Lessenich (Mechernich)

Lessenich City of Mechernich
Coordinates: 50 ° 36 ′ 30 ″  N , 6 ° 43 ′ 18 ″  E
Height :	253  (230–260)  m above sea level NHN
Area :	1.33 km²
Residents :	387  (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	292 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	53894
Area code :	02256
Town center, aerial photo (2015)

View over Lessenich.

Lessenich is a place on the northern edge of the Eifel , which belongs to the city of Mechernich in the Euskirchen district. It is roughly in the center of the triangle between Mechernich, Euskirchen and Bad Münstereifel . The Roman Eifel aqueduct to Cologne and the A1 run right past the local area. The three castles Zievel , Veynau and Satzvey are located near Lessenich . The Kühlbach flows through the village .

history

Lessenich's founding was probably after the Frankish period. Archaeological finds point to the end of the 7th century.

The first mention of Lessenich is in documents of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Maximin near Trier, which owned goods and rights in Lessenich, from the year 1116, however, which point to 1023 or later.

Count Giselbert of Luxembourg , who was in office between 1047 and 1059, gave St. Maximin "Lezenihe". Gottfried von Zievel was in 1169 as a feudal man of Heinrich III. von Limburg Lord of Zievel Castle and at the same time Vogt over the goods of the Abbey in Lessenich, he had several of these goods on fief. The church of St. Stephanus is also from this time, since Gottfried can be shown to have argued with the abbey over goods and patronage rights (= the right to suggest the pastor).

The Archbishop of Cologne, Philipp von Heinsberg , bought Zievel Castle with the associated goods (including Lessenich) from Heinrich III in 1190 . from Limburg .

In 1234 Zievel Castle was a free rule of the Lords of Daun, who were vassals of the counts (later dukes) of Jülich. Around 1377 Zievel Castle was owned by the knight Johann Schmeich von Lissingen.

In 1794 the Rhineland was conquered and annexed by the French. As a result, Lessenich came to the Mairie (mayor's office) of Wachendorf, Canton of Zülpich, Arrondissement Cologne , Département de la Roer in 1798 and belonged to France for a few years. After the French period , Lessenich came to the Amt of Satzvey and to the Rhine Province of Prussia in 1815 .

To thank Lessenich that Lessenich did not suffer any losses in the war of 1870/1871 against France, the Michaelskapelle was built on the way between Lessenich and Wachendorf (K44).

From July 1, 1969, the municipality of Lessenich-Rißdorf together with Antweiler , Kommern , Obergartzem , Satzvey-Firmenich , Schwerfen , Wachendorf and Weiler am Berge formed the new municipality of Veytal .

On January 1, 1972, the municipality of Veytal was incorporated into the municipality of Mechernich, with the exception of the Schwerfen district. Mechernich was promoted to town on July 23, 1975.

The name

The name Lessenich can be interpreted in a number of ways. First of all, it is noticeable that many of the place names with the ending -ich are located in the vicinity of Zülpich. The place name researcher Mürkens suspects that all these place names are of Celtic-Roman origin, that is, existed before the Frankish or even before the Roman settlement of the Rhineland. In his opinion, a farm was usually named after its owner and added the ending '–acum' or '–iniacum', which arose from the Celtic '–âcon'. Later the '-acum' became '-ich' by shifting the sound. Lessenich could have originated from “Laciniacum” / “Latiniacum” / “Lassoniacum” / “Liciniacum” = estate of Lacinius or Licinius.

St. Stephen's Church

St. Stephen

The church is a single nave quarry stone building, 18.20 meters long and 9 meters wide. The tower, with a round-arched late Gothic portal, which bears the year 1581, is four-storey and covered by an extremely slim, octagon-shaped helm. A fine Gothic cornice made of stone is attached to the second floor; the bell chamber has a double window on each side with a central column without a capital . The tower hall shows a cross vault, which bears the coat of arms of the Metternich-Müllenark . The tower is 13 m high up to the belfry and 45.15 m in total. The simple nave has three windows on each side and has a flat, paved ceiling. The late Gothic choir and the sacristy each have two pointed arched windows, the latter with ribbed cross vaults. The tracery of the choir window has broken out. The choir has an elegant star vault, in the keystone of which the Metternich coat of arms is carved. Tower, choir and sacristy are the oldest parts of the church; they originated in the 16th century, in the heyday of the v. Metternich's family on Zievel, which apparently donated a lot to the building. The sacristy was originally very small and was partially rebuilt in the 19th century. Particularly noteworthy is the triumphal arch in the church, which was built in the late Romanesque period. However, it already shows the ogival shape of the approaching Gothic. The current nave was completed between 1724 and 1734.

The bells were cast in 1532, 1952 and 1953. The inscription on the oldest bell reads “STEPHANI HEYSCHEN ICH, IN DYE ERE GOTZ I LUDEN I, DEN DONRE VERDRYVEN I, JAN VAN TRYER GOVS ME ANNO XXXII”.

traffic

The state road 499 begins behind Satzvey and runs through Lessenich, Rißdorf and Weiler am Berge to the L 165 motorway slip road . The district road 44 leads from Lessenich via Wachendorf to Iversheim .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martin Bünermann: The communities of the first reorganization program in North Rhine-Westphalia . Deutscher Gemeindeverlag, Cologne 1970, p. 87 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality register for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 301 and 309 .
3. ^ Gerhard Mürkens: The place names of the district of Euskirchen. 1958.
4. ^ F. W. Noll: Lessenich together with Rißdorf, Burg Zievel and Röttgerhof . Reprint from the supplements of the Euskirchener Zeitung from 1903.

literature

• Hermann Josef Kesternich with the assistance of Ä. Geusen and the dialect working group: Liif on Sięl. Dialect dictionary from the Antweiler Senke (=  history in the Euskirchen district ). 1989.
• Hermann Josef Kesternich with the assistance of Ä. Geusen and the dialect working group: Wält un Ömwält (=  history in the Euskirchen district ). 1995, ISBN 3-9802996-5-1 .

Web links

Commons : Lessenich  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the town of Lessenich
• Entry for the location in GenWiki