Uersfeld
Encyclopedia
Uersfeld is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
sea. This is witnessed by fossil
s of sea creatures. Such things were found many years ago by Franz Krämer from Kölnische Höfe (a hamlet
now belonging to Kaperich
) near Uersfeld’s railway station. About 200,000,000 years ago, the Eifel was not only no longer underwater, but also considerably drier than it is today. It was a Triassic
desert whose existence is still witnessed today in deposits of bunter
and Rotliegend
. About 70,000,000 years ago, a subtropical to tropical climate prevailed.
The mountains Höchst, Hochkelberg
and others in the High Eifel arose about 35,000,000 years ago as a result of Tertiary
vulcanism
. The maar
s, however, are quite new, at least geologically speaking, the Mosbrucher Weiher being only 11,000 years old, and the Ulmener Maar only about 10,000.
area was home to hunter-gatherers, as witnessed by finds of flint
blades and stone hatchet
s. The first time in which there were settlers in the area came in the first millennium BC, specifically about 700 BC, in Hallstatt times
. There have been finds in the Uersfeld-Kelberg area from this time through to late Roman
times, showing that there was settlement, albeit rather thin, but continuous, growing settlement nevertheless.
A great deal is known about Roman times in the area from archaeological
finds. What is known matches ancient authors’ writings and is defined by ceramic
finds and also coins. Dendrochronology
can even yield details of years in which things happened.
Many barrow
fields can be found in the Uersfeld church woods within the limits of the outlying centre of Höchstberg. However, for want of any archaeological investigation, it is uncertain from what time they date, but the grave robberies and Court Counsellor Comes’s (1774-1856) resulting collection in Cochem
have yielded some idea of the time. Court Counsellor Comes bequeathed part of his collection to the Society for Beneficial Research (Gesellschaft für nützliche Forschungen) in Trier. The rest was auction
ed off, scattering Roman finds from Uersfeld throughout the world.
After the fall of the Roman Empire
in the 5th century, there was nothing left in the Vulkaneifel but empty land. This is not hard to understand when one considers that all Western Europe lay at the perhaps 200,000 Frankish
warriors’ feet. The Vulkaneifel could hardly have been called the most fruitful land available to the Franks and their families, nor the land with the most favourable climate. For well over one thousand years, people held an unfavourable opinion of the region.
With few exceptions, the area around the Hochkelberg
and the Höchst, where Uersfeld now lies, was uninhabited. Only in the 11th century did the first clearing in a thousand years take place.
In the early 12th century, Uersfeld (Urnesfeld) had its first documentary mention in an undated document. Research has put its date somewhere between 1120 and 1169. The Abbot of Springiersbach, Richard, is named in this document. Springiersbach Abbey’s first two abbots were both named Richard. They appeared in document between 1120 and 1163. The third abbot, Gottfried von Springiersbach, only crops up in a document for the first time in 1169. The 1120-1169 time period for the document is confirmed by the mention of three witnesses to the document who are named, Heinrich von Ulmen and his brother Rudolf, and Theodorich von Klotten. All three are named in documents from 1130, and the brothers von Ulmen are furthermore mentioned in documents from 1144.
In the document containing the first documentary mention, Justina, the knight Siegfried’s noble wife, bequeathed three estates at Uersfeld, Wollmerath
and Princka, which she had inherited from her rich father Alberto, to Springiersbach Abbey, receiving in consideration thereof eight Fuder of wine each year (a Fuder was somewhere between 800 and 1 000 L).
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per fess, in chief per pale vert a windmill argent and argent a cross sable surmounted by two glaives per saltire staves Or and heads flory gules, in base gules a bishop’s staff bendwise sinister surmounted by a wolf couchant reguardant of the second.
A windmill once stood near where the sporting ground is today, thus explaining the first charge
. The black cross represents a former overlord, the Electorate of Cologne. The glaive
s come from a seal used by Johann von Husener from Uersfeld, who lived in the municipality in the 14th and 15th centuries as an Imperial
notary. The bishop’s staff and the wolf stand for the church’s patron saint, Remaclus
.
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 Vulkaneifel 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 Kelberg
Kelberg (Verbandsgemeinde)
Kelberg is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Kelberg....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Kelberg
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the VulkaneifelVulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Geology
Like the rest of what is now the Eifel, the place that is now Uersfeld was underwater about 400,000,000 years ago, at the bottom of a DevonianDevonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
sea. This is witnessed by fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s of sea creatures. Such things were found many years ago by Franz Krämer from Kölnische Höfe (a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
now belonging to Kaperich
Kaperich
Kaperich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
) near Uersfeld’s railway station. About 200,000,000 years ago, the Eifel was not only no longer underwater, but also considerably drier than it is today. It was a Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
desert whose existence is still witnessed today in deposits of bunter
Bunter (geology)
Bunter beds are sandstone deposits containing rounded pebbles, such as can notably be found in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Devon and Dorset in England...
and Rotliegend
Rotliegend
The Rotliegend or Rotliegendes is a lithostratigraphic unit of Cisuralian age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in western and central Europe. The Rotliegend mainly consists of sandstone layers...
. About 70,000,000 years ago, a subtropical to tropical climate prevailed.
The mountains Höchst, Hochkelberg
Hochkelberg
At the Hochkelberg is one of the ten highest mountains in the Vulkan Eifel in Germany. It is a former stratovolcano, at the southern foot of which lies the Mosbrucher Weiher, an explosion crater lake or maar. Below the summit of the Hochkelberg is a transmission tower.Originally the mountain...
and others in the High Eifel arose about 35,000,000 years ago as a result of Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
vulcanism
Vulcanism
Vulcanism may refer to* Volcanism or volcanic activity.* Plutonism, a scientific theory of the Earth....
. The maar
Maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater that is caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption, an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot lava or magma. A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake. The name comes from the local Moselle...
s, however, are quite new, at least geologically speaking, the Mosbrucher Weiher being only 11,000 years old, and the Ulmener Maar only about 10,000.
History
In the New Stone Age (3000 to 2000 BC), the Uersfeld-KelbergKelberg
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat...
area was home to hunter-gatherers, as witnessed by finds of flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
blades and stone hatchet
Hatchet
A hatchet is a single-handed striking tool with a sharp blade used to cut and split wood...
s. The first time in which there were settlers in the area came in the first millennium BC, specifically about 700 BC, in Hallstatt times
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
. There have been finds in the Uersfeld-Kelberg area from this time through to late 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....
times, showing that there was settlement, albeit rather thin, but continuous, growing settlement nevertheless.
A great deal is known about Roman times in the area from archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
finds. What is known matches ancient authors’ writings and is defined by ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
finds and also coins. Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
can even yield details of years in which things happened.
Many barrow
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
fields can be found in the Uersfeld church woods within the limits of the outlying centre of Höchstberg. However, for want of any archaeological investigation, it is uncertain from what time they date, but the grave robberies and Court Counsellor Comes’s (1774-1856) resulting collection in Cochem
Cochem
Cochem is the seat of and the biggest place in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With just under 5,000 inhabitants, Cochem falls just behind Kusel, in the like-named district, as Germany's second smallest district seat...
have yielded some idea of the time. Court Counsellor Comes bequeathed part of his collection to the Society for Beneficial Research (Gesellschaft für nützliche Forschungen) in Trier. The rest was auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
ed off, scattering Roman finds from Uersfeld throughout the world.
After the fall of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in the 5th century, there was nothing left in the Vulkaneifel but empty land. This is not hard to understand when one considers that all Western Europe lay at the perhaps 200,000 Frankish
Franks
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...
warriors’ feet. The Vulkaneifel could hardly have been called the most fruitful land available to the Franks and their families, nor the land with the most favourable climate. For well over one thousand years, people held an unfavourable opinion of the region.
With few exceptions, the area around the Hochkelberg
Hochkelberg
At the Hochkelberg is one of the ten highest mountains in the Vulkan Eifel in Germany. It is a former stratovolcano, at the southern foot of which lies the Mosbrucher Weiher, an explosion crater lake or maar. Below the summit of the Hochkelberg is a transmission tower.Originally the mountain...
and the Höchst, where Uersfeld now lies, was uninhabited. Only in the 11th century did the first clearing in a thousand years take place.
In the early 12th century, Uersfeld (Urnesfeld) had its first documentary mention in an undated document. Research has put its date somewhere between 1120 and 1169. The Abbot of Springiersbach, Richard, is named in this document. Springiersbach Abbey’s first two abbots were both named Richard. They appeared in document between 1120 and 1163. The third abbot, Gottfried von Springiersbach, only crops up in a document for the first time in 1169. The 1120-1169 time period for the document is confirmed by the mention of three witnesses to the document who are named, Heinrich von Ulmen and his brother Rudolf, and Theodorich von Klotten. All three are named in documents from 1130, and the brothers von Ulmen are furthermore mentioned in documents from 1144.
In the document containing the first documentary mention, Justina, the knight Siegfried’s noble wife, bequeathed three estates at Uersfeld, Wollmerath
Wollmerath
Wollmerath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Ulmen, whose seat is in the like-named town.-History:In 1193, Wollmerath had its...
and Princka, which she had inherited from her rich father Alberto, to Springiersbach Abbey, receiving in consideration thereof eight Fuder of wine each year (a Fuder was somewhere between 800 and 1 000 L).
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by proportional representationProportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
FWG 1 | FWG 2 | Total | |
| 2009 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 seats |
| 2004 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 seats |
Mayor
Uersfeld’s mayor is Andreas Daniels, and his deputies are Werner Ritter and Elke Michels.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Schild geteilt, oben gespalten; oben vorne in Grün eine silberne Windmühle, hinten in Silber ein schwarzes Balkenkreuz, belegt mit zwei schräggekreuzten Glevestäben, wobei die Stäbe gold, die Lilien rot sind; unten in Rot ein schräglinker, silberner Bischofsstab, belegt mit einem liegenden rückwärtssehenden silbernen Wolf.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: Per fess, in chief per pale vert a windmill argent and argent a cross sable surmounted by two glaives per saltire staves Or and heads flory gules, in base gules a bishop’s staff bendwise sinister surmounted by a wolf couchant reguardant of the second.
A windmill once stood near where the sporting ground is today, thus explaining the first 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...
. The black cross represents a former overlord, the Electorate of Cologne. The glaive
Glaive
A glaive is a European polearm weapon, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata and the Chinese Guan Dao....
s come from a seal used by Johann von Husener from Uersfeld, who lived in the municipality in the 14th and 15th centuries as an 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...
notary. The bishop’s staff and the wolf stand for the church’s patron saint, Remaclus
Remaclus
Saint Remaclus was a Benedictine missionary bishop. He grew up at the Aquitanian ducal court and studied under Sulpitius the Pious, bishop of Bourges. Remaclus became a monk in 625 and was then ordained a priest...
.
Buildings
- Saint RemaclusRemaclusSaint Remaclus was a Benedictine missionary bishop. He grew up at the Aquitanian ducal court and studied under Sulpitius the Pious, bishop of Bourges. Remaclus became a monk in 625 and was then ordained a priest...
’s Catholic Church, Kirchstraße 1 – 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...
, 1782, Romanesque RevivalRomanesque Revival architectureRomanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
tower, 1895; basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
graveyard cross, 1785. - Near Bergstraße 15 – wayside cross, basalt shaft cross from 1772
- Basalt fountain in the village centre.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Reinhard SaftigReinhard SaftigReinhard Saftig is a German football manager.Saftig has served as head coach of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Hannover 96, VfL Bochum, and Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga.-Career:...
, German football trainer