Winkel, Rhineland-Palatinate
Encyclopedia
Winkel 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 Daun
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
, 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.
confirmed the Springiersbach Monastery’s holdings in Winkel. Fifty years later, in 1193, Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
reconfirmed the Monastery’s holdings.
The land where Winkel now stands was already settled in pre-Christian times. In the spring of 1958, barrows
were found at the northwest municipal limit. These were investigated by the Trier State Museum (Landesmuseum Trier). Some barrows had been destroyed by agricultural activities, but one was quite intact and well preserved. It was 2.9 m long and 1.1 m wide. The museum’s investigation found that the body lay in a log halved lengthwise and hollowed out to form a kind of coffin. At the man’s feet lay grave goods
: a “potbellied” pot and a dish. Also found was a lance whose head was about 32 cm long. The barrow was originally roughly 1.5 m high and 15 m in diameter.
The graves found in Winkel are characteristic of the so-called older Hunsrück-Eifel Culture of the 6th and 5th centuries BC.
In the Middle Ages
, the estate of Oberwinkel and the outlying centre of Niederwinkel belonged to the Lordship of Wollmerath and its attendant court jurisdiction. This lordship comprised the villages of Wollmerath
, Filz
, Wagenhausen
and Niederwinkel, several mills (among them one in Winkel) and estates (among them the great estate in Oberwinkel, whose chapel
still stands). Wollmerath was an hereditary fief held by the Counts of Wied
. The overlords were Electoral Palatinate and, beginning in 1309, the Electorate of Trier. The Counts enfeoffed various lordly families with their Wollmerath landholding over the centuries: Berg (1241), Thurnstößer (1260), Mainfelder (1364), von Sötern (1503), von Kretzig called Mertloch (1536), von Metzenhausen (1567), von Zandt (1597) and finally von Landenberg (beginning in 1698). In a document from the 14th century, the estate of Oberwinkel is mentioned as being a Springiersbach Monastery holding. The estate was, however, much older than that.
The Oberwinkel estate’s importance can also be established by its having its own Weistum (a Weistum – cognate with English
wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages
and early modern times), which was even confirmed in writing and notarized by the Springiersbach Monastery on 13 January 1494. Laid out in the Weistum is the age-old law passed down by word of mouth, renewed each year at the Dingtag
before the whole community so that it would last through the generations. At this Dingtag, the municipal area was exactly described and boundary markers were renewed or established. Also, the municipality confirmed who the lord was and who exercised jurisdiction. The Oberwinkel estate held its own Dingtag, which was opened with a peal from the churchbells. The estate was lease- and tithe
-free, although the estate’s holder was obliged to provide compulsory labour for the overlord (Springiersbach Monastery) with six horses and two farmhands. Whoever held the estate in any given year also had to lay on food and drink at the Dingtag for all the Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) and their servants who had come to the meeting. In the 1563 Feuerbuch (“Fire Book”), the only person mentioned for Oberwinkel was the estate holder, whereas three were mentioned for Niederwinkel: the estate holder (of the Springiersbach estate of Niederwinkel), the schoemecher (“shoemaker”; Schuhmacher in Modern High German
) Somer Frantz (who was also later mentioned as a miller) and der weber (“the weaver”). Niederwinkel with the estate and three further houses may have had 25 to 30 inhabitants. The estate of Oberwinkel seems to have come through the Thirty Years' War
relatively unscathed. Nevertheless, neediness within the Lordship of Wollmerath was very great. The feudal lord, Ludwig Zandt, appealed in 1630, during the war, to the Elector in Trier
to avert the occupation of the “Imperial Baronial Region of Wollmerath”. “The villages in the Lordship of Wollmerath had all but died out, the mills were not working. One village was burnt down in 1630. Seeding and harvest did not happen, the land was full of warriors.” The estate of Niederwinkel seems to have been less lucky than the one at Oberwinkel, having fallen victim to the war.
When the French Revolution
reached the Rhineland
and the monasterial holdings were confiscated by the French state, the hereditary landhold arrangement between the Springiersbach Monastery and the estate of Oberwinkel was also dissolved. Both the estate of Oberwinkel and the farmers at Niederwinkel were obliged to yield up great amounts of produce to the occupying French forces.
In 1804, the estate was auctioned off. The lot included: one house, a yard, a barn, a stable, a sheep farm, girding wall, garden, 18 ha of cropland, 24 ha of wild and fallow land and 7.06 ha of meadowland. It was assessed as being worth 4,088 francs; its final sale price was 8,000 francs. The estate went to the old estate holder, Josef Matthias Maas, whose forebears had held the estate for 200 years. The family Maas lived on the estate until 1916. In 1922, Dr. August Cnyrim, a former notary, and his wife Marie née Hellwig acquired the estate as a retirement seat, and they had the estate run by tenants. The husband and wife were both buried in the estate chapel
. In the 1960s, the whole estate but for this chapel was razed for housing development, even though the chapel and the manor house were under monumental protection. Even the chapel was threatened with downfall – albeit from disrepair, not by development – before the little church was restored with support from the state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
, the district
, the Ortsgemeinde and private donors. The chapel still stands today at the entrance to the village as the only remaining trace of the estate of Oberwinkel.
Besides the Wollmerather Mühle (“Wollmerath Mill”) and the Heckenmühle (“Hedge Mill”) there was also a gristmill in Niederwinkel. It was mentioned on the occasion of its leasing in 1555 to Franz and Christina Sommer, but was likely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War
.
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: Gules a chevron humetty between three annulets argent, on a chief of the second tongs fesswise of the first.
Niederwinkel and the estate of Oberwinkel belonged to the Lordship of Wollmerath. Beginning in 1597, the lordship belonged to Lord Zandt von Merl. Odilie von Zandt wed Adam Heinrich von Landenberg in 1698, thereby bringing Winkel into the Landenberg family’s ownership. This family bore three silver rings, or annulets, in their arms. This same charge
has been taken up in today’s municipal arms. The chevron is canting
for the municipality’s name, Winkel, which in German
literally means “angle”. Borne in the chief
is a pair of tongs, Saint Apollonia
’s attribute, thus representing the municipality’s and the church’s patron saint. Winkel belonged to the Electoral-Trier Amt of Daun, which inspired the choice of tincture
s, argent and gules (silver and red), which were the ones borne by Trier.
The arms have been borne since 20 March 1990.
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 Daun
Daun (Verbandsgemeinde)
Daun is a collective municipality in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The seat of the Daun Verbandsgemeinde is in the municipality of Daun.- Constituent municipalities:# Betteldorf# Bleckhausen# Brockscheid...
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
.
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.
History
In 1143, Winkel had its first documentary mention as Winkela in a document in which King Conrad III of GermanyConrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
confirmed the Springiersbach Monastery’s holdings in Winkel. Fifty years later, in 1193, Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VI was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197.-Early years:Born in Nijmegen,...
reconfirmed the Monastery’s holdings.
The land where Winkel now stands was already settled in pre-Christian times. In the spring of 1958, barrows
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...
were found at the northwest municipal limit. These were investigated by the Trier State Museum (Landesmuseum Trier). Some barrows had been destroyed by agricultural activities, but one was quite intact and well preserved. It was 2.9 m long and 1.1 m wide. The museum’s investigation found that the body lay in a log halved lengthwise and hollowed out to form a kind of coffin. At the man’s feet lay grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
: a “potbellied” pot and a dish. Also found was a lance whose head was about 32 cm long. The barrow was originally roughly 1.5 m high and 15 m in diameter.
The graves found in Winkel are characteristic of the so-called older Hunsrück-Eifel Culture of the 6th and 5th centuries BC.
In the Middle Ages
Middle 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...
, the estate of Oberwinkel and the outlying centre of Niederwinkel belonged to the Lordship of Wollmerath and its attendant court jurisdiction. This lordship comprised the villages of 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...
, Filz
Filz
Filz is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Wagenhausen
Wagenhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate
Wagenhausen 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...
and Niederwinkel, several mills (among them one in Winkel) and estates (among them the great estate in Oberwinkel, whose 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,...
still stands). Wollmerath was an hereditary fief held by the Counts of Wied
Wied
Wied was a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located on the river Wied where it meets the Rhine. Wied emerged as a County earlier than many other German states. From 1243–1462, Wied was united with an Isenburgian County as Isenburg-Wied. Wied was partitioned twice: between itself and...
. The overlords were Electoral Palatinate and, beginning in 1309, the Electorate of Trier. The Counts enfeoffed various lordly families with their Wollmerath landholding over the centuries: Berg (1241), Thurnstößer (1260), Mainfelder (1364), von Sötern (1503), von Kretzig called Mertloch (1536), von Metzenhausen (1567), von Zandt (1597) and finally von Landenberg (beginning in 1698). In a document from the 14th century, the estate of Oberwinkel is mentioned as being a Springiersbach Monastery holding. The estate was, however, much older than that.
The Oberwinkel estate’s importance can also be established by its having its own Weistum (a Weistum – cognate with 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...
wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages
Middle 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...
and early modern times), which was even confirmed in writing and notarized by the Springiersbach Monastery on 13 January 1494. Laid out in the Weistum is the age-old law passed down by word of mouth, renewed each year at the Dingtag
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
before the whole community so that it would last through the generations. At this Dingtag, the municipal area was exactly described and boundary markers were renewed or established. Also, the municipality confirmed who the lord was and who exercised jurisdiction. The Oberwinkel estate held its own Dingtag, which was opened with a peal from the churchbells. The estate was lease- and tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
-free, although the estate’s holder was obliged to provide compulsory labour for the overlord (Springiersbach Monastery) with six horses and two farmhands. Whoever held the estate in any given year also had to lay on food and drink at the Dingtag for all the Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) and their servants who had come to the meeting. In the 1563 Feuerbuch (“Fire Book”), the only person mentioned for Oberwinkel was the estate holder, whereas three were mentioned for Niederwinkel: the estate holder (of the Springiersbach estate of Niederwinkel), the schoemecher (“shoemaker”; Schuhmacher in Modern High 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....
) Somer Frantz (who was also later mentioned as a miller) and der weber (“the weaver”). Niederwinkel with the estate and three further houses may have had 25 to 30 inhabitants. The estate of Oberwinkel seems to have come through 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....
relatively unscathed. Nevertheless, neediness within the Lordship of Wollmerath was very great. The feudal lord, Ludwig Zandt, appealed in 1630, during the war, to the Elector in Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
to avert the occupation of the “Imperial Baronial Region of Wollmerath”. “The villages in the Lordship of Wollmerath had all but died out, the mills were not working. One village was burnt down in 1630. Seeding and harvest did not happen, the land was full of warriors.” The estate of Niederwinkel seems to have been less lucky than the one at Oberwinkel, having fallen victim to the war.
When 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...
reached the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
and the monasterial holdings were confiscated by the French state, the hereditary landhold arrangement between the Springiersbach Monastery and the estate of Oberwinkel was also dissolved. Both the estate of Oberwinkel and the farmers at Niederwinkel were obliged to yield up great amounts of produce to the occupying French forces.
In 1804, the estate was auctioned off. The lot included: one house, a yard, a barn, a stable, a sheep farm, girding wall, garden, 18 ha of cropland, 24 ha of wild and fallow land and 7.06 ha of meadowland. It was assessed as being worth 4,088 francs; its final sale price was 8,000 francs. The estate went to the old estate holder, Josef Matthias Maas, whose forebears had held the estate for 200 years. The family Maas lived on the estate until 1916. In 1922, Dr. August Cnyrim, a former notary, and his wife Marie née Hellwig acquired the estate as a retirement seat, and they had the estate run by tenants. The husband and wife were both buried in the estate 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,...
. In the 1960s, the whole estate but for this chapel was razed for housing development, even though the chapel and the manor house were under monumental protection. Even the chapel was threatened with downfall – albeit from disrepair, not by development – before the little church was restored with support from the 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 ....
, the 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 ....
, the Ortsgemeinde and private donors. The chapel still stands today at the entrance to the village as the only remaining trace of the estate of Oberwinkel.
Besides the Wollmerather Mühle (“Wollmerath Mill”) and the Heckenmühle (“Hedge Mill”) there was also a gristmill in Niederwinkel. It was mentioned on the occasion of its leasing in 1555 to Franz and Christina Sommer, but was likely destroyed in 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....
.
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: Unter silbernem Schildhaupt, darin eine rote Zange, in Rot ein schwebender silberner Sparren, begleitet von 3 (2:1) silbernen Ringen.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: Gules a chevron humetty between three annulets argent, on a chief of the second tongs fesswise of the first.
Niederwinkel and the estate of Oberwinkel belonged to the Lordship of Wollmerath. Beginning in 1597, the lordship belonged to Lord Zandt von Merl. Odilie von Zandt wed Adam Heinrich von Landenberg in 1698, thereby bringing Winkel into the Landenberg family’s ownership. This family bore three silver rings, or annulets, in their arms. This same 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...
has been taken up in today’s municipal arms. The chevron is 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 –...
for the municipality’s name, Winkel, which 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....
literally means “angle”. Borne in the chief
Chief (heraldry)
In heraldic blazon, a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top edge of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by the chief, ranging from one-fourth to one-third. The former is more likely if the...
is a pair of tongs, Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia was one of a group of virgin martyrs who suffered in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians prior to the persecution of Decius. According to legend, her torture included having all of her teeth violently pulled out or shattered...
’s attribute, thus representing the municipality’s and the church’s patron saint. Winkel belonged to the Electoral-Trier Amt of Daun, which inspired the choice of 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, argent and gules (silver and red), which were the ones borne by Trier.
The arms have been borne since 20 March 1990.
Niederwinkel
- Saint ApolloniaSaint ApolloniaSaint Apollonia was one of a group of virgin martyrs who suffered in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians prior to the persecution of Decius. According to legend, her torture included having all of her teeth violently pulled out or shattered...
’s Catholic Church (branch church; Filialkirche St. Apollonia), Hauptstraße 8 – triaxial 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...
, 18th century, bears yeardate 1934 (possibly renovation work or new building?). - Hauptstraße 9 – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street) from 1841.
- Hauptstraße 13 – Quereinhaus, mid 19th century.
- Heiligenhäuschen (a small, shrinelike structure consecrated to a saint or saints), south of the village – round enclosed walled structure, 18th/19th century.
Oberwinkel
- Kapellenstraße 3 – former estate chapelChapelA 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,...
, biaxial plastered building, mid 19th century.