Riegenroth
Encyclopedia
Riegenroth is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Simmern
, whose seat is in the like-named town
. Riegenroth is a recognized recreational resort (Erholungsort).
roughly 9 km northeast of Simmern and 8 km northwest of Rheinböllen
, above the Grundbach just upstream from where it empties into the Simmerbach near Kisselbach. The rural residential community is linked by municipal roads to the neighbouring municipalities of Bubach
, Laudert
, Kisselbach
and Budenbach
.
(47.9%), woodlands (42.8%), open water (0.5%), dwelling and transport (8.5%) and others (0.2%).
. In 1275, Riegenroth had a documentary mention as Rudichenrode in a document in which the Knight of Milwalt was awarded the tithes, and it was also mentioned in a 1245 document from the Saint Martin of (Ober-)Wesel Foundation. The name was soon corrupted to Riescherd. Beginning in 1794, Riegenroth lay under French
rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
at the Congress of Vienna
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
.
Ecclesiastically, the village belonged to Schönenberg (or Sconenberg, a now vanished village) between Riegenroth and Kisselbach, for which a nobleman of the House of Schönburg from Castle Schönburg
near Oberwesel
endowed a chapel
, assigned to the deaconry of Boppard
. Even when the chapel was raised to parish church in 1275, it still belonged to that deaconry. Later, when Kisselbach had its own church, it was for a time after the Reformation
used by both Catholics and Protestants
in a simultaneum
. Later, after the Declaration of 1707, the Evangelicals
were supposed to be awarded the church in Kisselbach, which lay “on this side of the Simmerbach” on Evangelical Electoral-Palatine
territory. However, there were very few houses there. So, the Kisselbach villagers, who were Electoral-Trier subjects, and therefore
Catholics, took issue with this proposal. Only in 1787 did Riegenroth get its own Evangelical church. Since then, there has been the parish of Riegenroth with Kisselbach, Steinbach and Laudert. Until 1999, this was parochially bound to the parish of Pleizenhausen, to which belong, besides the main centre, also Bergenhausen and Rayerschied. The rectory stood in Pleizenhausen
. Since 1999, the parish of Riegenroth has been tied to the parish of Horn
-Laubach-Bubach and has belonged to the Evangelical Church district of Simmern-Trarbach.
There are only a few Catholics in the municipality.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Sable between two palm leaves palewise, the stems in base per saltire Or a lion rampant of the same armed and langued gules.
The village and court of Riegenroth were sold in the early 15th century by the Knights of Schönberg at the Castle at Wesel to the Counts Palatine of the Rhine. The gold lion on the black field refers to the landholders, the Dukes of Palatinate-Simmern and the Electors Palatine.
The charge
s – the lion and the palm leaves – are drawn unaltered from the old 1720 court seal.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
can be reached through the Laudert interchange
, 5 km away. The Rhine can be reached over the Rheingoldstraße, a road from Simmern
to Oberwesel
passing through Kisselbach, from which the journey is 15 km. Not much farther away are Kastellaun
, which lies on Bundesstraße
327 and the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann Göring
’s orders), and Simmern, through which runs Bundesstraße 50, where there are indoor and outdoor swimming pool
s along with shopping and entertainment facilities.
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 Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
) 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 Simmern
Simmern (Verbandsgemeinde)
Simmern is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Rhein-Hunsrück district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its seat is in Simmern.The Verbandsgemeinde Simmern consists of the following Ortsgemeinden :...
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Simmern
Simmern is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde...
. Riegenroth is a recognized recreational resort (Erholungsort).
Location
The municipality lies in the HunsrückHunsrück
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...
roughly 9 km northeast of Simmern and 8 km northwest of Rheinböllen
Rheinböllen
Rheinböllen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and also belongs to it.-Location:...
, above the Grundbach just upstream from where it empties into the Simmerbach near Kisselbach. The rural residential community is linked by municipal roads to the neighbouring municipalities of Bubach
Bubach
Bubach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Laudert
Laudert
Laudert is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Kisselbach
Kisselbach
Kisselbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Budenbach
Budenbach
Budenbach 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.-Location:The municipality lies in...
.
Land use
The municipal area measures 3.14 km², with uses divided among agricultureAgriculture
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...
(47.9%), woodlands (42.8%), open water (0.5%), dwelling and transport (8.5%) and others (0.2%).
History
The village is known in the Riegenroth Moselle Franconian variety of speech as Riescherd. The name points to Riegenroth having been “Rudich’s Clearing”, founded sometime in the Middle AgesMiddle 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...
. In 1275, Riegenroth had a documentary mention as Rudichenrode in a document in which the Knight of Milwalt was awarded the tithes, and it was also mentioned in a 1245 document from the Saint Martin of (Ober-)Wesel Foundation. The name was soon corrupted to Riescherd. Beginning in 1794, Riegenroth 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 1814 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 ....
.
Ecclesiastically, the village belonged to Schönenberg (or Sconenberg, a now vanished village) between Riegenroth and Kisselbach, for which a nobleman of the House of Schönburg from Castle Schönburg
Schönburg (Rhein)
The Schönburg is a castle above the town of Oberwesel in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Sources and external links:*...
near Oberwesel
Oberwesel
Oberwesel is a town on the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel, whose seat is in the town.-Location:...
endowed a chapel
Chapel
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,...
, assigned to the deaconry of Boppard
Boppard
Boppard is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.-Location:Boppard lies on the upper Middle...
. Even when the chapel was raised to parish church in 1275, it still belonged to that deaconry. Later, when Kisselbach had its own church, it was for a time after the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
used by both Catholics and Protestants
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...
in a 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...
. Later, after the Declaration of 1707, the Evangelicals
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...
were supposed to be awarded the church in Kisselbach, which lay “on this side of the Simmerbach” on Evangelical Electoral-Palatine
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...
territory. However, there were very few houses there. So, the Kisselbach villagers, who were Electoral-Trier subjects, and therefore
Cuius regio, eius religio
Cuius regio, eius religio is a phrase in Latin translated as "Whose realm, his religion", meaning the religion of the ruler dictated the religion of the ruled...
Catholics, took issue with this proposal. Only in 1787 did Riegenroth get its own Evangelical church. Since then, there has been the parish of Riegenroth with Kisselbach, Steinbach and Laudert. Until 1999, this was parochially bound to the parish of Pleizenhausen, to which belong, besides the main centre, also Bergenhausen and Rayerschied. The rectory stood in Pleizenhausen
Pleizenhausen
Pleizenhausen 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.-Location:The municipality lies...
. Since 1999, the parish of Riegenroth has been tied to the parish of Horn
Horn, Germany
Horn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
-Laubach-Bubach and has belonged to the Evangelical Church district of Simmern-Trarbach.
There are only a few Catholics in the municipality.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected 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...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In der schwarzen Schildfläche zwischen zwei gekreuzten goldenen Palmwedeln ein nach rechts schreitender aufrechter goldener Löwe, rotbezungt und -bewehrt.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 between two palm leaves palewise, the stems in base per saltire Or a lion rampant of the same armed and langued gules.
The village and court of Riegenroth were sold in the early 15th century by the Knights of Schönberg at the Castle at Wesel to the Counts Palatine of the Rhine. The gold lion on the black field refers to the landholders, the Dukes of Palatinate-Simmern and the Electors Palatine.
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 – the lion and the palm leaves – are drawn unaltered from the old 1720 court seal.
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- 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...
church, Bubacher Straße – BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
, marked 1787, tower 1865; whole complex of buildings with graveyard - Former Schönenberg graveyard, south of Riegenroth – sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
cross, marked 1777
Economy and infrastructure
The Autobahn A 61Bundesautobahn 61
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim. In 1965, this required a re-design of the Hockenheimring....
can be reached through the Laudert interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
, 5 km away. The Rhine can be reached over the Rheingoldstraße, a road from Simmern
Simmern
Simmern is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde...
to Oberwesel
Oberwesel
Oberwesel is a town on the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel, whose seat is in the town.-Location:...
passing through Kisselbach, from which the journey is 15 km. Not much farther away are Kastellaun
Kastellaun
-Climate:Yearly precipitation in Kastellaun amounts to 755 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 53% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations, lower figures recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in June. In that...
, which lies on Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
327 and the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
’s orders), and Simmern, through which runs Bundesstraße 50, where there are indoor and outdoor swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
s along with shopping and entertainment facilities.