Halen (Lower Rhine)
The village of Halen, which was submerged in 1596 by the flooding of the Rhine, was located on the left bank of the Rhine in the area of today's Duisburg district of Baerl . Announced as halon as early as 900 , it had to contend with shifts in the course of the Rhine and floods for centuries. The location of the Halen village church, which was undermined by the floods in 1595 and then sunk in the Rhine, is today immediately north of the motorway bridge of the BAB 42 that crosses the Rhine . Only the "Niederhalener Dorfweg" in Baerl and the "Halener Straße" in the Duisburg district of Alt-Homberg are reminiscent of the submerged village.
Evidence in the sources
The first written mention of the village is found in the lift tab of the Benedictine monastery are around the year 900, as of possessions and duties to Halon is talk. At that time, the Rhine flowed in an arc from Duisburg-Laar to Halen, which was not yet pushed by the river, and from there to Orsoy . The name "Halen" is interpreted as being located on "a Hal" ( Hal / Hool stands for Loch / Mulde in Lower Franconia - see map entry "dat Hool" by Johann Bucker , 1711). The name could also be derived from a late antique Roman small fort called Calo .
Halen probably also had a (smaller) port; because in 1165 the Abbot from Deutz traveled by ship to Halen, and from there continued to ride by land to his estate in Strommoers (historic monastery estate near Rheinberg ).
Parish and knight seat
Halen was a church village with its own parish and Knipp's knight seat . The church of St. Petri is mentioned as early as the 11th century. The appearance probably corresponded to that of the nearby Baerl church from the 12th century, built on a hill. In addition to the left bank communities of Uettelsheim, Geerdt, Meerbeck and Homberg, the parish of Halen also included the farmers Beeckerwerth and Kaßlerfeld on the right bank of the Rhine, and until 1493 also Ruhrort, which was located on the Homberger Werth river on the left bank of the Rhine in 1000 and 1275 due to a further shifting of the Rhine to the right (where it was unfavorable for going to church to Halen because of the now necessary crossing of the Rhine).
The estate of the Halen knights was a little east of the village on a hill that was separated from the village by the relocation of the Rhine in 1275 and was then on a Donk (sandbank) in the Rhine. The castle, which was badly affected by the floods, was later rebuilt on this Donk and subsequently called "the Knypp" (after the pointed hill it was on).
Two runs of the Rhine
A document from 1292, in which a dispute over fishing rights between the Hamborn Abbey and the Beecker knight Burchard Stecke, owner of Knipp Castle, is decided, proves that the river has been on the island with Knipp Castle since the flood of 1275 divided and now formed two courses of the Rhine. The dispute arose from the fact that Halener, Baerler and Binsheimer Land had come to the right side of the Rhine by shifting the course of the Rhine. The older of the two arms of the Rhine ran on the eastern side of the island and is called "eene Waterstrange" on the Brucker map .
The Halen parish had become significantly smaller due to the separation of the Donk and further land losses. The village was now deprived of its protective foreland and lay directly on the Rhine. Each new flood caused further damage to the village. As a result of the flooding and silting up of the old right arm of the Rhine towards the end of the 14th century, Knipp Castle was no longer on an island in the Rhine, but directly on its right bank, where the former sandbank now became part of Beeckerwerth. It is shown there on the Mercator map, directly opposite the Halen Church, which - like the village - was still on the left bank of the Rhine.
Fateful years
In the years 1565 to 1575 there were several severe floods in close succession, which finally sealed the fate of the village, the Halen church and Knipp Castle.
In any case, these years were characterized by a number of different natural disasters for the people on the coasts, on the Rhine and in its hinterland: There was a rainy summer in which the fruits rotted in the fields, winters with extraordinary snowfalls, hurricanes, storm surges and huge floods. During this time, the Rhine changed its course several times and at times overflowed its banks so far that the rectory and all of the land mandiep with Rhynwater belopen was still inland in the village of Repelen several kilometers away , according to the then Repelen pastor Arnold Steur .
In his letter from 1571 to Duisburg rector Geldorp, Count Hermann von Neuenahr and Moers describes Knypp Castle as finally submerged in the floods and the old, robust Halen church as a lost church that can no longer be saved from destruction.
But it took another 25 years before the church and village were given up. First the choir of the church collapsed, then its foundations crumbled away until finally in the winter of 1595/96 the rest of the church was also washed away and sank in the floods. (The remains have since then been lying on the bottom of the river, not far north of the point where the A 42 bridge spans the curve of the Rhine today). As the successor to the sunken castle, the new House Knipp am Deich was built in Beeckerwerth on today's Haus-Knipp-Straße, where it was demolished around 1939 during dyke construction work.
The village of Halen was not washed away by the Rhine in one fell swoop, but gradually. Everything east of the church had already been driven off in 1575. The church had been in floods since 1596. The rest of the village followed a little later its castle and church.
Traces of the sunken village
Irrespective of the constantly flowing traffic on the motorway bridge, the remains of the village of Halen lie on the bottom of the Rhine. The bridge next to it at an acute angle bears the name “ Haus-Knipp-Eisenbahnbrücke ” in memory of Knipp Castle, which sank into the Rhine . Otherwise, only the Niederhalener Dorfweg, which ends on the bank, and the Halener Straße in neighboring Alt-Homberg bear witness to the sunken village. Its church, which lies on the bottom of the Rhine, is said to still ring its bells on particularly stormy nights - " as people talk about behind closed doors ... ".
References and literature
- ^ Ernst Kelter: Chronicle of the community Rheinkamp / Verlag Aug. Steiger, Moers 1978, page 36, ISBN 3-921564-13-1
- ↑ Ursula Maier-Weber: CALO. For the localization and afterlife of a late antique fort on the Lower Rhine that has been lost . In: Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces , BAR International Series 704, 1998, pp. 13–22.
- ^ Ernst Kelter: Chronicle of the community Rheinkamp / Verlag Aug. Steiger, Moers 1978, pages 70 to 119, ISBN 3-921564-13-1
- ↑ Ludger Heid u. a .: Small history of the city of Duisburg / Verlag Walter Braun, Duisburg 1996, page 96, ISBN 3-87096-198-8
- ^ Ernst Kelter: Chronicle of the community Rheinkamp / Verlag Aug. Steiger, Moers 1978, pages 151 to 155, ISBN 3-921564-13-1
- ↑ Ludger Heid u. a .: Short history of the city of Duisburg / Verlag Walter Braun, Duisburg 1996, page 111, ISBN 3-87096-198-8
- ^ Ernst Kelter: Chronicle of the community Rheinkamp / Verlag Aug. Steiger, Moers 1978, pages 70 to 119, ISBN 3-921564-13-1
- ↑ Rosendahl / Splittorf: Repelen / Verlag printmediapart, Gelsenkirchen 2008, pages 70 to 73, ISBN 978-3-00-024177-2
- ^ Ernst Kelter: Chronicle of the community Rheinkamp / Verlag Aug. Steiger, Moers 1978, pages 70 to 119, ISBN 3-921564-13-1
- ^ Ernst Kelter: Chronicle of the community Rheinkamp / Verlag Aug. Steiger, Moers 1978, pages 70 to 119, ISBN 3-921564-13-1
Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 59 " N , 6 ° 40 ′ 50.7" E