Bischoffen
Encyclopedia
Location
Bischoffen lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland at the Aar Dam (Aartalsperre). This dam holds back the river Aar, a tributary to the DillDill (river)
The Dill is a long river, flowing through central Hesse in Germany. It is a tributary to the Lahn, joining it on the right bank at the town of Wetzlar.-Course:The Dill flows exclusively through the Lahn-Dill-Kreis district in Hesse...
, forming a 57-ha lake whose purpose is mainly flood control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
, although of course it also has its recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
al uses.
Niederweidbach
Lying among the villages of Bischoffen (itself a constituent community, and indeed the community's namesake, but not the biggest centre therein), Oberweidbach, Roßbach, Mudersbach and Ahrdt, Niederweidbach is found right on the shore of the Aartalsee, the man-made lake created by the Aar Dam. It is also on the stretch of Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 255 between HerbornHerborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
and Gladenbach
Gladenbach
-Location:The town of Gladenbach lies on the eastern edge of the Westerwald in the Hessian Highland . This part of the Lahn-Dill Highland is often also called the Gladenbach Uplands...
.
q.v. Niederweidbach's history
Neighbouring communities
Bischoffen borders in the north on the community of Bad EndbachBad Endbach
Bad Endbach is the westernmost municipality in Marburg-Biedenkopf district of the state of Hesse in Germany, and borders on the Lahn-Dill district.-Location:...
and the town of Gladenbach
Gladenbach
-Location:The town of Gladenbach lies on the eastern edge of the Westerwald in the Hessian Highland . This part of the Lahn-Dill Highland is often also called the Gladenbach Uplands...
, in the east on the community of Lohra
Lohra
Lohra is a community in Marburg-Biedenkopf district in the administrative region of Gießen in Hesse, Germany.-Geography:Lohra's municipal area, measuring 49 km², stretches across the middle Salzböde valley and the Versgrund...
(all three in Marburg-Biedenkopf
Marburg-Biedenkopf
Marburg-Biedenkopf is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Waldeck-Frankenberg, Schwalm-Eder, Vogelsbergkreis, Gießen, Lahn-Dill, Siegen-Wittgenstein.- History :...
), in the southeast on the community of Biebertal
Biebertal
Biebertal is a municipality in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 7 km northwest of Gießen.It is Denbigh's twin town...
(Gießen
Gießen (district)
Gießen is a Kreis in the middle of Hessen, Germany. Neighboring districts are Marburg-Biedenkopf, Vogelsbergkreis, Wetteraukreis, Lahn-Dill.-History:...
district), in the south on the community of Hohenahr
Hohenahr
-Location:Hohenahr lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland at a height of between 260 and 440 m above sea level. Its constituent communities of Ahrdt and Mudersbach are on the shores of the Aartalsee .-Neighbouring communities:...
, in the southwest on the community of Mittenaar
Mittenaar
-Municipal area's extent:On Mittenaar's 3 518 ha live more than 5,000 people. About 45 km of roads connect the various centres. More than half the municipal area is wooded.-Neighbouring communities:...
, and in the west on the community of Siegbach
Siegbach
- Location :The community of Siegbach lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland in the valley of its namesake brook, the Siegbach, which empties into the Aar to the south at Bischoffen.More than half of the municipal area is wooded.- Neighbouring communities :...
(all three in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).
Constituent communities
The community consists of the centres of Bischoffen, Niederweidbach, Oberweidbach, Roßbach and Wilsbach.Niederweidbach is Bischoffen's biggest community, and its administrative seat.
History
Niederweidbach and Oberweidbach were mentioned in the Fulda Monastery's Codex Eberhardi quite early on, in 802. The other communities' first documentary mentions followed lin the late 13th or early 14th century. The villages belonged to various ecclesiastical and secular rulers, but a great deal of the current municipal area came to be part of the County of Solms as time went by, through estate division, pledges and feuds.Among the four local powers, namely the Landgraves of Hesse, the Electors of Mainz, the Free Imperial City of Wetzlar and the Counts of Nassau, the political climate was seldom calm. In the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, the inhabitants suffered neediness, hardship and destruction. The villages only slowly recovered from all this.
Today's Bischoffen was, in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, split into the two municipalities of Oberbischoffen and Niederbischoffen (Ober– = Upper; Nieder– = Lower). Oberbischoffen died out during the Plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and other epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
s and was forsaken. Niederbischoffen was then, in later documents, called simply Bischoffen. Bischoffen earned itself special importance with the building of the Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
-Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
commercial road, along whose route the Aar-Salzböde railway and Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 255 were later built.
With the onset of the 19th century, the area was once again divided: Bischoffen, Niederweidbach and Roßbach passed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
, and Ahrdt and Mudersbach to the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. Up until municipal reform in 1972, the community's outlying centres belonged to the Biedenkopf district, but given their location and economic orientation, they were assigned to the new Lahn-Dill-Kreis.
Niederweidbach's history
After its first documentary mention in the Codex Eberhardi in 802 as "Weidenbach", the village was divided into two, Oberweidbach and Niederweidbach, in the 14th century, much as had been done with neighbouring Bischoffen. In 1432, the villages were granted to the House of Solms-Hohensolms, and passed to the Count of Solms-Hohensolms in 1606. As of 1628, they belonged to the Landgraviate of Hesse-DarmstadtLandgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was a member state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the four sons of Philip I, the last Landgrave of Hesse....
.
Municipal council
The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
9 seats |
| FWG | 7 seats |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
4 seats |
| Kommunal Direkt | 3 seats |
Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.
Coat of arms
Bischoffen's civic coat of 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 heraldically be described thus: A bend wavy argent, above, in azure the crook of a bishop's crozier sinister Or, below, in vert an inverted scallop shell Or.
The wavy bend stands for the river Aar, which flows through the community. The crook stands for the community's name (from 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....
Bischof – bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
). The scallop
Scallop
A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
shell stands for Saint James the Great
Saint James the Great
James, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle...
, Niederweidbach's patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
, whose traditional symbol is this shell.
Marienkirche
The wall tower in Niederweidbach, built out of parts of the town wall, itself built in the 11th century, was converted into a chapelChapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
– as Niederweidbach belonged to Altenkirchen Parish – by the Reverend Hartong, and further expanded in 1498 on the west side with a proper church nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
.
Literature
- 802–2002 – Weidbach 1200 Jahre – Ein Heimatbuch, published by the Interessensgemeinschaft Weidbacher Vereine e.V. in 2002 for Niederweidbach's and Oberweidbach's 1200-year jubilee.