Brenz an der Brenz
Encyclopedia
Brenz an der Brenz is a borough of the village of Sontheim
in the Heidenheim District
of Baden-Württemberg
in Germany. Brenz an der Brenz was an independent village until it merged with Sontheim. The borough has about 1100 inhabitants.
and the Danube River Valley
.
. In the 2nd or 3rd century C.E., on the commanding Kirchberg in Brenz, a Villa rustica
was built. Additional finds of other monumental buildings dating from the Roman era indicate that a Roman town was located here. Brenz also is located at the crossing of two Roman roads; the road from Günzburg
(lat. Guntia) to Heidenheim (lat. Aquileia) and the North Danube road from Urspring (lat. Ad Lunam) to Regensburg
(lat. Castra Regina). In 2002 on the ancient road between Sontheim and Bächingen
a mile stone with the name of Emperor Caracalla
and a reference to Faimingen (lat. Phoebiana) was discovered.
Following the invasion of Germanic tribes
and the retreat of the Roman Empire in c. 260 C.E., the local Germanic tribe used the strategic Kirchberg to found a settlement. Archeological digs in the 1960s have identified the remains of an early Christian wooden church and graveyard that would have been built around 650. This church is the oldest church in the Brenz valley, and it is likely that the Christianization of the surrounding communities (Sontheim
, Bächingen
and Bergenweiler) as well as the rest of the Brenz valley started at Brenz an der Brenz. The wood church was replaced with a stone church around 680.
The church on the Brenz is first mentioned during the Early Middle Ages
. In 875 Ludwig II
gave the Capella ad Prenza to the Monastery at Faurndau
. A few years later ownership of the Brenzer Church moved to the Abbey of St. Gall
in modern day Switzerland
. Following numerous reconstructions and renovations the Galluskirche (German: Church of St. Gall) reached its final, Romanesque
form in 1200.
During the High Middle Ages
ownership of Brenz an der Brenz rested with a minor noble family who took their name from the location. Members of this family are mentioned several times in the records from this time. In the Galluskirche there is a gravestone from 1190 for Sebolt von Brenz who is listed as a Crusader
. After 1250 a side line of the noble family von Güssenberg (known as Güssen) occupied Schloss Brenz
. To pay debts, the family quickly fell into highway robbery
and the castle was destroyed under orders of Louis IV
in 1340. However the castle was partly repaired soon afterward.
In 1546, during the Schmalkaldic War
Charles V.
stayed at the Schloss Brenz as a guest of the Güssen.
The Güssen family became too poor to support the castle, and in 1613 sold the entire village and castle to the Duchy of Württemberg. In 1617 Duke Julius Friedrich von Württemberg took the villages of Brenz and Weiltingen under his control, founding the junior Württemberg line of Württemberg-Weiltingen. Schloss Brenz was used as a temporary home for his family. However, the damaged castle was destroyed in 1634 during the Battle of Nördlingen
of the Thirty Years' War
. In 1672 Duke Friedrich Ferdinand had the castle rebuilt in a Renaissance style
.
After the junior Württemberg-Weiltingen line died out, Brenz returned to the main line House of Württemberg. Duke Eberhard Ludwig gave the castle to his mistress Wilhelmine von Grävenitz
in 1721. When she fell out of favor, she was forced to leave Württemberg and all her gifts behind. Schloss Brenz remained generally empty afterward, though a branch of the family von Racknitz lived in the castle for a short while.
In the 19th century the community inherited the castle. It was used for by the city government and also as a school. In 1906 the oldest Community Heritage Museum in Württemberg was founded in the castle.
In 1972 the community of Brenz an der Brenz was absorbed into the larger village of Sontheim, which had been founded by Brenz.
Sontheim
Sontheim is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located northeast of Ulm, at the southern end of the Swabian Alb.-Neighboring municipalities:...
in the Heidenheim District
Heidenheim (district)
Heidenheim is a district in the east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ostalbkreis, Dillingen, Günzburg, Alb-Donau and Göppingen.-History:...
of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
in Germany. Brenz an der Brenz was an independent village until it merged with Sontheim. The borough has about 1100 inhabitants.
Location
Brenz an der Brenz is located directly on the Brenz River near the Swabian AlbSwabian Alb
The Swabian Alps or Swabian Jura is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km in width. It is named after the region of Swabia....
and the Danube River Valley
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
.
History
The Brenz region has been settled since at least the Roman EmpireRoman 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 2nd or 3rd century C.E., on the commanding Kirchberg in Brenz, a Villa rustica
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
was built. Additional finds of other monumental buildings dating from the Roman era indicate that a Roman town was located here. Brenz also is located at the crossing of two Roman roads; the road from Günzburg
Günzburg
Günzburg is a Große Kreisstadt and capital of the district of Günzburg in Swabia, Bavaria. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city of Günzburg—which had not previously been assigned to a Kreis —with the district of Günzburg and the district of Krumbach.Günzburg lies...
(lat. Guntia) to Heidenheim (lat. Aquileia) and the North Danube road from Urspring (lat. Ad Lunam) to Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
(lat. Castra Regina). In 2002 on the ancient road between Sontheim and Bächingen
Bächingen
Bächingen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria in Germany....
a mile stone with the name of Emperor Caracalla
Caracalla
Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
and a reference to Faimingen (lat. Phoebiana) was discovered.
Following the invasion of Germanic tribes
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
and the retreat of the Roman Empire in c. 260 C.E., the local Germanic tribe used the strategic Kirchberg to found a settlement. Archeological digs in the 1960s have identified the remains of an early Christian wooden church and graveyard that would have been built around 650. This church is the oldest church in the Brenz valley, and it is likely that the Christianization of the surrounding communities (Sontheim
Sontheim
Sontheim is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located northeast of Ulm, at the southern end of the Swabian Alb.-Neighboring municipalities:...
, Bächingen
Bächingen
Bächingen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria in Germany....
and Bergenweiler) as well as the rest of the Brenz valley started at Brenz an der Brenz. The wood church was replaced with a stone church around 680.
The church on the Brenz is first mentioned during the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
. In 875 Ludwig II
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
gave the Capella ad Prenza to the Monastery at Faurndau
Göppingen
Göppingen is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. It is situated at the bottom of the Hohenstaufen mountain, in the valley of the river Fils....
. A few years later ownership of the Brenzer Church moved to the Abbey of St. Gall
Abbey of St. Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...
in modern day Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Following numerous reconstructions and renovations the Galluskirche (German: Church of St. Gall) reached its final, Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
form in 1200.
During the High Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
ownership of Brenz an der Brenz rested with a minor noble family who took their name from the location. Members of this family are mentioned several times in the records from this time. In the Galluskirche there is a gravestone from 1190 for Sebolt von Brenz who is listed as a Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
. After 1250 a side line of the noble family von Güssenberg (known as Güssen) occupied Schloss Brenz
Schloss Brenz
Brenz Castle is Renaissance castle located in the Brenz an der Brenz borough of Sontheim in Heidenheim district of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The current castle was built in 1672 and rests on the remains of an earlier castle destroyed during the Thirty Years' War...
. To pay debts, the family quickly fell into highway robbery
Robber baron
A robber baron or robber knight was an unscrupulous and despotic nobility of the medieval period in Europe, for example, Berlichingen. It has slightly different meanings in different countries. In modern US parlance, the term is also used to describe unscrupulous industrialists...
and the castle was destroyed under orders of Louis IV
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Louis IV , called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was the King of Germany from 1314, the King of Italy from 1327 and the Holy Roman Emperor from 1328....
in 1340. However the castle was partly repaired soon afterward.
In 1546, during the Schmalkaldic War
Schmalkaldic War
The Schmalkaldic War refers to the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire, commanded by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League within the domains of the Holy Roman...
Charles V.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
stayed at the Schloss Brenz as a guest of the Güssen.
The Güssen family became too poor to support the castle, and in 1613 sold the entire village and castle to the Duchy of Württemberg. In 1617 Duke Julius Friedrich von Württemberg took the villages of Brenz and Weiltingen under his control, founding the junior Württemberg line of Württemberg-Weiltingen. Schloss Brenz was used as a temporary home for his family. However, the damaged castle was destroyed in 1634 during the Battle of Nördlingen
Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
The Battle of Nördlingen was fought on 27 August or 6 September , 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. The Roman Catholic Imperial army, bolstered by 18,000 Spanish and Italian soldiers, won a crushing victory over the combined Protestant armies of Sweden and their German-Protestant allies .After...
of 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....
. In 1672 Duke Friedrich Ferdinand had the castle rebuilt in a Renaissance style
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
.
After the junior Württemberg-Weiltingen line died out, Brenz returned to the main line House of Württemberg. Duke Eberhard Ludwig gave the castle to his mistress Wilhelmine von Grävenitz
Wilhelmine von Grävenitz
Wilhelmine von Grävenitz was a German noble, the favorite and royal mistress of Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Württemberg between 1706 and 1731....
in 1721. When she fell out of favor, she was forced to leave Württemberg and all her gifts behind. Schloss Brenz remained generally empty afterward, though a branch of the family von Racknitz lived in the castle for a short while.
In the 19th century the community inherited the castle. It was used for by the city government and also as a school. In 1906 the oldest Community Heritage Museum in Württemberg was founded in the castle.
In 1972 the community of Brenz an der Brenz was absorbed into the larger village of Sontheim, which had been founded by Brenz.
Museums
The Community Heritage Museum in Schloss Brenz is the oldest such museum in Württemberg.Buildings
- Church of St. Gall or Galluskirche: The late romanesque BasilicaBasilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
is, from a historical standpoint, one of the most significant constructions in the Heidenheim District as well as all of Baden-Württemberg. During the renovation of the church in 1964/66 every effort was made to bring the church back to a true romanesque style. GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
, BaroqueBaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
and neo-GothicGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
elements from earlier reconstructions were removed from the church. The romanesque paintings in the apseApseIn architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
were restored and can now be seen in the church.
- Schloss Brenz: Excellent example of a renaissance castle. Richly decorated arcades of the courtyard (German: Innenhof) and the Knights Hall (German: Rittersaal) are especially noteworthy.
- Market Square (German: Marktplatz): The market square is surrounded with several historical facades including the Galluskirche, the RectoryRectoryA rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
, Schlössle (Little Castle) which is today the Hotel Hirsch, Hotel Krone and the town hall.
Literature
- Cichy, Bodo: Die Kirche von Brenz, 1991 (3. Aufl.).
- Gemeinde Sontheim an der Brenz (Hg.): Heimatbuch Sontheim an der Brenz, 1984.