Dörth
Encyclopedia
Dörth is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Emmelshausen
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
about 2.5 km east of Emmelshausen
on the Autobahn A 61
. Sankt Goar
lies roughly 8 km to the east, and the river Rhine’s nearest approach to Dörth is at Hirzenach, an outlying centre of Boppard
, roughly 5 km to the northeast.
verb roden, meaning “clear”, with reference to woods). In the latter half of the 14th century, the villagers forsook Dörth for a few years, but it is believed that the village was reoccupied within a decade. In 1375, Dörth had its first documentary mention. The actual document deals with an agreement in which the agreed sharing of tithes from the area under the Gallscheid Court’s (Gallscheider Gericht) jurisdiction between the Provost of Saint Martin’s Foundation at Worms
and his chapter
is recorded. Dörth was grouped with those villages that had to pay the tithe not to the Provost, but rather to the chapter. The tithe lord (or Decimator) in Dörth was until 1521 Saint Martin’s Foundation at Worms. Old documents speak of Denrod or Dinrod. The villagers worked mainly at farming
and in the forest.
Beginning in 1521, the Decimator was the Elector of Trier. Since the village belonged to the Electorate of Trier, it remained Roman Catholic even through the upheavals over religion
in the 16th century. The parish seat as far back as is known has been Halsenbach
, although Saint Quentin
’s Church in Karbach
was nearer than the parish church in Halsenbach. Beginning in 1556, Saint Quentin’s was likewise part of the parish of Halsenbach. Dörth was one of the smallest villages in the parish, and at the onset of the Thirty Years' War
had no more than five hearths (households).
Towards the end of the 17th century, there must have been some kind of small population explosion. Two effects that this had in the earlier half of the 18th century cannot be overlooked: a chapel
was built, and so was a school
.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Dörth, like all the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, lay under French
rule. The French brought fundamental changes to the Rhineland: they swept away both tithes and serfdom
. After French rule ended some 20 years later, Dörth passed along with the Rhineland to the Kingdom of Prussia
under the terms of the Congress of Vienna
, becoming part of the Rhine Province
. In 1816, within the newly formed Sankt Goar district, Dörth at first remained in the Amtsbürgermeisterei of Pfalzfeld, as it had been in French times. As a result of the villagers’ wishes, however, it was grouped together in 1817 with Karbach into the Amt of Halsenbach, thus reinstating the structure from Electoral-Trier times. Between 1922 and 1925, a new church and a new school were built.
In the First and Second World Wars, 52 men from the municipality fell or went missing in action
. Since 1946, Dörth has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
. In the late 1940s, with currency reform and the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany
, there was once more solid ground to stand on. Dörth became the seat of the new parish. The economic upswing in the 1950s and 1960s and the gradual industrialization also took root in the Hunsrück. Where once the Celts and the Romans
built their ancient roads, the Autobahn along the Rhine’s left bank sprang up. Dörth has an Autobahn interchange
within its municipal limits (although it is called Emmelshausen). In the outlying locality of Hirtenau are found a maintenance depot
and the Autobahn police.
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: Tierced in mantle reversed, argent a cross abased gules, azure issuant from base a cross Latin, the dexter and sinister arms couped short of the lines of partition, Or surmounted by a sword palewise, the point to base, of the field, and gules a fess abased of the first.
The red cross on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the armorial device formerly borne by the Electorate of Trier, thus denoting the village’s allegiance in the Middle Ages
. The silver fess on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is from the arms once borne by the Gallscheid Court (Gallscheider Gericht), thus referring to the local jurisdiction then. The charge
s in the middle, the gold cross and the blue sword, stand for Philip the Apostle
and James the Elder, who are the municipality’s patron saints.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
’s orders). About a kilometre outside the village lies the Dörth industrial park with some 80 businesses and some 1,000 jobs.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Emmelshausen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Rhein-Hunsrück district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its seat is in Emmelshausen....
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the HunsrückHunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
about 2.5 km east of Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
on the Autobahn A 61
Bundesautobahn 61
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim. In 1965, this required a re-design of the Hockenheimring....
. Sankt Goar
Sankt Goar
Sankt Goar is a town on the left bank of the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel, whose seat is in the town of Oberwesel....
lies roughly 8 km to the east, and the river Rhine’s nearest approach to Dörth is at Hirzenach, an outlying centre of Boppard
Boppard
Boppard is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.-Location:Boppard lies on the upper Middle...
, roughly 5 km to the northeast.
History
In 1334, Dörth was first mentioned by name. It first arose as a clearing village and was once called Denrod (the —rod ending stems from the same root as the GermanGerman 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....
verb roden, meaning “clear”, with reference to woods). In the latter half of the 14th century, the villagers forsook Dörth for a few years, but it is believed that the village was reoccupied within a decade. In 1375, Dörth had its first documentary mention. The actual document deals with an agreement in which the agreed sharing of tithes from the area under the Gallscheid Court’s (Gallscheider Gericht) jurisdiction between the Provost of Saint Martin’s Foundation at Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
and his chapter
Chapter (religion)
Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches....
is recorded. Dörth was grouped with those villages that had to pay the tithe not to the Provost, but rather to the chapter. The tithe lord (or Decimator) in Dörth was until 1521 Saint Martin’s Foundation at Worms. Old documents speak of Denrod or Dinrod. The villagers worked mainly at farming
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...
and in the forest.
Beginning in 1521, the Decimator was the Elector of Trier. Since the village belonged to the Electorate of Trier, it remained Roman Catholic even through the upheavals over religion
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...
in the 16th century. The parish seat as far back as is known has been Halsenbach
Halsenbach
Halsenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, although Saint Quentin
Saint Quentin
Saint Quentin , Quintinus in Latin, also known as Quentin of Amiens, is an early Christian saint. No real details are known of his life.-Martyrdom:...
’s Church in Karbach
Karbach, Rhineland-Palatinate
Karbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
was nearer than the parish church in Halsenbach. Beginning in 1556, Saint Quentin’s was likewise part of the parish of Halsenbach. Dörth was one of the smallest villages in the parish, and at the onset 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....
had no more than five hearths (households).
Towards the end of the 17th century, there must have been some kind of small population explosion. Two effects that this had in the earlier half of the 18th century cannot be overlooked: a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
was built, and so was a school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Dörth, like all the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, lay under French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
rule. The French brought fundamental changes to the Rhineland: they swept away both tithes and 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...
. After French rule ended some 20 years later, Dörth passed along with the Rhineland to the Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
under the terms of the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, becoming part of the Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
. In 1816, within the newly formed Sankt Goar district, Dörth at first remained in the Amtsbürgermeisterei of Pfalzfeld, as it had been in French times. As a result of the villagers’ wishes, however, it was grouped together in 1817 with Karbach into the Amt of Halsenbach, thus reinstating the structure from Electoral-Trier times. Between 1922 and 1925, a new church and a new school were built.
In the First and Second World Wars, 52 men from the municipality fell or went missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
. Since 1946, Dörth 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 ....
. In the late 1940s, with currency reform and the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, there was once more solid ground to stand on. Dörth became the seat of the new parish. The economic upswing in the 1950s and 1960s and the gradual industrialization also took root in the Hunsrück. Where once the Celts and 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....
built their ancient roads, the Autobahn along the Rhine’s left bank sprang up. Dörth has an Autobahn interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
within its municipal limits (although it is called Emmelshausen). In the outlying locality of Hirtenau are found a maintenance depot
Road maintenance depot
A road maintenance depot is a depot used by road maintenance agencies for storing works equipment and organising maintenance operations. Road maintenance depots can range in size from small sheds storing just a few pieces of equipment, to vast buildings housing computer and closed-circuit...
and the Autobahn police.
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.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Schild durch eine gestürzte Spitze gespalten, darin ein wachsendes goldenes Kreuz, belegt mit blauem Schwert; vorne ein rotes Balkenkreuz in Silber; hinten ein silberner Balken in Rot.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: Tierced in mantle reversed, argent a cross abased gules, azure issuant from base a cross Latin, the dexter and sinister arms couped short of the lines of partition, Or surmounted by a sword palewise, the point to base, of the field, and gules a fess abased of the first.
The red cross on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the armorial device formerly borne by the Electorate of Trier, thus denoting the village’s allegiance 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 silver fess on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is from the arms once borne by the Gallscheid Court (Gallscheider Gericht), thus referring to the local jurisdiction then. The charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
s in the middle, the gold cross and the blue sword, stand for Philip the Apostle
Philip the Apostle
Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia....
and James the Elder, who are the municipality’s patron saints.
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:
- Saint Philip’s and Saint James’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Philippus und Jakobus), Hauptstraße 7 – 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...
, 1922/1923 - Schulstraße 7 – 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...
Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), partly solid and slated, half-hipped roof, early 19th century; whole complex of buildings
Economy and infrastructure
Dörth lies between the Autobahn A 61 (Emmelshausen interchange) and the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann GöringHermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
’s orders). About a kilometre outside the village lies the Dörth industrial park with some 80 businesses and some 1,000 jobs.