's Schwalm-Eder district fell into two different departments of the kingdom. The northern area belonged to the department of Fulda ( prefecture Kassel) with the cantons Felsberg , Fritzlar , Gensungen , Gudensberg , Körle , Melsungen , Niedenstein and Wabern . The southern part was administered by the Werra department (prefecture of Marburg ) in the districts of Marburg with the cantons of Jesberg and Treysa and the district of Hersfeld with the cantons of Borken , Homberg , Frielendorf , Ziegenhain , Neukirchen , Schwarzenborn , Oberaula , Niederaula .

Electorate of Hesse-Kassel

With the implementation of the organizational edict of June 29, 1821 in Hessen-Kassel, four provinces were formed: Lower Hesse , Upper Hesse , Fulda and Hanau . In the area of ​​today's Schwalm-Eder district, the districts Fritzlar , Homberg and Melsungen (all in Lower Hesse) and Ziegenhain (in Upper Hesse) existed from 1821 . The core of the reform was the separation of administration and jurisdiction. The old offices were therefore dissolved, the districts took over the administrative tasks and judicial offices were set up for jurisdiction .

German Revolution 1848/49

The Electorate of Hesse-Kassel was also not "spared" from the effects of the March Revolution in 1848. "

On October 31, 1848, the Hessian provinces and districts were abolished. It was replaced by nine districts and 21 administrative offices on the basis of the now only 21 districts. The three former districts and now administrative offices of Fritzlar , Homberg and Ziegenhain were merged to form the Fritzlar district.

On September 15, 1851, this reform was reversed and the administrative structure from 1821 was restored.

Prussia

After the German War of 1866 , Prussia annexed the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel and the Duchy of Nassau and combined both to form the Province of Hesse-Nassau . The province was divided into the two administrative districts Kurhessen (seat Kassel ) and Nassau (seat Wiesbaden ). The areas of the existing districts were not changed after the annexation. In 1867, minor corrections were made to the counties in the administrative district of Nassau that were renamed counties.

As part of a small administrative reform in the province of Hessen-Nassau in 1932, the Fritzlar-Homberg district (renamed Fritzlar-Homberg district in 1939) with the district town of Fritzlar was formed from the Fritzlar and Homberg districts , with Homberg remaining the seat of various district authorities (including the tax office) .

time of the nationalsocialism

The November pogroms in Felsberg in 1938 claimed the first Jewish deaths in Kurhessen .

In National Socialist Germany, in what is now the Schwalm-Eder district, there were among others the Breitenau concentration camp , the Elben women's camp and the Ziegenhain prisoner of war camp .

In the lignite area of Borken , PreussenElektra deployed Polish forced laborers to mine lignite.

The attack on the Edertalsperre and its destruction in 1943 led to a tidal wave that reached a height of six to eight meters through the Edertal ( Fritzlar , Wabern , Felsberg ) and the Fulda ( Kassel ) to the Weserstein ( Hann. Münden ) and into the Weser valley raft.

1945 until today

After the Second World War , the existing districts in the American zone of occupation were retained. The state of Greater Hesse was founded on September 19, 1945 . After the vote on the constitution of the state of Hesse , it became the state of Hesse on December 1, 1946 , in which the existing districts and offices kept their shape.

The vehicle registration numbers from 1956 were for the Fritzlar-Homberg FZ district , the Melsungen district MEG and the Ziegenhain district ZIG .

Territorial reform

With the regional reforms from 1972 to 1977, the layout of the Hessian districts and municipalities was fundamentally changed. The districts of Fritzlar-Homberg, Melsungen and Ziegenhain were merged on January 1, 1974 to form the Schwalm-Eder district (new license plate HR ). Because of its central location, the city of Homberg became a district town. At the same time, formerly independent municipalities and cities were merged into larger municipal and city associations.

In addition, some places were incorporated into the new great district or outsourced from it:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ K. Weidemann: Kassel - Hofgeismar - Fritzlar - Melsungen - Ziegenhain. Lower Hesse in the early and high Middle Ages. In: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (Hrsg.): Guide to prehistoric and early historical monuments. 1st edition. tape 50 . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-8053-0573-7 , p. 190-210 .
  2. ↑ In place of Gudensbarg, which under the Ludowingers had remained the headquarters of the younger brothers who administered their Hessian possessions, Kassel had become the headquarters of the Hessian landgraves since 1277.
  3. ↑ Volker Knöppel: The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 and the end of clerical rule in northern Hesse . In: Yearbook of the Hessian Church History Association . tape 55 , 2004, pp. 129 ff .

literature

  • Georg Landau : Description of the Electorate of Hesse . Theodor Fischer, Kassel 1842 ( PDF 42.6 MB [accessed December 17, 2008]).
  • Friedrich Justin Bertuch (ed.): General geographical ephemeris . With charts and copper. Volume six and thirtieth. Publishers of the Landes-Industrie-Comtoirs, Weimar 1911 ( PDF 19.2 MB [accessed on April 26, 2009]).
  • "Royal Decree, whereby the division of the kingdom into eight departments is ordered" . "Directory of the departments, districts, cantons and communes of the kingdom". In: Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Hrsg.): Project Westphalian history . ( PDF 4.9 MB [accessed April 26, 2009]).

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