Ox field in Alsace
The Ochsenfeld ( French: L'Ochsenfeld ) is an extensive plain that extends from the exit of the Thanner Valley in the west to Hardt near Mülhausen (Alsace) in the east and from Sundgau in the south to Ensisheim in the north. Ochsenfeld is the name given to the natural space in the Mulhouse region. This plain is so called because it was used exclusively for cattle breeding in the Middle Ages and a large number of large cattle markets were held there. With the development of agricultural techniques, the ox field became arable land. The north-eastern part of the ox field is filled by the forest landscape of the Nonnenbruchwald .
During the Thirty Years' War, the Ochsenfeld became the site of a battle that can be described as a meeting on the Ochsenfelde . The battle took place on October 15, 1638 and thus coincides with the phase from 1635 to 1648, which is known as the Swedish-French War. The aim of the battle was to obtain supplies to the Breisach fortress , which was besieged by Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar, by a Lorraine army under the orders of Duke Karl von Lothringen or to prevent this supply. The latter was achieved through the victory of the Weimaran troops.
Ochsenfeld is also the name of a place between Sennheim and Wittelsheim in the Haut-Rhin department (Upper Alsace). The archaeological remains of the battle in Alsace , in which the Romans and Teutons faced each other in the most bitter battle of the time, were found here. Tradition has it that that battle gave rise to the founding of Mulhouse.
literature
- M. Ingold: L'Ochsenfeld, ses antiquités, ses traditions. Impr. De Vve-Berger-Levrault, 1862