Kümbdchen
Encyclopedia
History
Kümbdchen is among the Hunsrück’s oldest villages. In the countryside around Kümbdchen, there have been both RomanAncient 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....
and Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
finds. As early as Roman
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....
times, two rural settlements are known to have been here. Over the last one thousand and more years, Kümbdchen’s history has been tightly bound to the town of Simmern
Simmern
Simmern is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde...
.
In 1072, Kümbdchen had its first documentary mention. Kümbdchen belonged to the old mother church in Simmern and later passed along with Simmern to the Raugraves
Raugraves
The Raugraves were a German noble family, which had its center of influence in the former Nahegau. They descended from the Emichones .- First family in the 12th until 15th centuries :...
at the Altenbaumburg
Altenbaumburg
The Burg Altenbaumburg , is a ruined castle above the town of Altenbamberg in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- External links :*...
(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...
, now in ruins, in today’s Ortsgemeinde of Altenbamberg
Altenbamberg
Altenbamberg is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany.-References:...
near Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach is the capital of the district of Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on the Nahe river, a tributary of the Rhine...
), in whose ownership it remained until they sold the town of Simmern to the Counts Palatine in 1359.
In the Raugraves’ time, Kümbdchen was known as Endilskomede and was mentioned several times under this name. The inhabitants were “outer townsmen” (Außenbürger in 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....
) of Simmern, putting them under the town council and court. The spelling of the village’s name was quite variable over time. Endilskomede eventually became Chumbd über dem Berge (the last three words mean “above the mountain”), and as late as the 18th century it was still Cümbgen über Berg, and then Chümbdchen, and finally, beginning in 1920, Kümbdchen.
In 1368, there erupted disputes between the landholders in Kümbdchen as to who was lord of what. A legal investigation was undertaken in Simmern, which was attended by, among others, the Schultheiß
Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...
, the Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) and the municipality of Simmern. Here, it was sworn under oath that Endilskomede had long been Raugravial domain and that all inhabitants of Endilskomede had to go to Simmern to attend court. In 1555, 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 in both Kümbdchen and Simmern. In 1557, 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...
was introduced. The worldly lordship, though, was the same as ever: from 1359 to 1793, there was Electoral Palatinate rule, between 1793 and 1814 it was 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...
, and thereafter the 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...
ns.
As a constituent community (Stadtteil) of Simmern, Kümbdchen had an elected representative on town council. It can clearly be seen that the old Hunsrück farming families lasted quite a long time. Names that cropped up a hundred or more years ago are still found now, such as Frank, Konrad, Jungherz, Berg, Schmitt and Schüler. In 1823, the Schöffen Jungherz and Peter Weyrich from Kümbdchen submitted a petition to Simmern town council for Kümbdchen to become a municipality in its own right. The request was denied several times by both the town and the government in Koblenz. On 14 April 1862, there was a separation agreement that determined ownership of various properties that had been in contention. Kümbdchen got the schoolhouse, a herdsman’s house, a fire pump with 200 fire pails and all lands as specified on an attached map. Kümbdchen elected its own council for the first time on 1 October 1862, and finally became a municipality in its own right on 1 January 1863. It has been an autonomous entity since this time, although ecclesiastically, it is still tied to Simmern.
Beginning in 1794, Kümbdchen 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. In 1815 it was assigned 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...
at 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,...
. Since 1946, it 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 ....
.
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 municipality’s armsCoat 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 be described thus: Per pale chequy of twenty-four Or and azure and vert a bend wavy argent, on a chief sable a lion passant of the first armed, langued and crowned gules.
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...
on the chief
Chief (heraldry)
In heraldic blazon, a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top edge of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by the chief, ranging from one-fourth to one-third. The former is more likely if the...
is the Palatine Lion, recalling Kümbdchen’s former status as a part of Simmern, whose arms bear this same charge in the same 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 and attitude
Attitude (heraldry)
In heraldry, an attitude is the position in which an animal, fictional beast, mythical creature, human or human-like being is emblazoned as a charge, supporter or crest. Many attitudes apply only to predatory beasts and are exemplified by the beast most frequently found in heraldry — the lion. ...
. The gold and blue “chequy” field on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side refers to the “Further” 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...
, under whose authority Kümbdchen once lay. The municipality’s mainly agricultural
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...
structure finds expression in the green field on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side. The silver “bend wavy” with which this is charged symbolizes a brook and refers to Kümbdchen’s origins. The brook Kond rises near the old Kumbd Convent and flows through Kumbd
Klosterkumbd
Klosterkumbd is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Niederkumbd
Niederkumbd
Niederkumbd is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
to Kümbdchen, where it empties into the Külzbach.
The village square in Kümbdchen, which was dedicated in 1992, is laid out with similar symbolism to what is seen in the municipality’s arms.
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:
- Külztalstraße 32 – estate complex, whole complex of buildings; 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...
house, partly plastered or slated, mid 19th century, timber-frame stable-barn, latter half of the 19th century
Sport and leisure
CyclistsCycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, hikers
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
and inline skaters
Inline skating
Inline skating is a recreational sport practiced widely internationally. Inline skates typically have 2 to 5 polyurethane wheels, arranged in a single line. The in-line design allows for greater speed than roller skates and better maneuverability...
can use the 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...
-Radweg (cycle path), which runs right through the municipal area.
Economy and infrastructure
Once there were 33 agricultural operations in the municipality, but this has now dwindled to one operation that treats farming as its main business and a handful of others who work the land as a sideline.The village itself has 12 streets, a community centre, a fire station, a kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
and a gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium. Four new building zones have been laid out over the years: “In der Au” (1962),“Gartenstrasse” (1973), “Im Gieren” (1979) and “Am Külzer Pfad” (1996, in three sections).
External links
- Kümbdchen in the collective municipality’s webpages
- http://www.swr.de/hierzuland-rp/archiv/2005/03/03/index.htmlBrief portrait of Kümbdchen with film at SWR FernsehenSWR FernsehenSWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD members....
] - Municipality’s official webpage