Ebertsheim
Encyclopedia
Ebertsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
, whose seat is in Grünstadt
, although that town is itself not in the Verbandsgemeinde. Ebertsheim, with its Ortsbezirk of Rodenbach lies in the historic Leiningerland on the river Eisbach in the eastern Eis valley, just short of where this opens out at the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest onto the uplands of the Weinstraße region (as distinct from the Deutsche Weinstraße – or German Wine Route – itself) and the Upper Rhine Plain
.
settlement called Eberolfsheim had its first documentary mention in 765 in the Lorsch codex
. The first settlements here, however, are considerably older, as witnessed by finds from La Tène times
about 500 BC and Roman times
about 100 BC. Ebertsheim was held uninterruptedly beginning in the Middle Ages
by the Counts of Leiningen. Recalling this today is Leininger Straße (a street). Until 1969, the municipality belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal.
On 7 July 1969, within the framework of the administrative reform in Rhineland-Palatinate
,, the small municipality of Rodenbach, which until then had belonged to the neighbouring, and now likewise abolished district of Kirchheimbolanden, and the considerably bigger centre of Ebertsheim were merged to form today’s municipality. The name Rodenbach is still used in village life to tag sites or clubs. In 1972, the municipality became a constituent part of the new Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land
. The district administration designated Rodenbach as an Ortsbezirk in 2006, giving it the right to document this status on the placename sign and to elect a local leader (Ortsvorsteher) and a deputy.
In 1996, the Pennsylvania German and Palatine newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe
was founded in Ebertsheim. It was published in the village until 2000, when the local Private Archive of Pennsylvania German Literature was moved to Ober-Olm
.
In August 2009, a runaway Red-necked Wallaby
made headlines when it was first spotted within Ebertsheim’s limits and later also photographed.
and 27.6% Catholic. The rest belonged to other faiths, or practised none.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following result::
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Vert two shovels in saltire argent helved Or, with rectangular handles to chief, surmounting them in pale a pickaxe of the second helved of the third, the helve to chief.
The arms were approved by the Bavarian
ministry of the interior in 1926 and go back to a court seal from 1724.
Church, built in the 12th century as “Saint Stephen
’s” (St. Stephan), is among the oldest in the Palatinate. After the Reformation
, it passed to the Protestants
, but until 1914 was used as a simultaneous church
. Three of the tower’s floors and the nave are still Romanesque
; the uppermost of the tower’s floors, bearing rectangular sound openings, was added later. Next to the south portal is found, scratched into a sandstone quarrystone, a Late Gothic
sundial. Inside hangs the picture “Martin Luther mit Schwan” (“Martin Luther with Swan”) by Ebertsheim painter Johann Adam Schlesinger.
– used in this structure. On the tower’s east side is a Romanesque relief
, which is believed to have been created as early as the beginning.
–Enkenbach), Ebertsheim is linked with Grünstadt’s outlying centre of Asselheim and Bundesstraße
271. The Autobahn A 6
can be reached through the Grünstadt or Wattenheim interchange
, and the Autobahn A 63
through the Dreisen/Göllheim interchange. This puts Kaiserslautern
or Mannheim
only about 30 minutes away by car; the state
capital, Mainz
, is, thanks to the new bypass at Eisenberg, about 35 minutes away.
The halt Ebertsheim lies on the Eistalbahn (railway; Grünstadt
–Ramsen
) and is served by scheduled Regionalbahn
trains. Public transport is integrated into the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
(VRN), whose tariffs apply.
The nearest small airport
is found in Quirnheim, roughly 3 km away. Here, gliders
and small motorized aircraft with outlanding approval may land.
armbath. The birdlife conservation area on the municipality’s outskirts likewise lends itself to natural adventure.
– lures many visitors to the region. For this event, the L 395 is closed to all motorized traffic for a whole day and made available exclusively to pedestrians, as a rule hikers, as well as skaters and cyclists. As an outing destination, there are the Eiswoog, a 6 ha lake with a wealth of birdlife, the Eistalbahn with its imposing bridges and the museum railway, the Stumpfwaldbahn. The Eisenberg
Erdekaut adventure area lies some 2 km away.
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 Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim (district)
Bad Dürkheim is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Kaiserslautern, Donnersbergkreis and Alzey-Worms, the city of Worms, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the city of Neustadt/Weinstraße, the districts of Südliche Weinstraße, the city of Landau , the district...
district 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...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-LandGrünstadt-Land
Grünstadt-Land is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Bad Dürkheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the north-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest...
, whose seat is in Grünstadt
Grünstadt
Grünstadt is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with roughly 13,200 inhabitants. It does not belong to any Verbandsgemeinde – a kind of collective municipality – but is nonetheless the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land.- Location :The...
, although that town is itself not in the Verbandsgemeinde. Ebertsheim, with its Ortsbezirk of Rodenbach lies in the historic Leiningerland on the river Eisbach in the eastern Eis valley, just short of where this opens out at the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest onto the uplands of the Weinstraße region (as distinct from the Deutsche Weinstraße – or German Wine Route – itself) and the Upper Rhine Plain
Upper Rhine Plain
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben is a major rift, straddling the border between France and Germany. It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System, which extends across central Europe...
.
History
A FrankishFranks
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...
settlement called Eberolfsheim had its first documentary mention in 765 in the Lorsch codex
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries...
. The first settlements here, however, are considerably older, as witnessed by finds from La Tène times
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
about 500 BC and Roman times
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....
about 100 BC. Ebertsheim was held uninterruptedly beginning 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...
by the Counts of Leiningen. Recalling this today is Leininger Straße (a street). Until 1969, the municipality belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal.
On 7 July 1969, within the framework of the administrative reform 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 ....
,, the small municipality of Rodenbach, which until then had belonged to the neighbouring, and now likewise abolished district of Kirchheimbolanden, and the considerably bigger centre of Ebertsheim were merged to form today’s municipality. The name Rodenbach is still used in village life to tag sites or clubs. In 1972, the municipality became a constituent part of the new Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land
Grünstadt-Land
Grünstadt-Land is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Bad Dürkheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the north-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest...
. The district administration designated Rodenbach as an Ortsbezirk in 2006, giving it the right to document this status on the placename sign and to elect a local leader (Ortsvorsteher) and a deputy.
In 1996, the Pennsylvania German and Palatine newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe
Hiwwe wie Driwwe
Hiwwe wie Driwwe, which means "Over here as over there" , is the title of the only existing Pennsylvania German language newspaper. Since 1997 the publication is distributed twice a year. More than 100 Pennsylvania German authors have already contributed pieces of prose, poems and newspaper...
was founded in Ebertsheim. It was published in the village until 2000, when the local Private Archive of Pennsylvania German Literature was moved to Ober-Olm
Ober-Olm
Ober-Olm is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Neighbouring municipalities :...
.
In August 2009, a runaway Red-necked Wallaby
Red-necked Wallaby
The Red-necked Wallaby is a medium-sized marsupial macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania.- Description :...
made headlines when it was first spotted within Ebertsheim’s limits and later also photographed.
Religion
In 2007, 49.5% of the inhabitants were EvangelicalEvangelical Church in Germany
The 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...
and 27.6% Catholic. The rest belonged to other faiths, or practised none.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following result::
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FWG | Total | |
| 2009 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 seats |
| 2004 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 16 seats |
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In Grün zwei schräggekreuzte goldene Schippen mit abwärts gekehrten silbernen Schaufeln mit viereckigen Handgriffen oben am Stil, überdeckt von einem goldenen Pickel mit gesenktem silbernen Eisen.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: Vert two shovels in saltire argent helved Or, with rectangular handles to chief, surmounting them in pale a pickaxe of the second helved of the third, the helve to chief.
The arms were approved by the Bavarian
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
ministry of the interior in 1926 and go back to a court seal from 1724.
Evangelische Kirche Ebertsheim
Today’s Ebertsheim EvangelicalEvangelical Church in Germany
The 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, built in the 12th century as “Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
’s” (St. Stephan), is among the oldest in the Palatinate. After 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...
, it passed to the Protestants
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, but until 1914 was used as a simultaneous church
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...
. Three of the tower’s floors and the nave are still 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,...
; the uppermost of the tower’s floors, bearing rectangular sound openings, was added later. Next to the south portal is found, scratched into a sandstone quarrystone, a Late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic 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....
sundial. Inside hangs the picture “Martin Luther mit Schwan” (“Martin Luther with Swan”) by Ebertsheim painter Johann Adam Schlesinger.
Evangelische Kirche Rodenbach
The Rodenbach Evangelical Church was built in the 11th or 12th century as Saint Bridget’s (St. Brigitta) and is thereby older than the church in Ebertsheim. It, too, was yielded to the Protestants after the Reformation, but there was no simultaneum. In 1508, the defensive tower was converted, and in 1684 the nave. On three of the tower’s sides, stone sculptures of animal and human heads are set into the wall. It is unclear whether these were meant to ward off evil or were simply bits of older buildings – spoliaSpolia
Spolia is a modern art-historical term used to describe the re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments...
– used in this structure. On the tower’s east side is a Romanesque relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
, which is believed to have been created as early as the beginning.
Transport
By way of Landesstraße (State Road) 395 (GrünstadtGrünstadt
Grünstadt is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with roughly 13,200 inhabitants. It does not belong to any Verbandsgemeinde – a kind of collective municipality – but is nonetheless the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land.- Location :The...
–Enkenbach), Ebertsheim is linked with Grünstadt’s outlying centre of Asselheim and Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
271. The Autobahn A 6
Bundesautobahn 6
, also known as Via Carolina is a 477 km long German autobahn. It starts at the French border near Saarbrücken in the west and end at the Czech border near Waidhaus in the east....
can be reached through the Grünstadt or Wattenheim 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...
, and the Autobahn A 63
Bundesautobahn 63
is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Mainz area to Kaiserslautern and the A 6 and is therefore an important connection between the Rhine/Main and the Saar areas...
through the Dreisen/Göllheim interchange. This puts Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
or Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
only about 30 minutes away by car; the state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
capital, 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...
, is, thanks to the new bypass at Eisenberg, about 35 minutes away.
The halt Ebertsheim lies on the Eistalbahn (railway; Grünstadt
Grünstadt
Grünstadt is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with roughly 13,200 inhabitants. It does not belong to any Verbandsgemeinde – a kind of collective municipality – but is nonetheless the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land.- Location :The...
–Ramsen
Ramsen, Rhineland-Palatinate
Ramsen is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
) and is served by scheduled Regionalbahn
RegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
trains. Public transport is integrated into the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar is a public transport network covering parts of the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in south-west Germany...
(VRN), whose tariffs apply.
The nearest small airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
is found in Quirnheim, roughly 3 km away. Here, gliders
Glider aircraft
Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can...
and small motorized aircraft with outlanding approval may land.
“Hab-8-Weg”
Ebertsheim advertises with the slogan das Dorf im Grünen (“The Village in the Green”). Its environs await with lands that are not too steep, offering themselves up for hiking in nature. Signed specially fir this is the Hab-8-Weg, at whose starting point is found a KneippSebastian Kneipp
Sebastian Kneipp was a Bavarian priest and one of the founders of the Naturopathic medicine movement...
armbath. The birdlife conservation area on the municipality’s outskirts likewise lends itself to natural adventure.
Aktionstag „Autofreies Eistal“
The “Car-free Eis Valley Action Day” – each year in early October, and as a rule around German Unity DayGerman Unity Day
The Day of German Unity is the national day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990, when the goal of a unity of Germany that originated in the middle of the 19th century, was fulfilled. Therefore, the name addresses...
– lures many visitors to the region. For this event, the L 395 is closed to all motorized traffic for a whole day and made available exclusively to pedestrians, as a rule hikers, as well as skaters and cyclists. As an outing destination, there are the Eiswoog, a 6 ha lake with a wealth of birdlife, the Eistalbahn with its imposing bridges and the museum railway, the Stumpfwaldbahn. The Eisenberg
Eisenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate
Eisenberg is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the north-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approx. 20 km south-west of Worms....
Erdekaut adventure area lies some 2 km away.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Johann Adam Schlesinger (1759–1829), painter
- Karl Fittler (1892–1966), politician (SPD)