History of Eppstein (Pfalz)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eppstein coat of arms (Pfalz)

The local history of Eppstein in Rhineland-Palatinate goes back to the 5th century. The first documentary mention was made as Appinstein on March 30, 769 in the Lorsch Codex . There, Eppstein is named in other documents as Ebenstein, Ebisstein and Ebinsstein in Wormsgau. New settlers - probably Germanic - settled on and within the framework of a Roman structure that is still unknown to this day and thus established the uninterrupted local history.

The name Eppstein

The Franks built houses in the middle of their fields. They named these after their name with the suffix "heim". Over time, hamlets and places around these farms emerged. Most of the places around Frankenthal were founded in this way.

Eppstein is an exception because it has "-stein" in the final syllable.

There is an explanation for this:

  • The first syllable of the name is derived from Abbo or Ebbo. This is an abbreviation or nickname of the name Eberhard. Eppstein would thus be Eberhard's property.
  • “Stone” could refer to a stone house or its ruin. Since the place names originated in the late migration period or the early Middle Ages, when stone construction was rather unusual in today's Germany, it will probably be the ruin of an old building from Roman times. A farmer's property in the back alley has a cellar made of very old stones and from which it is assumed that the "stone house" was located there. From other places with the syllable -stein, which are mentioned before the high medieval castle building (Greifenstein etc.), we know that there were small Roman fortresses (burgi) there.

Eppstein would thus be Eberhard's stone house or his courtyard, which stands by a ruin.

The district around Eppstein

The "hard meadows" are located west of the willow ditch and have a trapezoidal shape. Mentioned in a document, for example, in 1530 (herdtwiesen), 1542 (hertwisen). “Hard” has essentially two meanings, firstly it means mountain forest or simply forest. During a smaller or larger clearing period after the Franconian conquest around 500, which covered large parts of the Palatinate , a partial conversion into pastureland took place. In the Eppsteiner area, a population increase in the 13th century and the power politics of the Eppsteiner knight dynasty probably played a decisive role in the clearing. Population growth also meant that more acreage had to be created.

"Mordtgewann" was the name given to a swamp area. The name comes from "mord (t)" and is interpreted by Christman as boggy ground. Another swamp area lay between the “small pasture” and the “night pasture” and has been called “Moos” or “Maaß” for centuries. Both forms have been documented since 1530.

In the "gallows hole" some have taken their last breath. The name itself is a mystery and has nowhere been proven. It can be assumed for various reasons that this expression from the 18th century in the vernacular was familiar. A field name "in the hole" is often attested for the 16th and 17th centuries (in the hole 1542, in the hole 1543, 1604, 1613, 1615).

The field name “diebsaat” was passed down around the same time. The “diebsaat” should have been between “Erbsenssat” and “Zölchel” and therefore need not have been far from the “hole”. According to a report from the 16th century from Erpolzheim , thieves were convicted while sitting on a stone under an elm tree and then led "down the Weisenheimer Weg" to the "thieves' quarter", where they were to be executed. The word “thief” in this context stands for all offenders who should be hanged.

history

Prehistory and early history of Eppstein

Archaeological (chance) finds from almost all epochs of human history are known from the Eppstein district. However, since these are usually individual finds, which mostly did not come to light during scientific excavations, no statements can be made about the settlement structure. Several Celtic graves were discovered and measured in the new building area towards Studernheim. Franconian graves were discovered during excavations on the field of E. Sorg and in 1967, under the direction of Dr. Kaiser (Head of the Office for Senior Conservator) carried out the first on-site inspections. These excavations were the result of various accidental finds in this area (Eppstein von Habermehl and Maus page 49/50). On July 5, 1967, excavations began and graves and 5 urn graves were discovered. On the positive side, however, it must be noted that not only the Frankenthaler Altertumsverein and the Historical Society of the Palatinate, but also interested residents have repeatedly reported finds that have come to the museums in Speyer, Heidelberg and Frankenthal since 1900.

The time of Roman rule

Finds are also known from the Roman era, but they also do not allow any statements about the structure of the settlement. From the Ortsmanem on "... stone", which has been handed down from the 8th century, it can be deduced that at the time the place was named (5th-7th century) a very noticeable one in the flat plain of the Rhine lowlands , old (Roman) stone building or its ruin.

The early Middle Ages

The early medieval row grave field - used from the late 5th to the 8th century - is important beyond the local borders. It was one of the few in the Palatinate to be excavated in the 1980s by the then State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate (today General Directorate for Cultural Heritage). The cemetery has been in use since the late 5th century, and from that point in time one can assume the uninterrupted existence of a rural settlement - the present-day location. Eppstein (Pfalz) was mentioned on March 30th, 769 in the Lorsch Codex.

Fief and 12. – 13. Century by Eppstein

In the Middle Ages, property and power lay with the clergy and secular lords, the bishops and princes , with the clerical dignitaries also having secular power. These lent property and rights to knights , who did their rulers for military service with their husbands. Often the fiefdom was wholly or partially owned. The part of Eppstein that was not subject to the Groß- Frankenthal monastery, which probably had its rights from the Worms bishop, was, as the files say, “ancient Neustadter Mannslehen”. It probably came from the Count Palatinate and a lower nobility family from Eppstein was fiefdom bearers and - as far as the members actually lived in the village - bore his name after the village. The residence of this family is more likely to have been a so-called permanent house than a castle, as can usually be read. Speculations according to which a castle could be localized in today's place lack any comprehensible basis. In particular, statements that an arm of the Rhine flowed around this “moated castle” are geographically impossible. There are only two references to a “castle” in Eppstein for 1254 and 1250, but the documents are related to the Counts of Zweibrücken. Since these are not otherwise documented for Eppstein, there is a mix-up here - with Elmstein Castle, Gem. Lambrecht (Palatinate). Nothing is known about the architectural structures of the Middle Ages. The place was probably destroyed in the 30-year war of the Palatinate Succession. The shape of the street village still preserved today goes back to the subsequent reconstruction.

In addition to the lower nobility of the Eppstein family in Wormsgau , there was also a - socially significantly more important - noble-free family at Eppstein Castle in the Taunus . In case of doubt, significant people with this name - like those mentioned below - should not be related to the Palatinate town. This applies in particular to all ecclesiastical dignitaries and all those who are related or even related to the “von Bolanden” gender.

In 1193 a Gerhard von Eppstein was mentioned in the Weisenburg documents, who was wealthy in Hessheim im Wormsgau (a place nearby) and it can be assumed that he came from the village of Eppstein.

Feudal bearer

The following names can be identified from the family of the Knights of Eppstein as fiefs of the place Eppstein in Wormsgau:

  • Markwart 1167-1200
  • Berthold 1216-1253
  • Heinrich I 1254-1274
  • Jacob 1285
  • Baldemar 1318
  • Bernard 1351
  • Frank 1375
  • Henry II around 1380

Heinrich II. Von Eppstein left no male descendants and with him the Eppstein lower nobility might end.

Knights and servants of Eppstein

A few more documents report about the Knights of Eppstein. In the 12th century a market warden from Eppstein sold his property in Eppstein and Scharrau to the Schönau monastery near Heidelberg . This was confirmed by Count Palatine Konrad (1155–1195) and Abbot Sieghard von Lorch (1167–1200). The confirmation by the Count Palatinate should be proof that Eppstein was the fiefdom and that Markwart belonged to the Eppstein family in Wormsgau. A Knight of Eppstein is also mentioned in a document from 1278 about the St. Vitus Chapel. According to the Frankenthal files in Lucerne, under Abbot Werner, the Frankenthal convent received properties in 1274 as a donation from a knight Heinrich von Eppstein. In another document from 1318, Baldemar von Eppostein was released from the guild he had to pay to the Groß-Frankenthal Abbey. There are many other documents in which the following Eppsteiners were mentioned:

  • Conczichen of Eppstein (1383)
  • Berthold von Eppstein (1399)

Whether these two belonged to the Eppstein family in Wormsgau or Taunus cannot be proven.

It is assumed that with Heinrich II. Von Eppstein this family died out as fiefdoms and that the lords of Oberstein became new feudal lords. In 1390 a Sigfried von Wildenstein was feudal lord.

coat of arms

Blazon : In gold, a black horseshoe with cleats turned downwards.
A horseshoe seal is first detectable in 1782. Today's coat of arms was approved by the Bavarian state on June 27, 1841 and has been in use ever since. The horseshoe is interpreted as a reference to the well-known Eppstein horse breeding.

Literature and Sources

  • Paul Habermehl and Anna Maus: Eppstein. Frankenthal 1970.
  • Uwe Grünwald: Cremation graves of the Middle Late Bronze Age from Frankenthal-Eppstein, "Am Floß" . Verlag des Historischen Verein der Pfalz, Speyer 2000. From: Mitteilungen des Historischen Verein der Pfalz, 98.2000
  • Christoph Engels: The Merovingian burial ground Eppstein, city of Frankenthal (Palatinate) . Microfiche output Tectum-Verlag, Marburg 2004. ISBN 3-8288-1381-X
  • Christoph Engels: Row of graves from Eppstein . Erkenbert Museum , Frankenthal (Pfalz) 2004
  • E. Christmann: The settlement names of the Palatinate 1 . Speyer 1952
  • E. Christmann: The settlement names of the Palatinate 2 . Speyer 1964
  • F. Staab: Studies on society on the Middle Rhine and Moselle in the Carolingian period . Historical regional studies 11. Wiesbaden 1975
  • M. Dagger / A. Greule: Historical settlement name book of the Palatinate . Publications of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science 81. Speyer 1991

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minst, Karl Josef [transl.]: Lorscher Codex (Volume 3), Certificate 1181, March 30, 769 - Reg. 387. In: Heidelberg historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, p. 145 , accessed on April 16, 2016 .
  2. ↑ List of places for the Lorsch Codex, Eppstein , Archivum Laureshamense - digital, Heidelberg University Library.
  3. ↑ Origin of Conczichen von Eppstein (1383), Eckbrecht von Ebenstein (1391) and Bechthold von Ebestein (1399?) From this family unclear.

Coordinates: 49 ° 30 '  N , 8 ° 20'  E