Ensheim
Encyclopedia
Ensheim 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
.
in Ensheim amounts to 863 mm (34 in), which is in the upper third of the precipitation chart for all Germany, as measured at the German Weather Service’s weather stations. At 74% of the stations, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in November. Precipitation varies little from month to month, though, with seasonal swings falling into the lower third. At only 14% of all places are seasonal swings in precipitation less marked.
broke through the fortified Roman border
at the Rhine, winning themselves a new homeland in so doing. Rhenish Hesse was occupied by the Franks in the 5th century.
The oldest available written evidence about Ensheim from Frankish times comes from the year 769. On 12 September 769, a man named Almahar, who might have been Ensheim’s landholder, donated a vineyard
in the municipal area of Aoenisheim – today’s Ensheim – to Lorsch Abbey
. This Almahar also crops up as a witness in a document from Flonheim
from 12 June 791 and endowed Lorsch Abbey with further donations.
The first documentary mention in 769 also brings evidence that Roman
winegrowing was still being practised.
Ensheim’s name has taken many forms over the ages, and the following ones are found in documents:
Ensheim originally belonged to the Wormsgau and passed with the formation of territorial lordly domains in the 12th century to the Counts Palatine
. The time when the Palatine Principality was newly formed by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa
might well also be when Stromberg Castle in the Soonwald (part of the Hunsrück
) came into the Count Palatine’s ownership. To Stromberg
belonged, besides Ensheim, the Kronkreuz estate and the villages of Appenheim
, Engelstadt
, Grolsheim
, Horrweiler
, Weinheim
and Schimsheim.
Once Count Palatine Otto divided his holdings between his sons Ludwig and Heinrich in 1255, the former acquired the village of Ensheim. His son Rudolf and Rudolf’s wife Mathilde undertook a pledge in 1311 of the castles and villages to Simon II of Sponheim
for 2,000 pounds in Hellers
. This pledge was redeemed in 1320 by the widow Mathilde and her son Adolf, whereby Ensheim passed back to Electoral Palatinate, staying with it until the French Revolution
.
In Ensheim, the Cistercian Saint John’s Monastery (St. Johanneskloster) near Alzey
owned an estate, which was mentioned in 1357. This estate had its taxes and assessment duties, all but corn tributes, lifted on 28 February 1357 by Count Palatine Rupprecht II, to whom these hitherto had had to be paid. After this pronouncement, the Counts Palatine had lodging rights at this estate with stabling for their horses. Food and drink, as well as fodder for their horses, had to be supplied by Ensheim citizens.
After the monastery was dissolved in 1560, the municipality of Ensheim acquired the estate.
The Catholic inhabitants form a daughter parish of the Catholic parish of Spiesheim
, both of which are governed together by the parish region of Wörrstadt
.
, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Regional government
(now dissolved) in Neustadt an der Weinstraße
. It is not handed down from local history, but rather the charge
s relate to territorial allegiances over the ages.
The official German
blazon reads: Über von Silber und Rot gespaltenem erhöhtem Schildfuß, darin rechts eine blaue Lilie, links ein silbernes Sesel, von Rot und Silber gespalten, rechts eine silberne Hacke und ein silberner Krummstab mit Sudarium, gekreuzt, links eine blaue Krone mit einem herauswachsenden blauen Kleeblattkreuz.
The municipality’s arms
might be described thus in English
heraldic
language: Quarterly per fess abased, first argent a crown charged with a cross bottonnée azure, second gules a crozier with sudarium and a hoe per saltire of the first, third gules a billhook palewise of the first, fourth argent a fleur-de-lis of the second.
The arms show Ensheim’s former allegiance to Electoral Palatinate and has retained the Rhenish-Hessian and Mainz
tincture
s gules and argent (red and silver). The crown with the cross refers to the Kronkreuz estate, which was within Ensheim’s municipal limits, and which passed in 1299 to Mainz Cathedral
, while in the village itself, the Marian monastery at Flonheim
held rights and ownership, as shown by the blue lily, Mary’s symbol. The Mainz Episcopal Church’s holdings and rights are likewise shown by the crozier. The hoe and the billhook
refer to agriculture
and winegrowing. Thus the arms unite the municipality’s present-day economic structure with its historic past as well as with an interpretation of the old monasterial estate’s name, Kronkreuz, which means “Crown Cross”, making the charge in the first quarter canting
.
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 Wörrstadt
Wörrstadt (Verbandsgemeinde)
Wörrstadt is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Wörrstadt....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Wörrstadt
Wörrstadt is a town in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :The town lies in Rhenish Hesse on the northwest edge of the Upper Rhine Plain...
.
Climate
Yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
in Ensheim amounts to 863 mm (34 in), which is in the upper third of the precipitation chart for all Germany, as measured at the German Weather Service’s weather stations. At 74% of the stations, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in November. Precipitation varies little from month to month, though, with seasonal swings falling into the lower third. At only 14% of all places are seasonal swings in precipitation less marked.
History
As early as the mid 4th century, the FranksFranks
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...
broke through the fortified Roman border
Limes Germanicus
The Limes Germanicus was a line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes from the years 83 to about 260 AD...
at the Rhine, winning themselves a new homeland in so doing. Rhenish Hesse was occupied by the Franks in the 5th century.
The oldest available written evidence about Ensheim from Frankish times comes from the year 769. On 12 September 769, a man named Almahar, who might have been Ensheim’s landholder, donated a vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
in the municipal area of Aoenisheim – today’s Ensheim – to 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...
. This Almahar also crops up as a witness in a document from Flonheim
Flonheim
Flonheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
from 12 June 791 and endowed Lorsch Abbey with further donations.
The first documentary mention in 769 also brings evidence that Roman
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....
winegrowing was still being practised.
Ensheim’s name has taken many forms over the ages, and the following ones are found in documents:
- 785 - Gennesheim
- 849 - Onesheim
- 1224 - Ennensheim
- 1283 - Onisheim
- 1299 - Ensenthaim
- 1337 - Onesheim
- 1375 - Onsheim
- 1437 - Oneßheim
Ensheim originally belonged to the Wormsgau and passed with the formation of territorial lordly domains in the 12th century to the Counts Palatine
Count palatine
Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...
. The time when the Palatine Principality was newly formed by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
might well also be when Stromberg Castle in the Soonwald (part of the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
) came into the Count Palatine’s ownership. To Stromberg
Stromberg (Hunsrück)
Stromberg is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the eastern edge of the Hunsrück, approx. 10 km west of Bingen....
belonged, besides Ensheim, the Kronkreuz estate and the villages of Appenheim
Appenheim
Appenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
, Engelstadt
Engelstadt
Engelstadt is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
, Grolsheim
Grolsheim
Grolsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
, Horrweiler
Horrweiler
Horrweiler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
, Weinheim
Weinheim
Weinheim is a town in the north west of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany with 43 000 inhabitants, approximately 15 km north of Heidelberg and 10 km northeast of Mannheim. Together with these cities, it makes up the Rhine-Neckar triangle...
and Schimsheim.
Once Count Palatine Otto divided his holdings between his sons Ludwig and Heinrich in 1255, the former acquired the village of Ensheim. His son Rudolf and Rudolf’s wife Mathilde undertook a pledge in 1311 of the castles and villages to Simon II of Sponheim
House of Sponheim
The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a noble family of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages. They were Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269 and Counts of Sponheim until 1437...
for 2,000 pounds in Hellers
Heller (money)
The Heller or Häller was originally a German coin valued at half a pfennig and named after the city of Hall am Kocher...
. This pledge was redeemed in 1320 by the widow Mathilde and her son Adolf, whereby Ensheim passed back to Electoral Palatinate, staying with it until the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
In Ensheim, the Cistercian Saint John’s Monastery (St. Johanneskloster) near 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....
owned an estate, which was mentioned in 1357. This estate had its taxes and assessment duties, all but corn tributes, lifted on 28 February 1357 by Count Palatine Rupprecht II, to whom these hitherto had had to be paid. After this pronouncement, the Counts Palatine had lodging rights at this estate with stabling for their horses. Food and drink, as well as fodder for their horses, had to be supplied by Ensheim citizens.
After the monastery was dissolved in 1560, the municipality of Ensheim acquired the estate.
Religion
- The Ensheim EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe 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 was until 1998 an autonomous parish with its own rectorate, which also managed neighbouring SpiesheimSpiesheimSpiesheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
’s Evangelical inhabitants. Beginning in 1999, the municipalities of BechtolsheimBechtolsheimBechtolsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, BiebelnheimBiebelnheimBiebelnheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
, Ensheim and Spiesheim together form a parish whose seat is in Bechtolsheim.
The Catholic inhabitants form a daughter parish of the Catholic parish of Spiesheim
Spiesheim
Spiesheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
, both of which are governed together by the parish region of Wörrstadt
Wörrstadt
Wörrstadt is a town in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :The town lies in Rhenish Hesse on the northwest edge of the Upper Rhine Plain...
.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009 by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
Ensheim’s arms were approved on 25 February 1985 by the Rheinhessen-PfalzRheinhessen-Pfalz
Rheinhessen-Pfalz was one of the three Regierungsbezirke of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the south of the state...
Regional government
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
(now dissolved) in Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...
. It is not handed down from local history, but rather the 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...
s relate to territorial allegiances over the ages.
The official 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....
blazon reads: Über von Silber und Rot gespaltenem erhöhtem Schildfuß, darin rechts eine blaue Lilie, links ein silbernes Sesel, von Rot und Silber gespalten, rechts eine silberne Hacke und ein silberner Krummstab mit Sudarium, gekreuzt, links eine blaue Krone mit einem herauswachsenden blauen Kleeblattkreuz.
The municipality’s arms
Coat 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 in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language: Quarterly per fess abased, first argent a crown charged with a cross bottonnée azure, second gules a crozier with sudarium and a hoe per saltire of the first, third gules a billhook palewise of the first, fourth argent a fleur-de-lis of the second.
The arms show Ensheim’s former allegiance to Electoral Palatinate and has retained the Rhenish-Hessian and 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...
tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s gules and argent (red and silver). The crown with the cross refers to the Kronkreuz estate, which was within Ensheim’s municipal limits, and which passed in 1299 to Mainz Cathedral
Mainz Cathedral
Mainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical center and pedestrianized market square of the city of Mainz, Germany...
, while in the village itself, the Marian monastery at Flonheim
Flonheim
Flonheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
held rights and ownership, as shown by the blue lily, Mary’s symbol. The Mainz Episcopal Church’s holdings and rights are likewise shown by the crozier. The hoe and the billhook
Billhook
The billhook is a traditional cutting tool known and used throughout the world, and very common in the wine-growing countries of Europe, used widely in agriculture and forestry The billhook (also bill hook – although this more usually refers to either a metal or plastic hook used to hold bills,...
refer to agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and winegrowing. Thus the arms unite the municipality’s present-day economic structure with its historic past as well as with an interpretation of the old monasterial estate’s name, Kronkreuz, which means “Crown Cross”, making the charge in the first quarter 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 –...
.