Langwitzgau

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The Längwitzgau ("Lancwizi") with its approximate demarcation around 1000
Location map with neighboring districts, some places and today's district boundaries for orientation

The Längwitzgau is a high medieval region, located in what is now the Ilm district in Thuringia on the northern edge of the Thuringian Forest . The name is of Sorbian origin, means something like Wiesenland or Wiesenbach (cf. Lanke (toponym) ) and refers to the course of the river or the Ilm valley . The Längwitzgau was first mentioned in 932 as Languizza .

geography

The area on the upper reaches of the Ilm and adjacent valleys, for example from Kranichfeld up to the ridge of the Thuringian Forest with the center between Stadtilm and Ilmenau, can be regarded as a Längwitzgau . The area east of Arnstadt in the Wipfra valley is also part of the core area of ​​this Gaus. The north-west around Arnstadt and the lower Wipfra with flat and fertile ground belongs to the old settlement land ( -leben -locations), while the south and east were still undeveloped in the 10th century, because the geographical conditions on the sterile and dry ( karstification ) Ilm- Saale-Platte are unfavorable. The Paulinzella forest in the east therefore remained permanently uninhabited.

Neighboring districts were the Westergau in the northwest, the Thuringgau in the north, the Ostergau in the northeast, the Orlagau in the east and the Grabfeldgau in the southwest beyond the uninhabited Thuringian Forest.

History and development of the country

At that time, the Gau was located in the transition area between German and Slavic settlement areas, the first mentions of the places from the north-west in the 8th century ( e.g. Arnstadt 704, Elxleben 775 or Marlishausen 779). Slavic settlers came from the Saale valley and reached the westernmost foothills of their settlement area in central Germany. Place names of Slavic origin, apart from Ober- and Unterpörlitz near Ilmenau, were only preserved on the eastern edge of the Längwitzgau in the valleys of Pennewitz and Garsitz in the south, which already led to the Saale, via Ober- and Unterköditz , Milbitz (near Rottenbach) and Groschwitz in the middle to to Milbitz (near Teichel) and Rettwitz in the north. Langewiesen (derived from Längwitz) and possibly also local winds can also be assigned to this group , but not Geschwenda (clearing name) and Branchewinda . In the Thuringian Forest, besides the Lengwitz, there are also some other names of waters of Slavic origin, such as the Jüchnitz and the Sieglitz .

The starting point for the extensive German settlement and reclamation of the Längwitzgau were the founding of monasteries in Paulinzella (1108) and Ichtershausen (1147). During this time, most of the -hausen places were founded, followed by the -dorf, -bach, and -roda places , which were settled from the 11th to the 14th century. The last thing that followed was the settlement of the valleys leading into the Thuringian Forest and the Slate Mountains, which did not permit agriculture and made other branches of business necessary (e.g. trucking, timber and pasture farming).

The most important city foundations in the area were the old capital Arnstadt (conferred by law in 1220) and the planned cities of Stadtilm (1268) and Königsee (1257), which were generously laid out at crossroads . Other central locations were the unfortified city of Ilmenau (1341) and the small towns of Remda (1286) and Plaue (1346), whose development came to a halt. Kranichfeld (city rights not until 1651) and Gehren (city rights 1855) also developed into local administrative centers. Important castles outside the cities mentioned were located in Liebenstein and Elgersburg to secure the roads from Erfurt to the south via the Thuringian Forest and in Ehrenstein on the road from Arnstadt into the Saale valley.

The Sizzonen and, as a result, the Counts of Kevernburg developed into the first counts' rulers in the Längwitzgau around 1100, although the tradition from this time is very incomplete and little is known about the origin of the family. Their descendants, the Counts and Princes of Schwarzburg , ruled large parts of the region until the end of the monarchy in 1918.

Today some names still point to the Längwitzgau. In the course of the Germanization of the area, the Längwitz was called Ilm , only one source stream, the Lengwitz , on the ridge of the Thuringian Forest kept the name. The place name Langewiesen is also derived from the Längwitzgau. The south-eastern part of the Arnstadt city ​​fortifications was called the Längwitzer Mauer, here on the road to Stadtilm stood the Längwitzer Tor with the suburb of Längwitz in front of it. The Arnstadt Südbahnhof was also known as Längwitz until 1912 . The landscape east of Arnstadt is also known as Längwitz .

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