Zabergäu

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The Zabergäu

The Zabergäu , also called Zabergau , is a region in Baden-Württemberg , around 40 km north of Stuttgart and 50 km east of Karlsruhe . It is named after the Zaber , a left tributary of the Neckar .

geography

Michaelsberg near Cleebronn

From a natural perspective, the Zabergäu is part of the Neckar basin . This is the natural subunit No. 123.8 of the main unit group Neckar- and Tauber-Gäuplatten . The landscape is embraced by Keuperbergen from the west : In the north the Heuchelberg forms the barrier to the Kraichgau , in the south lies the Stromberg .

The Zaber rises in the Stromberg south of Zaberfeld and first flows into the Ehmetsklinge . It then flows further in an easterly direction and flows into the Neckar after 22 km at Lauffen am Neckar . The landmark of the Zabergäus is the 394 meter high Michaelsberg near Cleebronn.

The towns of Brackenheim , Güglingen , Pfaffenhofen and Zaberfeld are located on the Zaber . The places Cleebronn , which borders the Zaber with its municipality, and Nordheim are also included. In a broader sense, Bönnigheim and Lauffen, known as the gateway to the Zabergäu , were and are also included.

climate

Due to the sheltered location, the microclimate is mild. In the Zabergäu, as in the neighboring Neckarland, intensive viticulture has probably been practiced since the early Middle Ages . A record in the Codex Laureshamensis reports on a foundation from the year 793, which is said to have included vineyards in Zabergäu, among other things. Acquisitions and possessions in connection with viticulture are also mentioned for the monasteries Weißenburg and Hirsau for the 9th and 10th centuries.

history

The Zabergäu is one of the oldest settlement areas in southwest Germany . The two adjacent Keuper mountain ranges were probably settled as early as the Mesolithic . For the Neolithic Age , settlement remains are proven in almost all districts of the Zabergäus. Most of them can be assigned to the band ceramists , but settlements of the Rössen culture , the Michelsberg culture and the cord ceramists have also been found.

Settlements near the towns of Hausen , Nordheim , Hohenstein and Sersheim and an urn cemetery near Meimsheim date from the Bronze Age . Burial mounds near Leonbronn and on the edges of the Stromberg and Heuchelberg come from the Hallstatt period . Fortifications near Freudental and on the Eselsburg as well as the Rennwege , the high-altitude trails that run through Stromberg and Heuchelberg, probably date from that time. The Celts owned a refuge on the Michaelsberg between 400 BC and around the birth of Christ, and the remains of settlements were found near Brackenheim and Güglingen .

In Roman times the Zabergäu was densely populated. Between Lauffen and Güglingen to 14 settlements, mostly large were villa rustica , which is above the high water mirror the Zaber on loess were set hill. The Roman roads ran in the valley floor and connected these settlements directly, in contrast to the older race tracks on the heights.

From the fourth century. AD. Takes the Roman influence, and is had moved Alemanni dominated. The places in Zabergäu that end in -ingen are to be seen as Alemannic foundations. Row grave fields in Güglingen, Frauenzimmern, Brackenheim, Meimsheim, Bönnigheim, Erligheim and Horrheim are evidence of the early Halemannic period. The Allmendwald forest on the Stromberg, at times 350 hectares in size , in which up to 30 communities had a share, was a typical example of Alemannic land law, which only ended in 1883 when it was sold to the Württemberg state . After the Battle of Zülpich , the Alemanni were ousted from the Zabergäu by the Franks by 500 . Only a little further south, for example along the Enz , ran the border to the Swabian tribal area . The name Zabergäu is probably of Franconian origin, as the Franks preferred to use river names for the district division.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, with the growth of the population throughout Germany, a new wave of clearing and settlement began in the Zabergäu. She pushed into the narrower and higher parts of the valleys. The villages and hamlets of the upper Zabertal and settlements off the valley such as Cleebronn and Haberschlacht emerged . Some of these settlements, for example Balzhof , between Cleebronn and Frauenzimmern, and Mörderhausen near Zaberfeld, later perished again.

The leading aristocratic families in the Zabergäu in the High Middle Ages were the lords of Magenheim , the lords of Neipperg and the Sternenfels , who originally called themselves Kürnbach. The western foreland of the Stromberg was under the predominant influence of Maulbronn Monastery until the Reformation .

The Zabergäu was also affected in the Peasants' War of 1524–1526. A crowd, led by Hans Wunderer from Pfaffenhofen , conquered the Teutonic Order Castle Stocksberg . During the Thirty Years' War and the War of the Palatinate Succession , the open depression towards the Neckarland was an incursion and transit area; it was ravaged by famine, disease, and pillage. It was well into the 18th century for the country to recover from the losses of that time.

The village of Nordhausen was founded at the beginning of the 18th century . Against the resistance of parts of the local population, 55 Waldensian families who had fled Piedmont were settled here; it is the last Waldensian colony that was founded in Württemberg.

traffic

The most important thoroughfares in Zabergäu are the L 1103 ( Bretten - Brackenheim ) and L 1106 (Brackenheim - Heilbronn ).

The Zabergäubahn from Lauffen am Neckar to Leonbronn was put into operation as a narrow-gauge railway in 1886 (Lauffen am Neckar to Güglingen) and 1901 (extension to Leonbronn) . In the 1960s, the line was converted to standard gauge . In 1986 passenger traffic was discontinued, and in 1994 goods traffic as well.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. "Crusius now says of the city of Bönnigheim in his Schwäb. Chronicle: 'Is a fertile and funny city in the Zabergöw ...' "(Klunzinger, Karl: Geschichte des Zabergäus and the current Oberamt Brackenheim , Stuttgart 1841, Reprint Magstadt 1984)
  2. ^ Buck, Dieter: The big book vom Stromberg , p. 99. Silberburg-Verlag , Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-87407-704-0
  3. ^ Theodor Bolay: Viticulture in the Zabergäu then and now. Eduard Krug publishing house, Bietigheim 1969, p. 31 ff.

Web links


Coordinates: 49 ° 4 ′ 12.7 "  N , 9 ° 2 ′ 1.7"  E