Bechtheim
Encyclopedia
Bechtheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Westhofen
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
nobleman Bero supposedly took his lordly seat here in the 6th century and founded “Beroheim” (–heim means “home”), out of which developed Bechtheim. Saint Lambert’s Basilica was founded in the 8th century by the Cathedral Foundation of Liège, in whose ownership the municipality found itself then.
In 793, Bechtheim had its first documentary mention in a document from Fulda Abbey. In the Lorsch codex
the place was named in 1070. First the Lords of Bolanden and thereafter, as of 1267, the Counts of Leiningen held ownership rights to Bechtheim. The latter nobles pledged their holding several times. In 1700, the so-called Simultaneum
was also introduced into Bechtheim, whereby Protestant
churches could also be used by Catholics, although this spawned quarrels between the two denominations. In 1722, Bechtheim was granted market rights.
In 1934, a “wine partnership” was concluded with Erfurt
. In 1964, through the association Heimattreue Erfurter (“Erfurters Loyal to the Homeland” – made up of those from Erfurt living in West Germany
), contacts with Bechtheim were newly forged. In particular, the Martinsfest on 10 and 11 November was from then on jointly held in Bechtheim. After German reunification
in 1990, the City of Erfurt also officially resumed the partnership.
The rural area toponym Pilgerpfad (“Pilgrims’ Path”) was first documented in 1392 as an dem bilgerim phade, and recalls a north-south route (from Bingen to Speyer) of Saint James’s Way
.
and the honorary mayor as chairwoman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
might be described thus: Azure a bear rampant argent armed, langued and gorged gules, in his paws a staff Or held palewise.
Bechtheim’s oldest seal from about 1500 already shows the same charge
as today’s arms do, and as all others since this earliest known one have done, although the composition has not always been the same. For instance, in the late 19th century, the arms were Argent a bear rampant sable armed and langued gules (that is, a black bear on a silver background with red tongue and claws, and without the collar and the staff). Over the years, the bear gained a cherry in its mouth, now missing, and also the collar and the staff. It is possible that the bear is canting
for an older form of the municipality’s name, Berchtheim (“Bear” is Bär in German
, pronounced like the first three sounds in the older name). The arms in their current form were conferred in 1958.
(1 490 ha), Nierstein
(783 ha), Alzey
(769 ha), Westhofen
(764 ha) and Alsheim
(704 ha), Bechtheim is Rhenish Hesse’s
sixth biggest winegrowing municipality, and one of the biggest in Rhineland-Palatinate
.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the district Groß-Gerau , the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen.- History :...
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Westhofen
Westhofen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Westhofen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Westhofen....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Westhofen
Westhofen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
.
History
The FrankishFranks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
nobleman Bero supposedly took his lordly seat here in the 6th century and founded “Beroheim” (–heim means “home”), out of which developed Bechtheim. Saint Lambert’s Basilica was founded in the 8th century by the Cathedral Foundation of Liège, in whose ownership the municipality found itself then.
In 793, Bechtheim had its first documentary mention in a document from Fulda Abbey. In the Lorsch codex
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries...
the place was named in 1070. First the Lords of Bolanden and thereafter, as of 1267, the Counts of Leiningen held ownership rights to Bechtheim. The latter nobles pledged their holding several times. In 1700, the so-called Simultaneum
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...
was also introduced into Bechtheim, whereby Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
churches could also be used by Catholics, although this spawned quarrels between the two denominations. In 1722, Bechtheim was granted market rights.
In 1934, a “wine partnership” was concluded with Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
. In 1964, through the association Heimattreue Erfurter (“Erfurters Loyal to the Homeland” – made up of those from Erfurt living in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
), contacts with Bechtheim were newly forged. In particular, the Martinsfest on 10 and 11 November was from then on jointly held in Bechtheim. After German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
in 1990, the City of Erfurt also officially resumed the partnership.
The rural area toponym Pilgerpfad (“Pilgrims’ Path”) was first documented in 1392 as an dem bilgerim phade, and recalls a north-south route (from Bingen to Speyer) of Saint James’s Way
Way of St. James
The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members elected by proportional representationProportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
and the honorary mayor as chairwoman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
Total | |
| 2009 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 seats |
| 2004 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 16 seats |
Mayors
- 1984 - 2009 Ortsbürgermeister Wolfgang Thomas (FWG)
- 2009–present Ortsbürgermeisterin Jutta Schick (FWG)
Coat of arms
The municipality’s armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might be described thus: Azure a bear rampant argent armed, langued and gorged gules, in his paws a staff Or held palewise.
Bechtheim’s oldest seal from about 1500 already shows the same charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
as today’s arms do, and as all others since this earliest known one have done, although the composition has not always been the same. For instance, in the late 19th century, the arms were Argent a bear rampant sable armed and langued gules (that is, a black bear on a silver background with red tongue and claws, and without the collar and the staff). Over the years, the bear gained a cherry in its mouth, now missing, and also the collar and the staff. It is possible that the bear is canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
for an older form of the municipality’s name, Berchtheim (“Bear” is Bär in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, pronounced like the first three sounds in the older name). The arms in their current form were conferred in 1958.
Winegrowing
Bechtheim is characterized to a considerable extent by winegrowing, with 654 ha of vineyards under cultivation, 70.2% with white wine varieties and 29.8% with red. After WormsWorms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
(1 490 ha), Nierstein
Nierstein
Nierstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
(783 ha), Alzey
Alzey
Alzey is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, and Bingen....
(769 ha), Westhofen
Westhofen
Westhofen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
(764 ha) and Alsheim
Alsheim
Alsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
(704 ha), Bechtheim is Rhenish Hesse’s
Rheinhessen (wine region)
Rheinhessen is the largest of 13 German wine regions for quality wines with under cultivation in 2008. Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the River Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate...
sixth biggest winegrowing municipality, and one of the biggest in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
.
Famous people
- Jean-Valentin Bender (1801–1873), conductor and composer
- Siegmund MayerSiegmund MayerSiegmund Mayer was a German physiologist and histologist.Mayer was born in Bechtheim in Rhenish Hesse. He studied at the Universities of Heidelberg, Giessen and Tübingen, where in 1865 he obtained his doctorate...
(1842–1910), physiologistPhysiologyPhysiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or... - Joseph SimonJoseph SimonJoseph Simon was a German-born politician and attorney in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Bechtheim, Germany, and his family immigrated to the United States when he was one year old, settling in Portland, Oregon. A Republican, Simon served on the city council before election to the Oregon...
(1851–1935), AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politicianPoliticianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
(Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
)
Further reading
- Johannes Sommer: Bechtheim - St. Lambertus. Königstein i. Ts. 1980, ISBN 978-3-7845-0202-1