Mönchzell

Mönchzell Community Meckenheim
Coordinates: 49 ° 20 ′ 7 ″  N , 8 ° 50 ′ 53 ″  E
Height :	155 m above sea level NN
Area :	4.62 km²
Residents :	1091  (2015)
Population density :	236 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation :	December 31, 1973
Postal code :	74909
Area code :	06226

Mönchzell is the other part of the municipality of Meckesheim in the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg . In the course of the regional reform in Baden-Württemberg , the previously independent municipality was incorporated into Meckesheim at the end of 1973.

Geography and climate

Mönchzeller nest location with Reichelsberg and Mühlwald in the background

The village of Mönchzell, the only place in the municipality, is about 14 km (as the crow flies) southeast of Heidelberg . The place is located in the northern Kraichgau on the border with the Kleiner Odenwald , to which Mönchzell was previously included. The village has a nest location typical of the Kraichgau hill country and lies on the course of the Lobbach at an altitude of 150 to 267 meters (Reichelsberg). The Lobbach, which rises in Haag, was previously called Mannbach from the source to Mönchzell, and from Mönchzell to Elsenz then Lobenbach or Maienbach. Initially, the settlement developed at the confluence of the Brunnenbächlein across the Lobbachtal, which faces southwest, before expanding along the Lobbach towards Lobenfeld and Meckesheim from the 18th century onwards.

The district of Mönchzell (until 1973) had a size of 462.08 hectares. 32.8 percent of the municipal area consists of mixed forest (151.56 ha). In 1837 the forest area was 321 acres (115.56 ha).

The local climate in the sheltered Mönchzeller Kessel is - in keeping with the Kraichgau - mild. The colorful fruit tree blossom on the hills around the village is characteristic of spring. Summers can be hot and dry but affected by violent thunderstorms. There is hardly any snow in winter.

The monk Zeller district was established in 1960 comprising up 1962 after the then ideas corridor adjusted . The diverse structure of small parcels was abolished, which led to the risk of flooding and several floods in the village. Attempts are made to counter the risk of flooding with two rain retention basins - Katzengraben and Oberbrühl (formerly the old weir for the mill canal).

Agriculture, which is dwindling, benefits from the fertile Kraichgau loess soil . Mönchzell, with its flora and fauna worth protecting (especially in the Mühlwald), is part of the Neckartal-Odenwald nature park .

history

timeline

Roman times

The beginnings of settlement go back to Roman times, as evidenced by the excavation of a Roman estate ( villa rustica ) in the hay fields.

In Mönchzell, in addition to a Roman stone with the name Vicus Nediensis , the upper part of a square four-god stone made of red sandstone was found. It was walled up in the upper barn in the estate ("castle") used as a sheepfold and was discovered by the Heidelberg local historian Karl Christ and his brother. The lower part of the Roman stone is missing. The originally well-crafted figures of gods preserved from the top to the middle of the chest

• Juno (with a veil over the wavy hair, almost only the outlines preserved),
• Mercury (with wings on the head, the chlamys over the left shoulder) and
• Hercules (naked with full beard) in round niches.
• The fourth side was chiseled off so that the stone could be used structurally.

The originally square stone, preserved only with the upper 40 cm, is 52 cm wide. It may have been part of a giant Jupiter column from the Mönchzeller villa rustica. It was acquired in 1888 by the Mannheimer Altertumsverein through the mediation of the then estate manager Edinger in Spechbach.

For the Celtic period, the Meckesheim local chronicler Zimmermann claims to have identified Celtic living pits in the Mühlwald between Mönchzell and Meckesheim, but this has not yet been archaeologically confirmed.

First documentary mention - Wyelercellen 1337 or Waldolfeshusen 771

In 1337 Mönchzell was mentioned for the first time as "Wyelercellen" in the Lorsch Codex , namely in a document concerning the neighboring monastery Lobenfeld , in which "Merkel the Schultheiss von Wyelercellen" and "Heinrich called Brinnemann" are mentioned as Mönchzell witnesses.

The equation of Mönchzell with the " Waldolfeshusen " mentioned in the Lorsch Codex in 771 , which Johann Goswin Widder made in his "Description of the Electoral Palatinate" in 1788, is controversial.

Franconian development settlement

According to the official district description, the place is said to have emerged as a church development settlement in the 9th century. After the Worms Synodal of 1496, the old Mönchzeller Peterskirche, whose patronage was the Mönch von Rosenberg, was the sending branch of Meckesheim, which could speak for an expansion from Meckesheim. The tithe in the whole area belonged to the patronage right.

The nucleus of Mönchzell lies at the former Mönchzeller Weiher, in today's Hofgut Fellmann ("Castle") between the Weihergarten and Friedhofstrasse. There, as in other cell locations , the church cell of a hermit may have existed, which is also indicated by the remains of the wall that were still present at the beginning of the 20th century (see the local history of Pastor Nieder 1900). It must have been a monastic hermitage or hermitage. It is even mentioned that they are said to have come from a monastery. This is supported by the fact that in the Heidelberg variant of the 13th century Rosengartenlied (manuscript C), the author from the Heidelberg area ascribes the hero Islan to the “Münchgenzelle” monastery. Baron von Biedenfeld's study of the monasteries of the Bursfeld congregation from 1838, in which Mönchzell is listed as such a monastery, points in the same direction . Old stories about a secret underground passage between a Mönchzeller monastery and the Lobenfeld nunnery should be part of the legends.

Counts of Lauffen-Dilsberg

Mönchzell was an old property of the Counts of Lauffen -Dilsberg and included in the Staufer empire around Wimpfen .

Counts of Katzenelnbogen

Coat of arms of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen

Mönchzell is a district of the municipality of Meckesheim in the Rhein-Neckar district ( Baden-Württemberg ). The local rule and feudal sovereignty over Mönchzell passed to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen in the 12th century . Adelheid von Lauffen married Count Heinrich II von Katzenelnbogen , to whom she paid her share of the inheritance, to which Mönchzell and other Kraichgau towns belonged. This is how Mönchzell became a fiefdom of the cat breed . The Katzenelnbogen exercised fiefdom over Mönchzell until 1479, the year in which the family died out. Successors as feudal lords were the Landgraves of Hesse in 1482 .

The central sovereignty with the central jurisdiction over serious crimes is to be distinguished from the feudal sovereignty . After the end of the Staufer , the central sovereignty over the Meckesheimer Zent , to which Mönchzell belonged, passed to the Lords of Weinsberg and in 1330 to the Electoral Palatinate . Local jurisdiction was exercised as lower jurisdiction by the Mönchzell local lords at the local court.

Monk of Rosenberg as local rulers

As fiefs of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, the "Munich von Rosenberg" or Mönch von Rosenberg can be verified as local lords of Mönchzell from 1354 , namely:

• 1354 to 1363 Lutz Mönch von Rosenberg , who also had goods in Eberbach , and Konrad Mönch von Rosenberg were enfeoffed with one half of the village each. The half of the village of Lutz passed over to Hans Mönch von Rosenberg in 1363. Konrad ("Kunz") bequeathed his half of the village to Hans in 1386. From 1379, Konrad was a Palatine bailiff at Steinsberg Castle . He was the third oldest of four brothers and married to Anna von Riedern . The marriage presumably remained childless, at least with no male offspring. In 1371 and 1382, Konrad also acquired considerable property in Dallau.
• 1363 to 1386 Hans Mönch von Rosenberg took the nickname "zu Mönchzell" ("Munich from Rosenberg zu Mönchzell"). In 1363 he transferred his half of the village from Mönchzell to Albrecht von Venningen . Hans and his sons Henslin and Peter were put into the Reichsacht in 1384 .
• 1386 to 1387 Hans Mönch von Rosenberg is enfeoffed with 1/2 Mönchzell, as he had inherited from his father Konrad.
• 1387 to 1400 Dieter Mönch von Rosenberg is also inherited with 1/2 Mönchzell, the second half is still held by Hans Mönch von Rosenberg
• 1400 to 1408 Dieter Mönch von Rosenberg, who was also the local lord of Kirchardt.
• 1408 to 1428 Ruprecht Mönch von Rosenberg
• 1428 to 1443 Konrad Mönch von Rosenberg
• 1443 to 1445 Peter Mönch von Rosenberg and the children of his late brother Konrad
• 1445 to 1450 Peter von Menzingen as guardian for the children of Konrad Mönch von Rosenberg
• 1450 to 1476 Ruprecht Mönch von Rosenberg
• 1476 to 1491 Ruprecht Mönch von Rosenberg dies in 1476 without an heir, so that Konrad von Sickingen receives local rule for one half of the village and a branch of the monks of Rosenberg for the other half of the village
• 1491 to 1498 Konrad von Sickingen and the Mönch von Rosenberg share the village. According to the episcopal visitation files of 1496, the parish set belonged to the monk of Rosenberg. and was - as from the beginning - consecrated to Saint Peter.
• 1498 to 1528 Georg Prantner or Brentner (called Veit Jörg), who was captain of Franz von Sickingen in the Pfaffenkrieg in 1522 during his Palatine rebellion and Kunigunde monk or Münchin von Rosenberg. Under the tough rule of Georg Prantner, the Mönchzeller had little good. This is shown by a contract that was concluded between him and the Mönchzellern in 1520. In a court order of June 23, 1520, which was presided over by Elector Ludwig V of the Palatinate in Heidelberg, there is much talk of corporal punishment.

The designation "Münchzell" (prevailing until the 19th century) or "Mönchzell" is only found from 1354 and comes from the local rulers at that time , Messrs. Mönch von Rosenberg . Until then, Mönchzell was called Wyelercellen or simply “Zell” for short. The new place name Mönchzell also made it easier to distinguish it from the neighboring Langenzell . The monks of Rosenberg were a lower nobility that gradually worked their way up through feudal and servant relationships. In their coat of arms they featured a bark-headed monk with outstretched arms, holding three roses in one hand and a bird in the other. They have been documented at Rosenberg Castle near Osterburken since the 13th century . They were castle men of the Rosenberg dynasty .

The village was mostly divided in half between different lines of rule and was also pledged on various occasions, so that as lords and a. the Landgraves von Hausen , Albrecht von Venningen and Franz von Sickingen also appear.

Local lords of Zandt

Coat of arms of the Barons von Zandt

Within the oldest part of Mönchzell (Hofgut) there was a castle barn in the late Middle Ages , which Georg von Zandt expanded into a noble residence in 1565 ("Schlosshof"). Georg von Zandt also succeeded in converting the previous man's fief into an inheritance , so that the place remained until the death of Felizitas Engelhard née. von Zandt remained in the possession of the von Zandt family in 1669. The Lords of Zandt , to whom Epfenbach also belonged, formed the following local authorities:

• 1528 to 1555 Carl von Zandt , acquired the Mönchzell fief for 1425 Rhenish guilders from Georg Prantner. He introduced the Lutheran creed in Mönchzell as early as the 1530s. The Vogtsjunker were able to keep it against all objections of the Palatinate.
• 1555 to 1598 Georg von Zandt appeared as Jörg von Zandt zu Mönchzell at the Augsburg Reichstag in 1566, where he was completely ignorant of the authors of an anti-Palatinate denunciation written by the Kraichgau knighthood that was leaked to the Kaiser at the Reichstag (with the allegations against Elector Friedrich of the religious and breach of the peace as well as the violation of the imperial constitutions) asserted. Georg von Zandt built the so-called "castle" from his own resources next to the old Burgstadel and thereby achieved the conversion of the previous man fief into an inheritance. Under him the rights to the village and the village rules from 1509 were renewed. The following picture of Mönchzell from the year 1565 can be reconstructed from the documents of that time: Mönchzell was surrounded by a fence. The upper gate was on the way to Neckargemünd. The old main extension ran across the Lobbachtal and not in the direction of the valley as it is today. We also meet Georg von Zandt in the Meckesheim Central Treaty of 1560. In it, the “incessant dispute” between Mönchzeller and other local lords was compared with the Electoral Palatinate because of various sovereign rights. From this contract, Mönchzell was subject to the Electoral Palatinate tax sovereignty. The Mönchzeller local lord received the name Vogtsjunker in this contract and was counted to the "Zentadel". As a result, there was again a dispute over the interpretation of the central contract. The Electoral Palatinate granted the Vogtsjunkern as a whole the lower jurisdiction, which was expanded somewhat by the central treaty. The Vogtsjunker wanted to be subject to the Palatinate territorial rule only in the areas ("land based") that had been agreed in the central contract, but otherwise be on an equal footing with the Imperial Knighthood. This legal opinion of the Vogtsjunker was found to be correct by the imperial courts. The tax was due to the Vogtsjunker . It was transferred to the local residents by property. One to three carnival chickens and harvest roosters were also to be handed in per house. The Mönchzeller owed the Junker (until 1832) unmeasured labor. Only for the harvest time was it precisely determined for the individual house spaces whether they had to provide carts or handhelds (27 in total). For the year 1577 it is recorded that Mönchzell had 80 inhabitants. At that time, the Mönchzell fiefdom probably comprised the greater part of the area . In 1585 he owned 158 acres of fields, 20 acres of meadows, the mill forest and a piece of forest on the Salzberg. The feudal estate of the local lords was registered with the canton Kraichgau of the imperial knighthood. In 1597 Georg von Zandt, who was in debt because of his building work and the trousseau of his children, had to pledge Mönchzell.
• 1598 to 1629 Walter von Zandt , who was also Obervogt von Pforzheim. Under him there were again arguments with the Mönchzellern. In 1617 the Mönchzeller declared that they had no other judge than the Palatinate. When Hessian councilors wanted to mediate between the Mönchzellern and Walter von Zandt because of the labor, the community did not appear despite five summons. As in the dispute with Georg Prantner a hundred years earlier, the Mönchzeller sought support from the Electoral Palatinate in their striving for independence from the local authorities, which was a thorn in the side of the Hessian fiefdom over Mönchzell. The high hunt (big game like deer) was temporarily left to the Junkers by the Electoral Palatinate. The lower hunt belonged to the local squires anyway (deer, hares, poultry). In 1599 the local lord of Spechbach received the high hunt between Maienbach ( Lobbach ) and Schwarzbach , in 1600 Walter von Zandt received the hunt in the remaining part of the Mönchzeller and in the adjacent parts of the Meckesheim district.
• 1629 to 1664 widow of Walter von Zandt. Mönchzell had been Lutheran since the 1530s. The local lords were able to keep it against all objections of the Palatinate over the time of local rule. Only during the Thirty Years' War did the Bavarian bailiff temporarily appoint a Catholic clergyman on the Dilsberg in 1631 . At that time the Lutheran church was still in the courtyard above the manor building.
• 1664 to 1667 Felicitas von Zandt and husband Eberhard Wilhelm Engelhard

In 1870 a tombstone of one of the gentlemen von Zandt and his wife is said to have been found in the courtyard in the area of ​​the former pond and brought to Munich .

Barons of Festenburg

After Felicitas von Zandt died childless, Ludwig VI., Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt , moved in Mönchzell and enfeoffed Andreas Hartmann von Festenburg as a son and daughter loan in 1669 , who ceded his own property in Kürnbach to Hesse. The coat of arms of the Festenburger shows a horizontal white bar on a green shield (today's local colors). His indebted descendants had to cede the "Rittergut Mönchzell" around a hundred years later to Friedrich Johann Emich von Uexküll-Gyllenband , an extensive relative. The von Festenburg provided the following local lords:

• 1669 to 1684 Georg Andreas Hartmann von Festenburg (born 1616 in Gündelsheim , died July 19, 1683 in Bechtheim ). He was imperial and Baden-Durlachscher commissioner and lord of Bechtheim, Mettenheim, Adelheim , Mönchzell, Spechbach and Epfenbach .
• 1684 to 1725 Johann Melchior Hartmann von Festenburg appointed the first Lutheran schoolmaster Johann Kaspar Reichert von Lohrbach to Mönchzell in 1701 . He was generous in accepting new citizens, so that “new blood” came into the population. As a Lutheran local ruler, Johann Melchior was intolerant of Catholics and prevented the Catholic priest Bange from exercising his office. For example, he expelled the Catholic pastor by force during a funeral, so that he had to leave the Catholic deceased lying on the ground and flee from the cemetery. The behavior of the local lord led to the fact that even the Lutheran pastor and the Mönchzell community complained to the liege lord in Darmstadt .
• 1725 to 1757 Friedrich Ludwig von Festenburg was first cavalry master of the Palatinate , then major and commander of the Dilsberg. He converted to the Catholic religion.
• 1757 to 1765 Phillip Ludwig von Festenburg was heavily in debt.

• 1765 until 1768 at the latest Georg Christoph von Reitzenstein, a lieutenant colonel from the Electoral Palatinate, bought the Mönchzell fiefdom in 1765 for 2760 guilders from the bankruptcy estate of Phillip Ludwig von Festenburg. After a lawsuit, Mönchzell had to cede from Reitzenstein to the Festenburg descendants of Uexküll.

In the 18th century there were constant disputes between the Electoral Palatinate and the local rulers about tax sovereignty and police supervision. While the local rulers sought support from the feudal lord Hessen-Darmstadt, the community called for support from the Electoral Palatinate. The complaints went to the Perpetual Reichstag in Regensburg .

Local lords of Uexküll-Gyllenband

Under the Uexkülls , the population grew rapidly due to the revolutionary agricultural reforms of the bailiff Johann Ludwig Spring . Mönchzell grew from the poorest village in the region to a model agricultural town under Spring. Under the Uexkülls at the latest, Mönchzell was now part of the Electorate of the Palatinate without restriction. This noble family also owned the local authority over Altwiesloch, Baiertal and provided the following local lords:

• until 1768: Friedrich Johann Emich Freiherr von Uexküll-Gyllenband (1685–1768), the common progenitor of the Baden baronial and Württemberg counts line of the Uexkülls, acquired the "Rittergut Mönchzell" as the first Uexküll. He was in the service of Baden-Durlach and died in 1768. The Uexkülls are a Swedish aristocratic family. The grandfather of the first Uexküll local lord came to Germany in 1630 during the Thirty Years' War with King Gustav Adolf of Sweden to support the Protestants and died there.
• 1768 to 1778 Carl Gustav Friedrich von Uexküll and Friedrich Emich Johann von Uexküll (1724–1810). Under the sons of Friedrich Johann († 1768) stables were built in Mönchzell in 1778, as can be seen from an inscription stone that was in the castle courtyard for a long time. According to the inscription, a baron von Uexküll is said to have built the stable building in which he was previously walled in in 1778. The church bell in the Protestant church, cast by Anselm Franz Speck from Heidelberg, dates back to 1778. Emich Johann Friedrich Freiherr von Uexküll was to be 86 years old and shape Mönchzell's fortunes for 33 years. He was not only the master of Mönchzell, but also the royal Württemberg State Minister and President of the Secret Council. He was the actual founder of the baronial line of the Uexkülls in Baden. Because of the possession of Mönchzell, he became a member of the imperial knighthood in the knightly canton of Kraichgau on February 22, 1790 . He was married to Susanna Elisabeth Freiin von Palm. His son was Friedrich August, also a master of Mönchzell
• 1779 to 1787 Friedrich August von Uexküll (1765–1822) and Friedrich Emich Johann von Uexküll (1724–1810). Friedrich August von Uexküll was lord of Mönchzell and Spechbach, royal Württemberg chamberlain, privy councilor and governor. He was married to Charlotte Maria Freiin von Gemmingen-Guttenberg-Bonfeld (1776-1837). According to a directory from 1784, 69 families and "over 300 souls" lived in Mönchzell. There was a church, 42 houses and a mill. The district encompasses 510 acres of fields, 19 acres of meadows, 5 acres of gardens, 60 acres of pasture and 400 acres of forest. 250 acres of the forest belonged to the community (Mönchzeller with citizenship) and 150 acres to the Vogstsjunker, whose forest district was under the auspices of the lordly forester in Waldwimmersbach.
• 1787 to 1788 Friedrich Emich Johann von Uexküll (1724-1810) and Carl Gustav Friedrich von Uexküll . The tithing in the whole district was taken by the Vogtsjunker as belonging to the patronage right. The village court used the intertwined letters M and Z as a seal.
• 1788 to 1810 Friedrich Emich Johann von Uexküll (1724–1810)
• 1810 to 1822 Karl Friedrich Emich von Uexküll (born August 4, 1755 in Stuttgart; † February 23, 1832 in Ludwigsburg) and August Heinrich Friedrich von Uexküll (1765–1822).
• 1822 to 1830 Karl Friedrich Emich von Uexküll , Württemberg art collector and writer (he himself wrote Ixküll). He was friends with Friedrich Schiller, among others.
• 1830 to 1857 Eduard Friedrich Ludwig Freiherr von Uexküll-Gyllenband (1800–1860), Grand Ducal Chamber of Commerce of Baden and Oberforstratier of Baden. He lived in Karlsruhe. He was the son of Friedrich August and Charlotte Maria. In 1829 he married Pauline Freiin Marschall von Bieberstein (1807-1860). The marriage remained childless, so the line died out. Under him, the fiefdom was expanded to include the mill in 1854, and in 1857 the Uexkülls became the owner of the property. He also owned a stake in Altwiesloch and Baiertal.

The main coat of arms of the Uexküll shows a crowned leoparded red lion in gold. The shield of the baronial line in Baden, to which the Mönchzeller Uexkülls belong, is derived from this. Here the shield is divided into four parts: Field 1 and 4 in gold a right-facing, crowned red lion, which holds a halberd with a red handle bent towards the lion, on which the lover steps with his rear paws; Fields 2 and 3 in black are two iron mining hammers on brown handles, which are stuck crosswise through a gold crown.

The Mönchzeller Hofgut was sold in 1867 on the occasion of the Uexküll inheritance to the Palatinate Katholische Kirchenschaffnei, which is still Mönchzell's largest landowner today and acts as a landlord. The Mönchzell estate was bought by the Kirchenschaffnei, the tenant family at the time, in 1982.

The old main area of ​​the village ran across the valley, from the “Schlosshof” (today's Fellmann estate) to the Lobbach stream . Today's Mühlstrasse was the old "main street". It was not until the 18th century that today's main road developed in the direction of the valley.

Baden time

The listed town hall with bell tower from 1865

In 1803 Mönchzell, which had been in the Electoral Palatinate until then, came to Baden . As a place belonging to the Meckesheimer Zent , Mönchzell had until then been subordinate to the Electoral Palatinate sub-office of Dilsberg. Its successor was the Neckargemünd district office in Baden. Mönchzell belonged to the Lower Rhine District of Baden . In the course of the further development of the manorial legal relationships in the time of Baden, the Württemberg State Minister Karl Heinrich Emich von Uexküll established a manorial office Mönchzell for judicial matters, which was directly subordinate to the Oberamt Heidelberg . The next higher court instance was the Mannheim Court of Appeal as a court of appeal in the Lower Rhine District (Neckar, Odenwald, Tauber region). After the repeal of the manorial constitution in 1813, the Mönchzell justice office was incorporated into the Neckargemünd district office, so that Mönchzell was again subject to the Neckargemünd office in all matters. In 1865 the town hall, which is now a listed building, was built on the foundations of a former shepherd's house. After the Neckargemünd office was dissolved, the Eberbach district office was responsible for Mönchzell from 1857 to 1863 . Because of the resistance from the population in the Neckargemünder area against the dissolution of the office Neckargemünd and the allocation to Eberbach, Mönchzell was allocated with other localities to the Oberamt Heidelberg in 1863, from which the district Heidelberg emerged in 1938 .

20th century

School built in 1904

At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Mönchzell was characterized by the Heidelberg Regional Office as "extremely conservative". Around 1900, a small lime works with 27 workers was in operation in the Mönchzell quarry, which was closed during the First World War. The limestone quarry on the county road towards Meckesheim is evidence of this today. In 1910 the "Rentamt" belonging to the manorial court was demolished and replaced by a barn. The brickworks with the brickworker's apartment (Ziegelgasse) also belonged to the estate until 1910. A gravitational water pipeline built in 1883 supplied five running wells, a hydrant and "various" houses with water. In 1927/28 an elevated tank (Neckargemünder Weg) was built to supply all houses, which was supplied with water from the Brunnenbächle pumping station. The local sewer system was completely renewed in 1960. Electricity found its way into Mönchzell in 1920. A branch of the Neuhaus cigar factory was closed in 1923. From 1900 the Mönchzell workers began to commute. In the 1930s there were already 40 to 50 commuters. A packaging company for cigars was active in Mönchzell from 1931 to 1958. The Bleckfabrik Lares, founded in 1948 by a displaced person, was the last industrial company in the town to be closed in 2015. Since then Mönchzell has been a pure living and sleeping place.

The village was dominated by agriculture until the 1950s. After the Second World War, which resulted in a large increase in population with around 200 displaced persons, Mönchzell developed into a purely workers' community and commuter community. The Catholic youth pastor Dietrich, who comes from Mönchzell, built the “Berthildis Youth Home” in 1963/1964 for the Brühl parish in his place of birth, Mönchzell, which is now a meeting place for children, young people and adults. The name "Berthildis" comes from a woman who bequeathed many of her lands to the church in the 17th century, including the property on which the youth home is located. After Dietrich's death, the house went to the Brühl parish, on condition that it be used by the Brühl youth. The large mill in town, which was mentioned as a grinding mill in 1786, ceased operations in 1973. In the course of the territorial reform, the previously independent community of Mönchzell was incorporated into Meckesheim on December 31, 1973, although the majority of the population voted against the "incorporation". In 1972 a football hard court, a cemetery chapel and the Lobbachhalle were built as "bridal gifts" for the incorporation. In 1987 Mönchzell celebrated its documentary mention 650 years ago with a "parade of the century" in front of over 4000 spectators. In 2016 Mönchzell was included in the state renovation program (LSP). The urban development service provider STEG is currently planning the redevelopment measure "Ortsmitte Mönchzell".

Current

In 2017, the renovation of the town center as part of the Baden-Württemberg funding program and the new construction of the festival area in front of the Lobbachhalle are due for Mönchzell.

Population development

year	1577	1777	1785	1804	1808	1818	1836	1845	1855	1857	1865	1871	1880	1890	1900	1910	1925	1939	1950	1961	1970	2004	2006	2012	2013	2014	2015
Residents	80	221/240	300	366	416	448	423	511	487	482	504	522	470	468	494	479	548	581	789	814	922	1196	1181	1177	1119	1127	1091

What is remarkable is the doubling of the population from 221 inhabitants to 448 inhabitants between 1777 and 1818 in just four decades. This population jump results from the agricultural reforms that the Württemberg pastor's son Johann Ludwig Spring carried out as Uexküllscher bailiff in "Münchszell". Under Spring, Mönchzell developed from the poor "Lumpennest" (vernacular: "Münchszell isch ä Lumbenescht, Eschelbrunn desgleiche, Zuzehause newedro, mir Meckser sen die Reische") to the "Mustergut Mönchzell" with enormous increases in yield. The exemplary and progressive economic methods in Mönchzell led to the fact that the University of Heidelberg and Professor Jung-Stilling became aware of Mönchzell and in 1785 organized an excursion to Mönchzell. Spring's methods practiced in Mönchzell became the subject of Jung-Stilling's lecture “Agricultural history of the baronial Uxküllschen Gut zu Mönchzell”, “because every farmer can imitate them, follow them all over the world and make themselves happy as a result”. In the past only a part of the population had civil rights; B. of the 487 inhabitants in 1855 were only 83 local citizens and 16 citizen widows, the rest was made up of family members and 47 servants. In the 19th century, an average of five to ten children were born each year. The place was predominantly Protestant until after the Second World War. For example, the Evangelicals made up 56 percent of the population, the Catholics 42 percent and the Mennonites 2 percent of the population. Mönchzell reached the highest number of inhabitants in 2004 with 1196 inhabitants. Since then the population has been falling again.

Churches

Lutheran

Mönchzell had been Lutheran since the 1530s and remained so against all objections from the Electoral Palatinate. Only in 1631 did the Bavarian bailiff temporarily appoint a Catholic clergyman on the Dilsberg. The church was originally located in the "castle courtyard" above the manor building and was demolished in 1789. The inventory book from 1564 describes the castle courtyard in detail: The old church stood at the upper gate on the climb to the Kirchenberg in the direction of Neckargemünder Weg. The dead field was also located there. A fish pond was laid out next to the old church so that one could stock up on Lenten food (today's pond garden). In 1786 Widder mentions that the Lutheran church was looked after as a subsidiary church from Epfenbach. In 1789/90 a new church, today's Protestant church, was built on the parish garden. After the Lutheran parish was connected with those of other places from the late 18th century onwards (it was looked after from Eschelbronn from 1836), it was united with Meckesheim in 1851 by a contract between the patron saint and the Protestant regional church. Since then Mönchzell has been a Protestant branch parish of Meckesheim.

Catholics

The Catholics who immigrated from the end of the 17th century were pastored by Spechbach, temporarily from 1705 to 1735 also from Zuzenhauses. Around the middle of the 18th century they tried unsuccessfully to prove that the church was still Catholic 100 years earlier, and thereby to come to a simultaneous use of the Lutheran church. So they had to visit the church in Spechbach until 1904, before the building of the neo-Gothic branch church in honor of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1904. In 1905 the Mönchzell Catholics were assigned to the newly established Lobenfeld Curate. The neo-Gothic church was demolished in 1977 and replaced by a modern church building in which only a few windows, the carved altar and the organ were used from the old church.

Mennonites

In addition, 10 Mennonites lived in Mönchzell in 1836. Mönchzell was torn apart by serious denominational parties into the 20th century. The Heidelberg Oberamt attributed a pacification that began around 1900 to the Mennonite tenant family.

schools

A Lutheran school is documented for 1701, to which a Catholic school was added in 1740. The Catholic children had previously been taught in Lobenfeld. In 1802, neither of the two denominational schools had a school in Mönchzell. The lessons took place in changing rental buildings. Then in 1822 the Catholics bought half a house for the Catholic school and in 1847 they bought the forester's house opposite (Hauptstrasse 54). The Protestant school was then located in Hauptstrasse 71. The current schoolhouse was built in 1904 by the Mönchzell community.

Mayor and Mayor

Mayor until incorporation

Mayor

• 1790 to 1796 Nikolaus Rohleder
• 1797 to 1805 Johann Georg Breiner, mayor
• 1806 to 1821 (Michael?) Fletterer
• 1821 to 1834 Georg Adam Heckler
• 1835 to 1841 Johann Friedrich Reichert
• 1842 to 1847 Andreas Dresch
• 1848 to 1851 Andreas Filsinger
• 1852 to 1863 Sebastian Schork
• 1864 to 1868 Johann Münch
• 1869 to 1877 Johannes Ungerer
• 1878 to 1889 Johann Münch
• 1890 to 1895 Friedrich Künzer
• 1896 to 1907 Jakob Reichert
• 1907 to 1925 Andreas Vettermann
• 1925 to 1933 Georg Klug

mayor

• 1933 to 1934 Georg Klug
• 1934 to 1946 Heinrich Fellmann
• 1946 to 1954 Johann Schneid
• 1954 to 1958 Heinrich Fellmann
• 1959 to 1967 Heinrich Bröckel
• 1967 to 1973 Karl Mäck
• For mayors from 1974 see Meckesheim

Mayor after the incorporation

• 1974 to 1975 Rüdiger Fellmann
• 1975 to 1980 Gustav Braun
• 1980 to 1987 Harald Weisbrod
• 1987 to 2004 Emil Bieser
• 2004 to 2010 Uwe Schneider
• 2010 until today Gunter Dörzbach

politics

Until 1933 the Mönchzeller municipal council consisted of the local farmers 'party and the minority workers' party. In line with the denominational conditions in the Reichstag elections before 1914, the center and the liberals, split up into different groups, were in fierce competition. The center was initially the strongest party during the Weimar period. The left-wing parties received a maximum of 30 percent of the vote. From 1930 onwards, the National Socialists had the largest number of following, but without exceeding 50 percent. In all elections since World War II, the CDU has always been the strongest force, regularly followed by the SPD.

coat of arms

The blazon of the coat of arms reads: In silver on green ground a monk in a black robe and cap, holding an open black book in his hands, with a prayer chain on his skirt. It goes back to a seal from the 19th century. The coat of arms was designed by the General State Archives in Karlsruhe in 1911 . The community also accepted it, but only started using it since procuring a new seal stamp in 1959.

regional customs

The vernacular knows jokingly to report that the original sin should come from Mönchzell. After the Reformation, the Mönchzell Catholics had to go to church in Spechbach, two to three kilometers away over the Reichelsberg. A churchgoer was late and didn't arrive until the pastor was in the middle of his sermon, which was about original sin. When the pastor called at full speed into the church, “And where does original sin come from, where does it come from?” The Mönchzell churchgoer entered and just heard the last sentence “Where did it come from?”. She felt addressed and answered anxiously in the Kurpfälzer dialect "Vun Minischzell, Herr Pfarrer". This story spread throughout the Little Odenwald and since then the original sin has come from Mönchzell.

The Mönchzeller are popularly referred to as "Kiwwelschisser", which expresses the former poverty in the place. Many Mönchzell houses probably did not even have toilets, and the residents relieved themselves in buckets.

The parish fair ("Kerwe") has been celebrated in the village for centuries . The Kerwe developed into a folk festival lasting several days in the 1980s.

The local colors are green, black and white according to the local coat of arms. You were z. B. worn by SC Germania Mönchzell 1933 (green-white) and Musikfreunde Mönchzell (green, black, white) as club colors.

Attractions

• Evangelical Church of St. Peter, built in 1787/90 in the former parish garden as a replacement for an earlier church in the manor that was mentioned in the 15th century. The church is a simple, rectangular hall building with a bell tower integrated into the facade. The formerly existing historical furnishings with altar and pulpit were removed in the course of modernizations, as was the former master's box, which was reserved for the von Üxküll family and was later converted into a sacristy, so that today the church has practically no decoration except for the stained glass windows.
• Catholic Church of Mary Mother of God. The cath. Church goes back to a neo-Gothic building from 1904. This was demolished in 1977 because of the danger of the bell tower collapsing. In the modern new building there are only a few windows of the neo-Gothic church, as well as a carved altar and the organ.

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  Ev. church

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  Chancel of the Protestant church

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  Catholic Church

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  Sanctuary of the cath. church

• Hofgut Fellmann, a former manorial court ("castle"), which in its present form largely goes back to a new building from 1777. The estate once also included the rent office, which was demolished in 1910, as well as the brickworks and a mill first mentioned in 1564. The estate was sold by the heirs of the landlords in 1867 to the Palatinate Catholic Church Schaffnerei, which sold it in 1982 to the then tenant Fellmann.
• Town hall from 1865
• Schoolhouse from 1904

• 

  town hall

• 

  school

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  View into the estate

Associations and institutions

Mönchzell had a lively club life and in the second half of the 20th century was considered to be a very “festive village” in the region. Almost every weekend one of the clubs held a festive event. Today the Mönchzell associations also suffer from the general tendency to no longer volunteer. Particularly noteworthy is the SC Germania Mönchzell, founded in 1933, which was the pride of the Tausendseelendorf in the 1970s when it played in the then 3rd league (1st amateur league North Baden) and made it to the final of the Badischer Vereinspokal. The audience reached 2000 visitors. The SCM merged in 2009 with the soccer department of TSV Meckesheim and is now called FC Germania Meckesheim Mönchzell. The game takes place on the Mönchzell sports ground, which was provided with artificial turf by the patron of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Dietmar Hopp. The success in the 70s was mainly due to the three footballing outstanding Vettermann brothers, from whom Gerhard Vettermann and Volker Vettermann rejected offers from Bundesliga clubs to switch to the professional area and remained loyal to their home club. The football club has held annual ceremonial meetings since 1974, which are always sold out due to their remarkable quality.

The Mönchzell Small Animal Breeding Association, founded in 1956, provided several European and German champions. Rudi Schneider was an outstanding breeder.

The Mönchzell voluntary fire brigade, which is now a departmental brigade of Meckesheim, was officially founded in 1938, with a Mönchzell guard and rescue team already in place in 1881. The Mönchzeller Wehr experienced an enormous upswing in the 1970s and 80s thanks to exemplary youth work and can count itself among the best-trained weirs in the Rhein-Neckar district.

The men's choir founded in 1920 and the Musikfreunde Mönchzell founded in 1954 also flourished towards the end of the 20th century, but are now fighting to survive. The choral society has had a successful theater group for decades. In the 80s and 90s, music lovers organized spectacular festivals with the “Mönchzeller Feuerreiter” and “Walpurgis Night” (1992), which attracted thousands of guests to the Lobbachtal. They established the tradition of raising the maypole in the region for the first time. The Bo-Bi-Du leisure club, which has developed into a traditional association, Club 84 and the motorcycle club Lobbachtal were founded as youth clubs in the last century.

In addition, there is the Catholic women's community founded in 1958, the hunting horn group and the FC Bayern fan club, whose club festivals attract national attention. The Mönchzell local associations of the SPD and CDU have merged into the Meckesheim local associations. From 1982 to 1990 a youth club was located as a youth center on the loft of the Lobbachhalle. At that time the young people organized numerous rock and folk concerts, e.g. B. with Schwoißfuaß , Bernies Autobahn Band , Zeitwende and other groups in the Lobbachhalle and had various working groups, e.g. B. for guitar and cinema performances.

Personalities

• Antonius Jakobus Henckel (* 1669 in Merenburg , † 1727 in Germantown ) was pastor in Mönchzell. Henckel emigrated to North America with his wife and eight children and became a reformer of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania.
• Karl Friedrich Bauer (born March 11, 1827 in Mönchzell; † 1889 Milwaukee) was one of the leading figures in the Baden Revolution of 1848/49 in Kraichgau.
• Josua Harrsch (1669–1719), Evangelical Lutheran pastor

literature

• Gerhard Ruby, Mönchzell 1337 to 1987, local chronicle for the 650th anniversary in 1987, self-published by the community of Meckesheim
• Gerhard Ruby, Walpurgis Night, Devil's Belief and Witch Mania in the northern Kraichgau and the Little Odenwald
• Official description of the district of Heidelberg (Mönchzell), 1966

Web links

• Website of the community of Meckesheim
• History and current news from Meckesheim with Mönchzell

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerhard Ruby, 1337 to 1987, Mönchzell with an exact reproduction of the document text and translation
2. ↑ Gerhard Ruby, 1337 to 1987, Mönchzell with a detailed presentation of the arguments
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Gerhard Ruby, 1337 to 1987, Mönchzell
4. ↑ The art monuments of the Grand Duchy of Baden; Volume 8.2
5. ↑ Kaspar Friedrich Gottschalck: The knight castles and mountain castles of Germany. 2. verb. u. probably edition. Accessed June 16, 2017 . 
6. ^ Gerhard Ruby, 1337 to 1387, Mönchzell, Ortschronik
7. ↑ Assertion of complete ignorance about the authors of an anti-Palatinate denunciation written by the kraichgau knighthood that was leaked to the emperor at the Augsburg Reichstag (with the allegations against Elector Friedrich of breach of religion and peace and violation of the imperial constitution) by Jörg von Zandt zu Mönchzell. Retrieved June 16, 2017 . 
8. ↑ The art monuments of the Grand Duchy of Baden; Volume 8.2
9. ↑ https://fundsplitter.com/2017/09/25/zur-moenchzeller-wasserversorgung-1883-kam-der-erste-hydrant/
10. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory 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. 487 .
11. ↑ Lectures…. Retrieved June 16, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Gerhard Ruby, Walpurgis Night, Teufelsglaube and Hexenwahn in the northern Kraichgau and Small Odenwald, with many other legends from Mönchzell and the surrounding area