History

In 1285, Fronhofen had its first documentary mention; however, its history does reach back somewhat further. Originally, Fronhofen consisted of a monastery estate and a mill. In 1074, Count Berthold donated the holding to Ravengiersburg Monastery, and until 1408 it belonged to the Provostry of Ravengiersburg

Ravengiersburg

Ravengiersburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Simmern, whose seat is in the like-named town...

, and thereafter to the Oberamt of Simmern.

This lordly estate was what was actually mentioned by name in the first documentary mention in 1285. In a dispute between the Provost of Ravengiersburg and the Vögte

Vogt

A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

 of Heinzenberg in that year, it was determined that the monastery should own its four lordly estates free of all service. The estate at that time had a manor house, two barns, a stable and a mill. The grounds amounted to 44 Morgen

Morgen

A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...

 (roughly 14 ha) in cropfields, a great heath

Heath

-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...

 field in the Oberbrühl of 12 Morgen (about 3.8 ha) and 11 meadows, along with a forest of 200 Morgen (roughly 64 ha).

Of the tithes gathered at Fronhofen, the priest got one third, while the other two thirds were shared out by the Counts of Sponheim

County of Sponheim

The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...

 and their heirs to the families von Wildberg, von Koppenstein, Blicker Landschad von Steinach and Schenk von Schmidtburg, as well as to the Barons of Hacke. The Haus Klopp lay south of Fronhofen and was a farm with four households. Fronhofen and Klopp, according to Elector Palatine Phillipp’s Geistliches Lehenbuch (“Clerical Book of Fiefs”), belonged to the ecclesiastical region (Pfarrbezirk) of Neuerkirch-Biebern.

Beginning in 1794, Fronhofen lay under French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 at the Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

 of 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 ....

. Flurbereinigung

Flurbereinigung

Flurbereinigung is the German word used to describe land reforms in various countries, especially Germany and Austria. The term can best be translated as land consolidation. Another European country where those land reforms have been carried out is France...

 was undertaken in 1912 and again in 1985.

Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Mayor

Fronhofen’s mayor is Günter Steffens, and his deputies are Rainer Gerhardy and Willi Klöckner.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: In Schwarz auf silbernem Dreiberg, darin wachsender blauer Krummstab, ein rotbewehrter und gezungter goldener Löwe nach links.

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 in English 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 be described thus: Sable in base a mount of three argent surmounting which an abbot’s staff sinister issuant from base azure, and upon which a lion rampant sinister queue fourché Or armed and langued gules.

The silver 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...

 in base, the mount of three (called a Dreiberg in German heraldry) and the lion standing thereupon are drawn from the 1773 seal once used by the Schultheiß

Schultheiß

In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...

erei. The lion refers to the former landholders, the Counts of Simmern

Palatinate-Simmern

Palatinate-Simmern was one of the collateral lines of the Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach.The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach was divided into four lines after the death of Rupert III in 1410, including the line of Palatinate-Simmern with its capital in Simmern. This line...

 and the Electors Palatine. The abbot’s staff refers to the lordly estate of the Augustinian

Augustinians

The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...

 canons of Ravengiersburg, from which the municipality gets its name, “lordly estate” being Fronhof 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....

.

The arms have been borne since 15 March 1981, and they were designed by Willi Wagner.

External links

• Municipality’s official webpage