Location

Frankenau lies in the Kellerwald

Kellerwald

The Kellerwald is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 675 m in the western part of northern Hesse, Germany.Its assets include Germany's largest contiguous beech woodland and it contains Hesse's only national park, the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park.- Geography :The Kellerwald lies in...

 range southwest of the Talgang (566 m-high mountain). It is found on the southern edge of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park on the upper reaches of the Lorfebach, a tributary to the Eder

Eder

The Eder is a 177 km long river in Germany, and a tributary of the Fulda River. It was first mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus as the Adrana in the territory of the Chatti....

. Frankenau lies 10 km east of Frankenberg

Frankenberg, Hesse

Frankenberg an der Eder is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.The mountain at a ford over the Eder north of the Burgwald range was for a long time a fortified place, playing an especially important rôle under the Franks in the Saxon Wars...

, and 33 km northeast of Marburg

Marburg

Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

.

Neighbouring communities

Frankenau borders in the north on the community of Vöhl

Vöhl

Vöhl is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse, Germany not far southwest of Kassel.-Location:Vöhl lies in the northern part of the Kellerwald-Edersee Nature Park on the Edersee, a man-made lake.-Neighbouring communities:...

, in the east on the community of Edertal

Edertal

-Location:Edertal lies roughly 30 km in a straight line southwest of Kassel. It is on the north and northwest edges of the Kellerwald range and stretches to the south shore of the Edersee and south and southwest of its dam...

 and the town of Bad Wildungen

Bad Wildungen

Bad Wildungen is a state-run spa and a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Framework Road.-Geography:-Location:...

, in the south on the community of Haina

Haina

Haina is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany.-Location:Haina lies in Waldeck-Frankenberg south of Frankenberg and east of Burgwald at the southwest slope of the Kellerwald range...

, and in the west on the town of Frankenberg

Frankenberg, Hesse

Frankenberg an der Eder is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.The mountain at a ford over the Eder north of the Burgwald range was for a long time a fortified place, playing an especially important rôle under the Franks in the Saxon Wars...

 (all in Waldeck-Frankenberg).

Constituent communities

The town of Frankenau consists of the centres of Allendorf, Altenlotheim, Dainrode, Ellershausen and Louisendorf.

History

Frankenau and its neighbouring town Frankenberg are believed to have come into being in Frankish

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...

 times. The area was settled at one time by the Chatti

Chatti

The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of the Weser River and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder, Fulda and Weser River regions, a district approximately...

. The actual place Frankenau was built as a border fortification against the Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

. The town's founding is assumed to have taken place between 500 and 750, with town rights later being granted by Heinrich Raspe

Heinrich Raspe

Henry Raspe succeeded Hermann II as Landgrave of Thuringia in central Germany in 1241; he later was elected anti-king in 1246–1247 in opposition to Conrad IV of Germany....

, Landgrave

Landgrave

Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...

 of Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

, in 1242.

The oldest surviving document about Frankenau was issued on 4 April 1266 and affirms the granting of town rights.

Frankenau was for centuries a poor, little farming town. A particularly heavy fate befell the townsfolk on 22 April 1865 when almost the whole town burnt down in a fire. Through the townsfolk's enormous efforts, the town was built again.

Today, Frankenau is, as an acknowledged resort town, one of Waldeck-Frankenberg's holiday centres and has also been since the early 1970s the main centre of the greater community then formed.

Town council

The town council's 23 seats are apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:

SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...	13 seats
Freie Bürger	6 seats
CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...	4 seats

Note: Freie Bürger ("Free Citizens") is a citizens' coalition.

Coat of arms

Frankenau's civic coat of 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 heraldically be described thus: In gules a lion rampant Or armed and langued azure.
Frankenau's oldest known seals date from the mid 16th century and showed the lion of Hesse, with the usual red and silver stripes as seen in Hesse's coat of arms at right, and indeed in many civic coats of arms throughout Hesse. The current colours – including the heraldically unusual blue for a lion's tongue – have been in use since at least 1605.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/f/frankena.htm

Town partnerships

Die

Die, Drôme

Die is a commune, former episcopal see, and sub-prefecture of the Drôme department in southeastern France.Die is best known for the Clairette de Die, a sparkling wine. It was a county in the High Middle Ages.-Population:-External links:*...

, département of Drôme

Drôme

Drôme , a department in southeastern France, takes its name from the Drôme River.-History:The French National Constituent Assembly set up Drôme as one of the original 83 departments of France on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution...

, France

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...

, since 1991 Wirksworth

Wirksworth

Wirksworth is a small market town in Derbyshire, England, with a population of over 9,000.The population of the Wirksworth area including Cromford, Bolehill and Middleton-by-Wirksworth is about 12,000. Wirksworth is listed in the Domesday Book in 1086. Within it is the source of the River...

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, since 2006

The partnership is a three-sided arrangement, with Die and Wirksworth also partnered with each other.

Personalities

Frankenau is writer and Dadaism cofounder Richard Huelsenbeck

Richard Huelsenbeck

Richard Huelsenbeck was a poet, writer and drummer born in Frankenau, Hessen-Nassau.Carl Wilhelm Richard Hülsenbeck was a medical student on the eve of World War I. He was invalided out of the army and emigrated to Zürich, Switzerland in February 1916, where he fell in with the Cabaret Voltaire...

's birthplace.