Dexheim
Encyclopedia
Dexheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
and Worms
, in Rhenish Hesse. The winemaking centre belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Nierstein-Oppenheim
, whose seat is in Oppenheim
.
who lived here. These artefacts can be seen at the Roman-Germanic Central Museum (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum) in Mainz
. When the Romans
needed bricks to build their castra
, they took as their raw material the loam
from Dexheim to shape and fire into bricks.
In 774 Dexheim had its first documentary mention in a donation document in which Charlemagne
bequeathed a great estate to the Lorsch Abbey
. The second documentary mention is contained in an act in which King Arnulf of Carinthia
donated the church at Dexheim to the Fulda Abbey.
Dexheim was a Free Imperial
Village, paying taxes only to the Emperor. Its coat of arms was a silver cross with the red “Imperial Apple”
. With the neighbouring places of Nierstein and Schwabsburg it became the site of the common court. In 1376 it passed to the Oberamt of Oppenheim and remained with it until the Electoral Palatinate was no more.
Until then the village had already had many landlords. For lack of money – something similar had already happened earlier – the Emperor had pledged Dexheim in 1315 to the Archbishop of Mainz, redeeming it in 1353.
The Thirty Years' War
was frightful for Dexheim. A document from 1647, and thus one year before the Peace of Westphalia
, gives an impression. Almost all the houses were destroyed; only the palace of the Lords of Dienheim and a few houses nearby were habitable.
Dexheim’s importance is also underscored by the names of noble families that had holdings here. Found here, among others, are names such as:
Remnants of the church from the 9th century likely form the lower part of the Evangelical
parish church’s tower.
This church’s first documentary mention comes from the 14th century. From this time also come the Gothic
paintings and a mandorla that was revealed during renovation work on the tower.
In 1816 Dexheim passed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
. It belonged to the Mainz district and later, in 1851, it passed to the Oppenheim district. It therefore has much history in common with the neighbouring places of Nierstein
, Schwabsburg and Oppenheim
; along with them it is also in the Verbandsgemeinde of Nierstein-Oppenheim
.
After world war II the US Army (123rd Main Support Battalion
) remained here for many years until Anderson Barracks closed in 2008 and the Institute for Federal Real Estate (Germany)
took over responsibility for the site.
reflect its history as an Imperial village. As such, Dexheim was allowed to bear arms charge
d with the black Imperial Eagle with red claws and beak on a golden field. Later, when the municipality became an Electoral Palatinate holding, it forwent introducing arms showing the Palatine lion in favour of the old Imperial Eagle, which it kept until the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, however, the Dexheim arms were forgotten.
Only in the mid 20th century was the Imperial Eagle reintroduced into the municipality’s arms. However, it was wrongly assumed then that Dexheim had borne a globus cruciger in its arms. The actual historical arms, though, are charged only with the Imperial Eagle.
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 Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuznach, Rhein-Hunsrück.-History:During the French occupation under Napoleon the district...
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...
.
Location
Dexheim lies between MainzMainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
and Worms
Worms, 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...
, in Rhenish Hesse. The winemaking centre belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Nierstein-Oppenheim
Nierstein-Oppenheim
Nierstein-Oppenheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Mainz-Bingen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx...
, whose seat is in Oppenheim
Oppenheim
Oppenheim is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is well known as a wine town, the site of the German Winegrowing Museum and particularly for the wines from the Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen vineyards.- Location :...
.
History
Dexheim's history began long before its first documentary mention. Finds within Dexheim's municipal limits have yielded information about the GermaniGermanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
who lived here. These artefacts can be seen at the Roman-Germanic Central Museum (Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum) in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
. When the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
needed bricks to build their castra
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
, they took as their raw material the loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
from Dexheim to shape and fire into bricks.
In 774 Dexheim had its first documentary mention in a donation document in which Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
bequeathed a great estate to the Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey
The Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...
. The second documentary mention is contained in an act in which King Arnulf of Carinthia
Arnulf of Carinthia
Arnulf of Carinthia was the Carolingian King of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from February 22, 896 until his death.-Birth and Illegitimacy:...
donated the church at Dexheim to the Fulda Abbey.
Dexheim was a Free Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
Village, paying taxes only to the Emperor. Its coat of arms was a silver cross with the red “Imperial Apple”
Globus cruciger
The globus cruciger is an orb topped with a cross , a Christian symbol of authority used throughout the Middle Ages and even today on coins, iconography and royal regalia...
. With the neighbouring places of Nierstein and Schwabsburg it became the site of the common court. In 1376 it passed to the Oberamt of Oppenheim and remained with it until the Electoral Palatinate was no more.
Until then the village had already had many landlords. For lack of money – something similar had already happened earlier – the Emperor had pledged Dexheim in 1315 to the Archbishop of Mainz, redeeming it in 1353.
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....
was frightful for Dexheim. A document from 1647, and thus one year before the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
, gives an impression. Almost all the houses were destroyed; only the palace of the Lords of Dienheim and a few houses nearby were habitable.
Dexheim’s importance is also underscored by the names of noble families that had holdings here. Found here, among others, are names such as:
- Electoral Court Chamber (Kurfürstliche Hofkammer)
- Oppenheim Monastery (Stift Oppenheim)
- Maria Kron Monastery (Kloster Maria Kron), OppenheimOppenheimOppenheim is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is well known as a wine town, the site of the German Winegrowing Museum and particularly for the wines from the Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen vineyards.- Location :...
- Domstift MainzMainz CathedralMainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical center and pedestrianized market square of the city of Mainz, Germany...
- CarthusianCarthusianThe Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...
s - Lords of Gemmingen
- Lords of Dienheim
- Lords of Frankenstein
- Lords of Schmittburg
- Lords of GeißpisheimGabsheimGabsheim 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 Wörrstadt, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.- Location :The municipality...
Remnants of the church from the 9th century likely form the lower part of the Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
parish church’s tower.
This church’s first documentary mention comes from the 14th century. From this time also come the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
paintings and a mandorla that was revealed during renovation work on the tower.
In 1816 Dexheim 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...
. It belonged to the Mainz district and later, in 1851, it passed to the Oppenheim district. It therefore has much history in common with the neighbouring places of 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 :...
, Schwabsburg and Oppenheim
Oppenheim
Oppenheim is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is well known as a wine town, the site of the German Winegrowing Museum and particularly for the wines from the Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen vineyards.- Location :...
; along with them it is also in the Verbandsgemeinde of Nierstein-Oppenheim
Nierstein-Oppenheim
Nierstein-Oppenheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Mainz-Bingen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx...
.
After world war II the US Army (123rd Main Support Battalion
Main Support Battalion
A main support battalion was a US Army logistics formation in the pre-modular army. The role of the MSB was to support soldiers in the division rear and provide designated reinforcing support to the forward support battalions. -Organization:...
) remained here for many years until Anderson Barracks closed in 2008 and the Institute for Federal Real Estate (Germany)
Institute for Federal Real Estate (Germany)
The Institute for Federal Real Estate is a government agency in Germany that provides federal government entities with real estate services. It functions as a landlord in the government system of internal rent—a commercially based model for managing government real estate...
took over responsibility for the site.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members with the mayor as chairman (17 votes), and with seats apportioned thus:- Wählergruppe Dexheim 7 seats including mayor
- FW 6 seats
- SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
4 seats
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...
reflect its history as an Imperial village. As such, Dexheim was allowed to bear arms 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...
d with the black Imperial Eagle with red claws and beak on a golden field. Later, when the municipality became an Electoral Palatinate holding, it forwent introducing arms showing the Palatine lion in favour of the old Imperial Eagle, which it kept until the end of the 18th century. In the 19th century, however, the Dexheim arms were forgotten.
Only in the mid 20th century was the Imperial Eagle reintroduced into the municipality’s arms. However, it was wrongly assumed then that Dexheim had borne a globus cruciger in its arms. The actual historical arms, though, are charged only with the Imperial Eagle.