Bruchweiler
Encyclopedia
Bruchweiler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
is one of the highest peaks in the Hunsrück
. Much of the local countryside is wooded, and Bruchweiler’s elevation of 555 m above sea level makes it one of Rhineland-Palatinate’s highest municipalities. Bruchweiler also lies on the Deutsche Edelsteinstraße (“German Gem Road”).
in Bruchweiler amounts to 831 mm, which is rather high, falling into the highest third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 69% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
s, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in December. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly, with rainfall quite evenly spread over the whole year.
, a people of mixed Celtic and Germanic
stock, from whom the Latin
name for the city of Trier
, Augusta Treverorum
, is also derived, settled here. Their area of settlement was framed by the rivers Ahr
, Rhine and Nahe. All indications are that it was these Treveri who built the ringwalls at the Wildenburg as a refuge castle when, in the last century before the Christian Era, they were beset first by Germanic tribes
and then later by the Romans
, who under Julius Caesar
’s leadership enjoyed a number of successes that led to Roman hegemony throughout the Treveri’s homeland. It became the Roman province
of Belgica
, whose boundary ran from somewhere near the Stumpfer Turm, where the important Celtic-Roman centre of Belginum lay, southwards to the ridge of the Idar Forest
, along the ridge for a way before turning southwards again somewhere between Sensweiler
and Wirschweiler
, whence it ran to the Idarbach, crossed it by way of the Ringkopf, then running down the Siesbach to the river Nahe. While the lands west of this line formed Belgica, the lands to the east, including Bruchweiler, belonged to the Roman province of Germania Superior
, whose capital was at Mogontiacum (Mainz
). In later centuries, the border alignment mentioned above became the boundary between the Nahegau
and the Moselgau (a territory that stretched along the Moselle), and after the 843 Treaty of Verdun
, the boundary between Middle Francia
and East Francia, two of the three entities into which Charlemagne
’s old empire was split by that treaty.
Roman rule lasted 450 years in the Bruchweiler area. Interesting archaeological
finds were made within Bruchweiler’s limits in 1922, and again in 1947 and 1948. All together, six cist
graves, each measuring some 50 ×50 cm, with grave goods
, were unearthed, dating from the late 2nd or 3rd century. In 1885, a trove of 26 coins was found on the Wildenburg Heights, among them some with Emperor Maximinus Thrax
’s (ruled 235-238) effigy. Even earlier, in 1839, on the terracelike area southwest of the forester’s house, a Roman bath complex had been dug up, leading to the conclusion that there must have been a Roman settlement there.
In Late Roman times, about AD 350, a watch and signalling station may have been built by the Romans on the high quartzite
cliff
s with their broad view over the countryside to guard against Germanic incursions. In the 5th century, Roman hegemony was destroyed by the Franks
, who were thrusting into the area from the east. Little is known about Frankish times in the Bruchweiler area, although placenames nearby ending in —rath, —roth, —rodt or —ert are undoubtedly Frankish foundings, referring as they do to the Franks’ customary practice when settling new land, namely clearing the woods (German
still uses the verb roden to mean “clear”). The Franks were also instrumental in the introduction of Christianity
into the area. When Charlemagne introduced the Gau system, Bruchweiler found itself in the Nahegau
. Heading the Gau was a Gaugraf (“Gau Count”), who was the king’s official, and who could, as such, be replaced at any time. However, in a rather short time, Gaugraf came to be more and more an hereditary post held by Gaugraf families. Beginning in 960, one such family cropped up in the Nahegau: the Emichones
. Beginning in the mid 11th century, the Emichones were known to hold the countship and its attendant fief as heritable property, and they were also Imperially immediate princes. The Emichones were related to the Frankish Imperial dynasty, the Salians
, whose family holdings lay in the Middle Rhine
area. As a result of the fief law decreed by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
, all fiefs, great and small, became heritable property.
Also belonging to the Emichones’ main line beginning in 1103 were the Waldgrave
s. After several partitions
of the Waldgraviate – to which belonged Schmidtburg, Kyrburg, Dhaun and Grumbach – Bruchweiler, and Kempfeld
, too, passed in 1282 to Gottfried von Kyrburg. In 1328, the Wildenburg (castle
) was built by Friedrich von Kyrburg. After the Schmidtburg, Dhaun and Kyrburg Waldgraves died out in the male line, the whole Waldgraviate passed to the last Waldgrave’s son-in-law, Rhinegrave Johann III (whose last comital seat was Burg Rheingrafenstein near Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg
) as an inheritance. Thereafter, his noble house called itself “Waldgraves and Rhinegraves”. Even after several lines emerged as the result of division of inheritance, this comital house remained one of the most powerful lordly houses between the Moselle and the Nahe, until Napoleon annexed the lands on the Rhine’s left bank in 1798 after the French Revolution
.
As for the local people themselves, in Frankish-Early German times, they were all free peasants with the same rights. However, under the Heerbanngesetz (“Army Ban
Law”), all free peasants had to perform long defence drills and military service, which made tending their fields properly ever more difficult. To free themselves from military service, many free peasants transferred their farms to a lord’s ownership so that the lord could then enfeoff the peasant with the same farm. Although this released the peasant from military service, it did mean that he then had to pay tributes to his lord.
Since all power, prestige and income was linked to land ownership, each lord sought to expand his holdings by amassing as many of these small feudal landholds as he could and adding them to his own holdings. Thus, over centuries, all land ended up being held by lords, both secular and ecclesiastical. Bruchweiler belonged, within the Waldgraves’ and Rhinegraves’ holdings, to the Amt of Wildenburg, where the count’s Amtmann (“bailiff
”) could more or less do whatever he deemed fit, without any meaningful constraints on his power locally.
It may be supposed that the villages in the Bruchweiler area already existed in the 10th century and that, indeed, they had already arisen by Roman times. Places with names ending in —weiler might originally have earned that placename ending from the Latin
word villa, meaning a lone house or an estate (modern-day German still uses Weiler as a standalone word meaning “hamlet
”). The assumption is strengthened by the Roman graves found in the Bruchweiler area (see above).
In Bruchweiler, the Count of Sponheim
-Kreuznach, too, had several subjects who were obliged, whenever the bell sounded the Waffengeschrey (“call to arms”), to do the Waldgrave’s bidding.
Sponheim was forbidden to hold more than four estates in Bruchweiler. This was stipulated in a document issued by Waldgrave Emich von Kyrburg and Count Johann von Sponheim in 1279 (which, among other things, also gave Bruchweiler its first documentary mention as bruchvillare). That was the time of Faustrecht (“Fist Law”), in which feud
s and other violence were the order of the day as lords tried to emerge over others as the dominant rulers.
Taxes and services were a hefty burden in the Middle Ages
on the inhabitants. As well as the Besthaupt (“best head”, that is, head of cattle), the payment from a serf’s estate upon his death to the Wildenburg of his best head of cattle, there were also the Schatzung (a direct tax), the Bede (ground rent), endless tithe
s and compulsory labour for the lord.
By 1546, Martin Luther
’s teachings had found their way into many municipalities in the Hunsrück. After the 1555 Peace of Augsburg
, which granted landed lords the right to determine their subjects’ religion (cuius regio, eius religio
), the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves openly embraced Luther’s teachings and introduced the Reformation
into their lands. Morning and afternoon peals were introduced to remind people to pray. The church in Bruchweiler belonged to the parish of Wirschweiler. The church building that stands today was built in 1744. Bruchweiler is an autonomous parish tied with Sensweiler through a personal union.
The Thirty Years' War
wrought upon Bruchweiler – as it did upon every part of Germany – great havoc. As early as 1620, the village was hosting 25,000 Spaniards
and Walloons
fighting on the Imperial side. Since the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves had sided with the Swedes
, though, this was a dire situation. For a time, there was also a Swedish occupation.
The conditions were bleak. In 1635, two thirds of the inhabitants had died. What the troops did not destroy was taken away by the Plague and hunger. It was at this time that the village of Schalwen near Kempfeld was utterly wiped out.
The peace
concluded at Münster
and Osnabrück
took a long time to bring about anything resembling normalcy. Mercenaries
who had been released from service went about the countryside begging and plundering. Because this problem seemed neverending in the Bruchweiler area, with its hordes of Lothringer (“Lorrainians”) always causing trouble, the Rhinegrave forged an agreement with the Count Palatine whereby each would help the other protect his territory from the marauders. To this end, a force of 2,000 men – 1,700 foot soldiers and 300 mounted men – was assembled. The Rhinegrave’s and Count Palatine’s efforts notwithstanding, the “Lorrainian” horde managed to take the Wildenburg in 1652 and to destroy it.
When in the wake of the Thirty Years' War German kings’ power had declined and Germany had splintered into more than 300 statelets
, some of the king’s rights passed to the princes. Among the Waldgraves’ and Rhinegraves’ lordly rights as of 1648 were military, judicial and customs authority, the right to mint coins and all mining rights. These rights represented important income sources for the lord, as other lordly rights pertaining to water, forest, grazing land, hunting and fishing always had.
The wounds inflicted by the Thirty Years' War had not yet healed when King Louis XIV’s
forces thronged into the Hunsrück, taking the Wildenburg. People from throughout the area had to do compulsory labour, building the fort of Montroyal (near Traben-Trarbach
). If indeed the Wildenburg had ever served as a stronghold guarding the Waldgraves’ and Rhinegraves’ holdings in the Bruchweiler area, it was now losing that function. By this time, the castle was little more than a ruin. Firearm
s, now in common use, had rendered mediaeval
fortifications almost useless anyway, and little work was ever again done to restore the castle. Later, the Amtshaus, built in 1660, served the purpose of administration. The Wildenburg nevertheless remained the embodiment of the Waldgravial-Rhinegravial high jurisdiction
and lordship.
After the commotion and destruction wrought by the Thirty Years' War and the time that followed, there was enormous growth in the demand for ironware and iron
equipment. In response, new ironworks, iron and copper
smelters and hammermills soon arose. As early as 1670, the Asbacher Hütte (Asbach
Foundry) came into being, which drew its ore from mines near Niederwörresbach
and Berschweiler
, where rich iron deposits had been discovered. Joining the foundry in 1714 were the Hammer Birkenfeld – popularly called the Schippenhammer – and the steel- and hammermill in Sensweiler. There were also the Katzenloch hammermill, opened in 1758, and the Allenbach
copper smelter, which as of 1802 was converted to an iron hammermill. At the hammermills, the iron produced by the Asbach Foundry was wrought into various kinds of ironware. Besides smiths, charcoal
makers and goods transporters were first and foremost needed.
Slowly, the ironworks once again allowed trade and business to blossom. Hundreds of families from the local area were working and earning a living at the Stummsche Hüttenwerke by the late 18th century, be it as sand mould
makers, pourers, modellers, metal engravers, charcoal makers, ore miners or goods transporters. The ironware made at the ironworks was shipped in all directions, to Mainz
, Koblenz
, Cologne
, Trier
, Luxembourg
and other places.
The French Revolution
also had its historical consequences for the Bruchweiler area. In 1792, French Revolutionary troops
advanced across the Hunsrück as far as Mainz. The whole area on the Rhine’s left bank was occupied by the French
. To what was left of the feudal system, fiefs, princes and serfdom was put a quick end. On 7 March 1798, the Amt of Wildenburg ceased to exist, and with the new division of administration, the Bruchweiler area found itself in the arrondissement
of Birkenfeld in the Department of Sarre. Bruchweiler itself was grouped into the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Hottenbach in the canton
of Herrstein. Serfdom
was abolished
, and some other improvements for personal freedom, such as right of abode
, were introduced. Even so, the compulsory labour and all the taxes and tithes that had characterized pre-Revolutionary times were gone, only to be replaced by French taxes that were every bit as heavy.
One thing that made clear how disorderly the times around 1800 were was the crime
, particularly robbery
. Schinderhannes
(Johannes Bückler) then held the people under his spell.
French hegemony came to an end in 1814. After the 1815 Congress of Vienna
, the Bruchweiler area found itself on 22 April 1816 in the Kingdom of Prussia
. It was then that the Regierungsbezirk
of Trier arose; the Bernkastel district was also newly formed. At first, Bruchweiler was grouped into the Amt of Rhaunen, but as of 1851 it was transferred along with Kempfeld and Schauren to the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Wirschweiler. In 1886, the administrative seat was moved to Kempfeld.
Bruchweiler’s population figure in 1680 was given as 14 families. By 1698 this had fallen to only 5 families.
The strong growth in the population in the 19th century can be traced to the influence and development of the iron industry in neighbouring villages. Bruchweiler experienced a surge about 1846. Agate
polishing gained a foothold in the village. Even today, gemstones are skilfully cut and polished in workshops.
Even into the time after the Second World War, agriculture
was always the local inhabitants’ main income earner. The Flurbereinigung
undertaken between 1934 and 1938 allowed farm mechanization to quickly make great strides, although a full set of farm machinery was only worth having for bigger farms. This led to a considerable fall in the number of smaller farms, especially after 1948. This in turn led to a shift in the village’s economic structure, one that became all the more obvious in 1955 when a technical stone factory – one in which stone is processed into useful articles – opened, as well as the realization that some 50 inhabitants were commuting
to work every morning on postbus
es to jobs that lay outside the village, mainly in Idar-Oberstein
.
It was also after the war that a new neighbourhood arose in the village, a residential area in whose middle stands a school building dating from 1956. The municipality’s population is now above the 500 mark.
Since 1946, Bruchweiler has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
. Until administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969, Bruchweiler belonged to the now abolished district of Bernkastel.
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: Per bend gules four cubes argent and Or a lion rampant of the first armed and langued azure.
The German blazon does not specify the distribution of the “cubes”, called “silver square stones” in the original German. “Square” cannot be used in the English blazon as this refers to a different charge
, namely an L-shaped carpentry tool.
The escutcheon’s dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side refers by its tincture
s (gules and argent, or red and silver) to the arms once borne by the Counts of the “Hinder” County of Sponheim
. The “square stones” symbolize the four Sponheim free estates within the Waldgravial-Rhinegravial domain. The charge on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, the lion rampant, is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Waldgraviate-Rhinegraviate.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
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 Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld (district)
Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :...
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 Herrstein
Herrstein (Verbandsgemeinde)
Herrstein is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Herrstein....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Herrstein
Herrstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
.
Location
The municipality lies on the south slope of the Steingerüttelkopf, which at 756 m above sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
is one of the highest peaks in the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
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...
. Much of the local countryside is wooded, and Bruchweiler’s elevation of 555 m above sea level makes it one of Rhineland-Palatinate’s highest municipalities. Bruchweiler also lies on the Deutsche Edelsteinstraße (“German Gem Road”).
Climate
Yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
in Bruchweiler amounts to 831 mm, which is rather high, falling into the highest third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 69% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
s, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in December. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly, with rainfall quite evenly spread over the whole year.
History
About 500 BC, the TreveriTreveri
The Treveri or Treviri were a tribe of Gauls who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, at the latest, until their eventual absorption into the Franks...
, a people of mixed Celtic and Germanic
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...
stock, from whom the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name for the city of 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....
, Augusta Treverorum
History of Trier
Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, whose history dates to the Roman Empire, is often claimed to be the oldest city in Germany. Traditionally it was known in English by its French name of Treves.- Prehistory :...
, is also derived, settled here. Their area of settlement was framed by the rivers Ahr
Ahr
Ahr is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately 470 metres above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim...
, Rhine and Nahe. All indications are that it was these Treveri who built the ringwalls at the Wildenburg as a refuge castle when, in the last century before the Christian Era, they were beset first by 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 then later by the Romans
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....
, who under Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
’s leadership enjoyed a number of successes that led to Roman hegemony throughout the Treveri’s homeland. It became the Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of Belgica
Gallia Belgica
Gallia Belgica was a Roman province located in what is now the southern part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northeastern France, and western Germany. The indigenous population of Gallia Belgica, the Belgae, consisted of a mixture of Celtic and Germanic tribes...
, whose boundary ran from somewhere near the Stumpfer Turm, where the important Celtic-Roman centre of Belginum lay, southwards to the ridge of the Idar Forest
Idar Forest
The Idar Forest is part of the Hunsrück low mountain range in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Geography :...
, along the ridge for a way before turning southwards again somewhere between Sensweiler
Sensweiler
Sensweiler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.- Geographie :Sensweiler...
and Wirschweiler
Wirschweiler
Wirschweiler is a municipality in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
, whence it ran to the Idarbach, crossed it by way of the Ringkopf, then running down the Siesbach to the river Nahe. While the lands west of this line formed Belgica, the lands to the east, including Bruchweiler, belonged to the Roman province of Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
, whose capital was at Mogontiacum (Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
). In later centuries, the border alignment mentioned above became the boundary between the Nahegau
Nahegau
The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Wormsgau...
and the Moselgau (a territory that stretched along the Moselle), and after the 843 Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
, the boundary between Middle Francia
Middle Francia
Middle Francia was an ephemeral Frankish kingdom created by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, which divided the Carolingian Empire among the sons of Louis the Pious...
and East Francia, two of the three entities into which Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
’s old empire was split by that treaty.
Roman rule lasted 450 years in the Bruchweiler area. Interesting 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 were made within Bruchweiler’s limits in 1922, and again in 1947 and 1948. All together, six cist
Cist
A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....
graves, each measuring some 50 ×50 cm, with 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...
, were unearthed, dating from the late 2nd or 3rd century. In 1885, a trove of 26 coins was found on the Wildenburg Heights, among them some with Emperor Maximinus Thrax
Maximinus Thrax
Maximinus Thrax , also known as Maximinus I, was Roman Emperor from 235 to 238.Maximinus is described by several ancient sources, though none are contemporary except Herodian's Roman History. Maximinus was the first emperor never to set foot in Rome...
’s (ruled 235-238) effigy. Even earlier, in 1839, on the terracelike area southwest of the forester’s house, a Roman bath complex had been dug up, leading to the conclusion that there must have been a Roman settlement there.
In Late Roman times, about AD 350, a watch and signalling station may have been built by the Romans on the high quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s with their broad view over the countryside to guard against Germanic incursions. In the 5th century, Roman hegemony was destroyed by the Franks
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...
, who were thrusting into the area from the east. Little is known about Frankish times in the Bruchweiler area, although placenames nearby ending in —rath, —roth, —rodt or —ert are undoubtedly Frankish foundings, referring as they do to the Franks’ customary practice when settling new land, namely clearing the woods (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....
still uses the verb roden to mean “clear”). The Franks were also instrumental in the introduction of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
into the area. When Charlemagne introduced the Gau system, Bruchweiler found itself in the Nahegau
Nahegau
The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Wormsgau...
. Heading the Gau was a Gaugraf (“Gau Count”), who was the king’s official, and who could, as such, be replaced at any time. However, in a rather short time, Gaugraf came to be more and more an hereditary post held by Gaugraf families. Beginning in 960, one such family cropped up in the Nahegau: the Emichones
Emichones
The Emichones family is a precursor to several noble families in the southwestern German region. Its members were -- perhaps as undercounts of the Salian dynasty -- gau counts in the Nahegau. The name is due to the prevailing first name "Emich."- History :The Nahegau was next to the Wormsgau and...
. Beginning in the mid 11th century, the Emichones were known to hold the countship and its attendant fief as heritable property, and they were also Imperially immediate princes. The Emichones were related to the Frankish Imperial dynasty, the Salians
Salian dynasty
The Salian dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages of four German Kings , also known as the Frankish dynasty after the family's origin and role as dukes of Franconia...
, whose family holdings lay in the Middle Rhine
Middle Rhine
Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the Rhine River flows as the Middle Rhine through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised...
area. As a result of the fief law decreed by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
, all fiefs, great and small, became heritable property.
Also belonging to the Emichones’ main line beginning in 1103 were the Waldgrave
Waldgrave
The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113....
s. After several partitions
Partition (politics)
In politics, a partition is a change of political borders cutting through at least one territory considered a homeland by some community. That change is done primarily by diplomatic means, and use of military force is negligible....
of the Waldgraviate – to which belonged Schmidtburg, Kyrburg, Dhaun and Grumbach – Bruchweiler, and Kempfeld
Kempfeld
Kempfeld is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, too, passed in 1282 to Gottfried von Kyrburg. In 1328, the Wildenburg (castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
) was built by Friedrich von Kyrburg. After the Schmidtburg, Dhaun and Kyrburg Waldgraves died out in the male line, the whole Waldgraviate passed to the last Waldgrave’s son-in-law, Rhinegrave Johann III (whose last comital seat was Burg Rheingrafenstein near Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg
Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg
Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg is a municipality in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, district of Bad Kreuznach. The town has about 4000 inhabitants as of 2004 and covers an area of 9.53 square km and lies on the Nahe....
) as an inheritance. Thereafter, his noble house called itself “Waldgraves and Rhinegraves”. Even after several lines emerged as the result of division of inheritance, this comital house remained one of the most powerful lordly houses between the Moselle and the Nahe, until Napoleon annexed the lands on the Rhine’s left bank in 1798 after 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...
.
As for the local people themselves, in Frankish-Early German times, they were all free peasants with the same rights. However, under the Heerbanngesetz (“Army Ban
Ban (medieval)
The ban was a political and territorial institution in the Frankish kingdoms, meaning a grant of power to command men. Following its civil, military or religious meanings, it ended up as a metonym for territory where such a grant applied...
Law”), all free peasants had to perform long defence drills and military service, which made tending their fields properly ever more difficult. To free themselves from military service, many free peasants transferred their farms to a lord’s ownership so that the lord could then enfeoff the peasant with the same farm. Although this released the peasant from military service, it did mean that he then had to pay tributes to his lord.
Since all power, prestige and income was linked to land ownership, each lord sought to expand his holdings by amassing as many of these small feudal landholds as he could and adding them to his own holdings. Thus, over centuries, all land ended up being held by lords, both secular and ecclesiastical. Bruchweiler belonged, within the Waldgraves’ and Rhinegraves’ holdings, to the Amt of Wildenburg, where the count’s Amtmann (“bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
”) could more or less do whatever he deemed fit, without any meaningful constraints on his power locally.
It may be supposed that the villages in the Bruchweiler area already existed in the 10th century and that, indeed, they had already arisen by Roman times. Places with names ending in —weiler might originally have earned that placename ending from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word villa, meaning a lone house or an estate (modern-day German still uses Weiler as a standalone word meaning “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...
”). The assumption is strengthened by the Roman graves found in the Bruchweiler area (see above).
In Bruchweiler, the Count 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...
-Kreuznach, too, had several subjects who were obliged, whenever the bell sounded the Waffengeschrey (“call to arms”), to do the Waldgrave’s bidding.
Sponheim was forbidden to hold more than four estates in Bruchweiler. This was stipulated in a document issued by Waldgrave Emich von Kyrburg and Count Johann von Sponheim in 1279 (which, among other things, also gave Bruchweiler its first documentary mention as bruchvillare). That was the time of Faustrecht (“Fist Law”), in which feud
Feud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...
s and other violence were the order of the day as lords tried to emerge over others as the dominant rulers.
Taxes and services were a hefty burden 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...
on the inhabitants. As well as the Besthaupt (“best head”, that is, head of cattle), the payment from a serf’s estate upon his death to the Wildenburg of his best head of cattle, there were also the Schatzung (a direct tax), the Bede (ground rent), endless 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...
s and compulsory labour for the lord.
By 1546, Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
’s teachings had found their way into many municipalities in the Hunsrück. After the 1555 Peace of Augsburg
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious...
, which granted landed lords the right to determine their subjects’ religion (cuius regio, eius religio
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...
), the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves openly embraced Luther’s teachings and introduced 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...
into their lands. Morning and afternoon peals were introduced to remind people to pray. The church in Bruchweiler belonged to the parish of Wirschweiler. The church building that stands today was built in 1744. Bruchweiler is an autonomous parish tied with Sensweiler through a personal union.
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....
wrought upon Bruchweiler – as it did upon every part of Germany – great havoc. As early as 1620, the village was hosting 25,000 Spaniards
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Walloons
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
fighting on the Imperial side. Since the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves had sided with the Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, though, this was a dire situation. For a time, there was also a Swedish occupation.
The conditions were bleak. In 1635, two thirds of the inhabitants had died. What the troops did not destroy was taken away by the Plague and hunger. It was at this time that the village of Schalwen near Kempfeld was utterly wiped out.
The peace
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
concluded at Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
and Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
took a long time to bring about anything resembling normalcy. Mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
who had been released from service went about the countryside begging and plundering. Because this problem seemed neverending in the Bruchweiler area, with its hordes of Lothringer (“Lorrainians”) always causing trouble, the Rhinegrave forged an agreement with the Count Palatine whereby each would help the other protect his territory from the marauders. To this end, a force of 2,000 men – 1,700 foot soldiers and 300 mounted men – was assembled. The Rhinegrave’s and Count Palatine’s efforts notwithstanding, the “Lorrainian” horde managed to take the Wildenburg in 1652 and to destroy it.
When in the wake of the Thirty Years' War German kings’ power had declined and Germany had splintered into more than 300 statelets
Microstate
A microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both. Some examples include Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Nauru, Singapore, and Vatican City....
, some of the king’s rights passed to the princes. Among the Waldgraves’ and Rhinegraves’ lordly rights as of 1648 were military, judicial and customs authority, the right to mint coins and all mining rights. These rights represented important income sources for the lord, as other lordly rights pertaining to water, forest, grazing land, hunting and fishing always had.
The wounds inflicted by the Thirty Years' War had not yet healed when King Louis XIV’s
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
forces thronged into the Hunsrück, taking the Wildenburg. People from throughout the area had to do compulsory labour, building the fort of Montroyal (near Traben-Trarbach
Traben-Trarbach
Traben-Trarbach on the Middle Moselle is a town in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde and a state-recognized climatic spa .- Location :...
). If indeed the Wildenburg had ever served as a stronghold guarding the Waldgraves’ and Rhinegraves’ holdings in the Bruchweiler area, it was now losing that function. By this time, the castle was little more than a ruin. Firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s, now in common use, had rendered mediaeval
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...
fortifications almost useless anyway, and little work was ever again done to restore the castle. Later, the Amtshaus, built in 1660, served the purpose of administration. The Wildenburg nevertheless remained the embodiment of the Waldgravial-Rhinegravial high jurisdiction
Blood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
and lordship.
After the commotion and destruction wrought by the Thirty Years' War and the time that followed, there was enormous growth in the demand for ironware and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
equipment. In response, new ironworks, iron and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
smelters and hammermills soon arose. As early as 1670, the Asbacher Hütte (Asbach
Asbach, Birkenfeld
Asbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
Foundry) came into being, which drew its ore from mines near Niederwörresbach
Niederwörresbach
Niederwörresbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.Niederwörresbach was...
and Berschweiler
Berschweiler bei Kirn
Berschweiler bei Kirn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality. Berschweiler bei...
, where rich iron deposits had been discovered. Joining the foundry in 1714 were the Hammer Birkenfeld – popularly called the Schippenhammer – and the steel- and hammermill in Sensweiler. There were also the Katzenloch hammermill, opened in 1758, and the Allenbach
Allenbach
Allenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
copper smelter, which as of 1802 was converted to an iron hammermill. At the hammermills, the iron produced by the Asbach Foundry was wrought into various kinds of ironware. Besides smiths, charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
makers and goods transporters were first and foremost needed.
Slowly, the ironworks once again allowed trade and business to blossom. Hundreds of families from the local area were working and earning a living at the Stummsche Hüttenwerke by the late 18th century, be it as sand mould
Molding (process)
Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....
makers, pourers, modellers, metal engravers, charcoal makers, ore miners or goods transporters. The ironware made at the ironworks was shipped in all directions, to Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, 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....
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg (city)
The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...
and other places.
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...
also had its historical consequences for the Bruchweiler area. In 1792, French Revolutionary troops
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
advanced across the Hunsrück as far as Mainz. The whole area on the Rhine’s left bank was occupied by the 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...
. To what was left of the feudal system, fiefs, princes and serfdom was put a quick end. On 7 March 1798, the Amt of Wildenburg ceased to exist, and with the new division of administration, the Bruchweiler area found itself in the arrondissement
Arrondissements of France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts.The capital of an arrondissement/district is called a subprefecture...
of Birkenfeld in the Department of Sarre. Bruchweiler itself was grouped into the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Hottenbach in the canton
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
of Herrstein. Serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
was abolished
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
, and some other improvements for personal freedom, such as right of abode
Right of abode
The right of abode is an individual's freedom from immigration control in a particular country. A person who has the right of abode in a country does not need permission from the government to enter the country and can live and work there without restriction....
, were introduced. Even so, the compulsory labour and all the taxes and tithes that had characterized pre-Revolutionary times were gone, only to be replaced by French taxes that were every bit as heavy.
One thing that made clear how disorderly the times around 1800 were was the crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
, particularly robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
. Schinderhannes
Schinderhannes
Johannes Bückler , nicknamed Schinderhannes, was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most fascinating crime sprees in German history. He was born at Miehlen, the son of Johann and Anna Maria Bückler. He began an apprenticeship to a tanner, but turned to petty theft. At 16 he was arrested...
(Johannes Bückler) then held the people under his spell.
French hegemony came to an end in 1814. After the 1815 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,...
, the Bruchweiler area found itself on 22 April 1816 in 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...
. It was then that the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Trier arose; the Bernkastel district was also newly formed. At first, Bruchweiler was grouped into the Amt of Rhaunen, but as of 1851 it was transferred along with Kempfeld and Schauren to the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Wirschweiler. In 1886, the administrative seat was moved to Kempfeld.
Bruchweiler’s population figure in 1680 was given as 14 families. By 1698 this had fallen to only 5 families.
- 1740 – 10 families
- 1802 – 174 inhabitants
- 1809 – 180 inhabitants
- 1849 – 319 inhabitants
- 1882 – 400 inhabitants
The strong growth in the population in the 19th century can be traced to the influence and development of the iron industry in neighbouring villages. Bruchweiler experienced a surge about 1846. Agate
Agate
Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks.-Etymology...
polishing gained a foothold in the village. Even today, gemstones are skilfully cut and polished in workshops.
Even into the time after the Second World War, agriculture
Agriculture
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...
was always the local inhabitants’ main income earner. The 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...
undertaken between 1934 and 1938 allowed farm mechanization to quickly make great strides, although a full set of farm machinery was only worth having for bigger farms. This led to a considerable fall in the number of smaller farms, especially after 1948. This in turn led to a shift in the village’s economic structure, one that became all the more obvious in 1955 when a technical stone factory – one in which stone is processed into useful articles – opened, as well as the realization that some 50 inhabitants were commuting
Commuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
to work every morning on postbus
Postbus
A postbus is a public bus service that is operated as part of local mail delivery. As a means to provide public transport in rural areas with lower levels of patronage where a normal bus service is uneconomic Postbus services are run by the postal delivery company and combine the functions of...
es to jobs that lay outside the village, mainly in Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a Große kreisangehörige Stadt , it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in the district are assumed by the district administration...
.
It was also after the war that a new neighbourhood arose in the village, a residential area in whose middle stands a school building dating from 1956. The municipality’s population is now above the 500 mark.
Since 1946, Bruchweiler 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 ....
. Until administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969, Bruchweiler belonged to the now abolished district of Bernkastel.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 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.
Mayor
Bruchweiler’s mayor is Horst Scherer, and his deputies are Hartmut Hartmann and Volker Luckenbach.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In schräg geteiltem Schild vorne in Rot vier silberne quadratische Steine, hinten in Gold ein blaubewehrter und -gezungter roter Löwe.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 bend gules four cubes argent and Or a lion rampant of the first armed and langued azure.
The German blazon does not specify the distribution of the “cubes”, called “silver square stones” in the original German. “Square” cannot be used in the English blazon as this refers to a different 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...
, namely an L-shaped carpentry tool.
The escutcheon’s dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side refers by its 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 (gules and argent, or red and silver) to the arms once borne by the Counts of the “Hinder” County 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...
. The “square stones” symbolize the four Sponheim free estates within the Waldgravial-Rhinegravial domain. The charge on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, the lion rampant, is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Waldgraviate-Rhinegraviate.
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, Hochwaldstraße 5 – 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...
with ridge turretRidge turretA ridge turret is a turret build on the peak of a roof....
, 1744-1746; décor - Hochwaldstraße 2 – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), partly timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
, half-hipped roof, earlier half of the 19th century