Royal cities

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Royal cities
Coats of arms of royal cities
Coordinates: 49 ° 57 ′ 46 ″  N , 8 ° 26 ′ 58 ″  E
Height : 89 m above sea level NHN
Area : 8.84 km²
Residents : 10,148  (Dec. 31, 2017)
Population density : 1,148 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : July 1, 1956
Postal code : 65428
Area code : 06142
map
Early medieval course of the Main
Bismarckplatz. The oak on the right in the picture was planted in 1895 in honor of the former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
Bismarckplatz. The oak on the right in the picture was planted in 1895 in honor of the former Chancellor Otto von Bismarck .
Court seal (d = 35 mm) from royal cities from 1687, inscription: * GERICHTS SIEGEL ZV KÖNIGSTÄTLEN. MADE . 1687
Aerial view of Rüsselsheim-Königstädten in 1926
Aerial view of royal cities, 1926

Königstädten is a district of Rüsselsheim am Main in the southern Hessian district of Groß-Gerau and was incorporated in 1956. It borders on Nauheim in the south . Originally a place characterized by agriculture and forestry, Königstädten has mostly changed into a residential area over the years.

Geographical location

Königstädten is located on the right bank of the Rhine in the northern part of the Upper Rhine Plain , borders on the Hessian Ried and is part of the Rhine-Main area . The place used to be on the old main river Main . Parts of it can still be seen as sinks in the Königstädter district.

history

A site of end-Paleolithic tools of archaeological importance for the entire southern Hessian area proves that ice age hunters lived here as early as 13,000 years ago .

There were traces of settlement from the time of the bell cup approx. 2000 years BC. And flat axes from the Copper Age on today's fields between royal cities and Schönauer Hof to the west of today's town.

In the 1st century AD, the area around today's royal cities belonged to the Dekumatland in the Roman-occupied part of Germania . Approx. A Roman road ran 1 km to the west from Mogontiacum or Hochheim am Main to Kastel Groß-Gerau . Settlement at this time is not documented. After the fall of the Limes around 260 AD, Alemannic settlers poured into the Upper Rhine Plain and settled exclusively on the right bank of the Rhine until the 5th century. It is not known whether the Alemanni (possibly Alemannic Bucinobanten , who settled around the Lower Main) were the founders of royal cities or whether this role first fell to the Franks . However, the old place name Stetin indicates an Alemannic, pre-Franconian foundation.

Königstädten was mentioned for the first time in 817 in the Lorsch Codex , when Ludwig the Pious acquired the place through an exchange with the Fulda Abbey . During this time the name of the place Steten was called Stetin until the 14th century , then Steden , Stethen and Konigsteden . The monks of the Eberbach monastery were wealthy here .

Legend has it that Martin Luther preached in the Königstädter Church on the way to the Diet in Worms in 1521.

The Königstädter Church is mentioned in 880 when Ludwig the German donated it to the royal Salvators Chapel, which later became Frankfurt Cathedral . From the 15th century, the Counts of Isenburg-Birstein in particular exercised rule over royal cities before the place was ceded to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1642 ; in fact, however, only through the decision of an imperial commission. In the Middle Ages, the importance of Königstädt was mainly explained by its abundance of forests, which in 1927 still comprised an area of ​​around 1,300 hectares. The royal hunting and the timber industry determined the village life. Evangelized during the Reformation , royal cities were spared looting and destruction for a long time during the Thirty Years' War . But when the Swedish army took permanent quarters in Mainz , royal cities also fell victim to looting and the plague from 1634 . It is said that only four houses and nine residents of Königstadt survived the chaos of war. The war years following the French Revolution brought Prussian troops to royal cities in 1791 and French troops in 1805 .

In the Middle Ages the place belonged to the county of Isenburg-Birstein and in 1682 went to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt . With the Hessian rule, royal cities became part of the Hessian office of Rüsselsheim and remained there until 1820. From 1806 it belonged to the Starkenburg province of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . District districts were introduced in the Grand Duchy in 1821, and royal towns were assigned to the district of Dornberg .

The statistical-topographical-historical description of the Grand Duchy of Hesse reports on royal cities in 1829:

»Königstädten (L. Bez. Dornberg) Lutheran parish village; is 1 1 ⁄ 4 St. from Dornberg, and has 101 houses and 565 inhabitants, which up to 17 Cath. 1 Reform. and 40 Jews are all Lutheran. Nearby are sand mounds, which are probably of Roman origin and where Roman coins have already been found. - Royal cities, formerly called Stetin or Steden , came from the Münzenbergers and Falkensteiners to the Counts of Isenburg, who ceded the village to Hesse in 1642 by means of a main settlement. But it was not until 1685 that Hesse was brought into its possession by an imperial commission. The Padenhausen monastery near Heusenstamm, which was closed after the Reformation, still had patronage over the church in 1521. «

In 1832 the units were enlarged one more time and circles were created. As a result, royal cities came into the Groß-Gerau district. The provinces, the counties and the administrative districts of the Grand Duchy were abolished on July 31, 1848 and replaced by administrative districts, but this was reversed on May 12, 1852. As a result, Königstädten belonged to the Darmstadt administrative district between 1848 and 1852 , before the Groß-Gerau district was again responsible for the higher-level administration. The place remained there until today through all further administrative reforms.

In royal cities, agriculture dominated all other trades in importance well into the 20th century. The 12th and 13th centuries are considered a black day in the history of Königstadt. August 1944, when the village was almost completely destroyed in a night attack by British bombers. Starting with the setting of the target markers shortly after midnight, it took less than half an hour until almost the entire village center became an inferno. 22 residents and guests were killed in the flames. 72 horses, 245 cattle, 330 pigs, 101 goats and 2001 poultry were also killed in the fire. According to official information, a total of 86% of the buildings in royal cities were destroyed that night. It is suspected that the attack was actually aimed at either the Opel factory in Rüsselsheim or the Bischofsheim freight yard with its supraregional importance as a transport hub. More than 70,000 incendiary bombs and approx. 500 tons of high explosive bombs fell on royal cities that night.

After the reconstruction, the community, from which a large part of the population had found employment at Opel, was incorporated into Rüsselsheim in 1956 with around 2500 inhabitants at that time. Today the Königstädten district has around 10,000 inhabitants.

Territorial history and administration

The following list gives an overview of the territories in which royal cities were located and the administrative units to which it was subordinate:

Population development

• 1791: 425 inhabitants
• 1800: 460 inhabitants
• 1806: 505 inhabitants, 94 houses
• 1829: 565 inhabitants, 101 houses
• 1867: 815 inhabitants, 131 houses
Royal cities: Population from 1791 to 1950
year     Residents
1791
  
 425
1800
  
 460
1806
  
 505
1829
  
 565
1834
  
 676
1840
  
 738
1846
  
 753
1852
  
 715
1858
  
 725
1864
  
 760
1871
  
 827
1875
  
 831
1885
  
 925
1895
  
 951
1905
  
 1,080
1910
  
 1,125
1925
  
 1,268
1939
  
 1,551
1946
  
 1,612
1950
  
 2.005
Data source: Historical municipality register for Hesse: The population of the municipalities from 1834 to 1967. Wiesbaden: Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, 1968.
Other sources:
  • The 2011 census counted 8,565 inhabitants.
  • At the end of 2017, 10,148 people lived in royal cities.

politics

For Königstädten, there is a local district (areas of the former municipality of Königstädten) with a local advisory board and mayor according to the Hessian municipal code . The local advisory board consists of nine members. Since the local elections in 2016, he has had three members of the CDU , two members of the SPD , one member of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , one member of the FDP , one member of Die Linke / List Solidarity and one member does not belong to any parliamentary group. The mayor is Karl-Heinz Schneckenberger (Die Linke / List Solidarity).

Culture

Once a year, namely in autumn, the Königstädter Kerb takes place, which takes place over two weekends.

In Kinsteere the score falls on the Sunday after Gallus. Gallus is October 16, named after the death of St. Gallus (550–645), who preached to the Alemanni. If Gallus himself is a Sunday, then this is the notch Sunday.

The purpose of the Königstädter Hofkonzerte association is to promote art, culture and customs, in particular the organization of concert events and the publication of publications.

Kinsteerer Kerweborsch

The Kinsteerer Kerwebosch are an association of young men who have made it their business to maintain a tradition that has existed in royal cities for over 570 years. It's not Shrovetide or Christmas because they've been around for a long time; we're talking about the Kinsteerer curb .

This tradition is reflected every year in a large folk festival that extends over two weekends. The Kinsteerer Kerweborsch are the ones who plan and organize this festival throughout the year. They act behind and of course in front of the stage, supported by numerous helpers. They want to bring a piece of tradition closer to the Kinsteerern and thus prevent it from being forgotten; and every year over 500 visitors join the Kerweborsch every evening to support them not to forget the Kinsteerer curb and to celebrate it anew every year.

An active Kerwebosch must be male and bachelor in royal cities. In addition to all kinds of songs, maintaining tradition also includes a "calibration" that every Kerwebosch has to go through. For their special services to the "Kinsteerer Curb", four men have been named "Ehrenkerwebosch" for life: Thorben Geyer, Walter Giesecke (†), Kai Hentonnen, Georg Press (†)

Public facilities

The old school and town hall

Königstädten has a Protestant community center, a Protestant church and a Catholic church (Johannesgemeinde).

The Rüsselsheim community has a primary school (Königstädten primary school), a secondary and secondary school (Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule) and a school for the disabled (Helen-Keller-Schule).

The Königstädten volunteer fire brigade , which was founded in 1930, provides fire protection and general assistance. The history of the local fire brigade goes back to 1881.

Honorary citizen

literature

  • Weilbächer, Walther, Einsiedel: 500 years of the Kinsteerer curb. News, well-known and other babbling from Kinsteere. Royal cities 1989.
  • Weilbächer, Walther, Einsiedel: Friedrich Höngen - history of the municipality of Königstädten. Royal cities 1992.
  • Weilbächer, Walther, Einsiedel: Bomb night. Royal cities - 12./13. August 1944. Media Concept, Rüsselsheim 1994. ISBN 3-929722-03-8
  • Weilbächer, Walther, Einsiedel: royal cities from the Ice Age to modern times. Media-Konzept Verlag, Rüsselsheim 2004. ISBN 3-9809940-2-3
  • Lars Adler : Hare, spade, bullet weight. The coats of arms of Haßloch, Königstädten and Bauschheim , in: Bärbel Maul / Jens Scholten / Gudrun Senska (arrangement), To the place through time and space. Rüsselsheim history from the beginning to the early modern period, ed. from the city council of Rüsselsheim am Main, 1st edition, Regensburg 2017, pp. 97-101. ISBN 978-3795432607
  • Literature about royal cities in the Hessian Bibliography
  • Search for royal cities in the archive portal-D of the German Digital Library

Web links

Commons : Royal Cities  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Urban area according to the 2013 Statistical Report ( Memento from September 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), page 13 of the PDF file
  2. ↑ a b Statistical Report 2018. (PDF; 6.1 MB) In: www.ruesselsheim.de. City of Rüsselsheim am Main, Department of Finance, p. 35 , accessed on November 29, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Found in 1989, approx. 1 km north of Königstädten ( 49 ° 58 ′ 32 ″  N , 8 ° 26 ′ 14 ″  E )
  4. ↑ cf. Kurt Kibbert: The axes and hatchets in central West Germany . CH Beck 1980, ISBN 3406007775 , p. 81 ( online at google books )
  5. ↑ cf. EE Metzner: The old “royal cities” between the river and the highway since the Alemannic era - a medieval administrative center and the associated central meeting place . EE Metzner: at www.königstaedsten.de
  6. ↑ a b royal cities. Historical. In: www.koenigstaedten.de. Private website , accessed April 2019 .
  7. ^ A b Georg Wilhelm Justin Wagner : Statistical-topographical-historical description of the Grand Duchy of Hesse: Province of Starkenburg . tape 1 . Carl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt October 1829, OCLC 312528080 , p. 128 ( online at google books ).
  8. ↑ a b c royal cities, district of Groß-Gerau. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of May 24, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  9. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. State of Hesse. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  10. ^ Grand Ducal Central Office for State Statistics (ed.): Contributions to the statistics of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . tape 1 . Großherzoglicher Staatsverlag, Darmstadt 1862, DNB  013163434 , OCLC 894925483 , p. 43 ff . ( Online at google books ).
  11. ^ Ferdinand Dieffenbach: The Grand Duchy of Hesse in the past and present . Lit. art. Anst., 1877, Darmstadt 1877, p. 232 ( online at Google Books ).
  12. ↑ a b List of offices, places, houses, population. (1806) HStAD inventory E 8 A No. 352/4. In: Archive Information System Hessen (Arcinsys Hessen), as of February 6, 1806.
  13. ↑ Hessen-Darmstadt state and address calendar 1791 . In the publishing house of the Invaliden-Anstalt, Darmstadt 1791, p.  127 ( online in the HathiTrust digital library ).
  14. ↑ Hessen-Darmstadt state and address calendar 1800 . In the publishing house of the Invaliden-Anstalt, Darmstadt 1800, p.  130 ( online in the HathiTrust digital library ).
  15. ^ Ph. AF Walther : Alphabetical index of the residential places in the Grand Duchy of Hesse . G. Jonghaus, Darmstadt 1869, OCLC 162355422 , p. 48 ( online at google books ).
  16. ↑ Selected data on population and households on May 9, 2011 in the Hessian municipalities and parts of the municipality. In: 2011 census . Hessian State Statistical Office;
  17. ↑ main statute. (PDF; 15 kB) § 4. In: Website. City of Rüsselsheim, accessed April 2019 .
  18. ^ Local Advisory Council Königstädten. In: website. City of Rüsselsheim, accessed October 2019 .