Lauffen
Encyclopedia
Lauffen am Neckar is a town in the district of Heilbronn
, Baden-Württemberg
, Germany
. It is situated on the river Neckar
, 9 km southwest of Heilbronn
. The town is famous as the birthplace of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin
and for its quality wines – in particular the “Lauffener Katzenbeißer Schwarzriesling“.
, on the Neckar
. The small river Zaber
flows into the Neckar at this point. The neck of the previous great bow in the course of the north-flowing Neckar was broken through by erosion somewhere between 400 BC and 100 BC and for several centuries the watercourse survived as a ring of lakes. The old circular riverbed is now dry, apart from one small artificial lake. Along the old riverbed, a round hill was formed - its slopes now partially covered by the Kaywald forest and with other areas given over to the cultivation of vines. There is a hill on the western bank of the Neckar at the centre point of the ancient river bow. This hill became separated from another on the present eastern bank when the river broke through. Lauffen grew up on the western bank, on the ridge which is the site of today’s Regiswindis Church. This hill settlement became known as Lauffen-Dorf (Lauffen village). In the middle of the river, between the two hills, is an island with a castle. This castle, originally the seat of the Earls of Lauffen, is now home to the town hall - the island itself is a nature reserve. Another settlement, Lauffen-Stadt (Lauffen town), later established itself on the hill on the eastern bank. The two districts, Lauffen-Dorf and Lauffen-Stadt, are joined by a bridge. A smaller bridge from Lauffen-Stadt leads to the island and the town hall. Yet another district, the so-called Lauffen-Dörfle (Lauffen little village), grew up around a convent and is situated on the western bank to the north of Lauffen-Dorf and the Zaber. An exclave of Lauffen, the town's forest of Etzlenswenden, is located further east in the Löwenstein
Mountains. It is presumed that this forested area was allocated to the town by its founders in around AD 1200, as there was no other forest within its boundaries from which timber and firewood could be obtained. It is here, in the exclave, that the highest point is situated – 452 m above sea level; the lowest point – 154 m above sea level is by the Neckar.
, Nordheim
, Heilbronn
, Talheim
, Isfeld, Neckarwestheim
and Kirchheim am Neckar
(District of Ludwigsburg
). The exclave Stadtwald Etzlenswenden is surrounded (from the west) by Abstatt
, Untergruppenbach
, Löwenstein
and Beilstein
. All neighbouring villages as far as Heilbronn and Kircheim come under the Landkreis (district) Heilbronn. Lauffen has combined with Neckarwestheim and Nordheim to form a joint association of administrations.
It is presumed that the area around Lauffen had already been settled in pre-Christian times, although the only evidence consists of a few bones. The settlement’s high level of frequentation can be attributed to the shallow water between the present old Neckar bridge and the cliffs by the castle and Regiswindis Church. Here the river was fordable for most of the year and the spot used by both men and animals as a crossing point. Such opportunities were few and far between along this stretch of the original Neckar. Indeed, the nearest fords were some kilometres distant. The two prominent cliffs may well have served as lookouts and refuges since primeval times.
The foundations of a Roman estate (Villa Rustica) dating from between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, along with coins and pottery, were discovered some two kilometres to the southeast of the present town centre. Archaeological excavations show that the Alemannians came to the area in around 260 AD upon the departure of the Romans. With the arrival of the Franks in 500 AD, a royal estate was founded together with a church dedicated to St Martin. The ownership of the estate alternated frequently between princes and church. A document from 823 refers to this “church in the tribal district of Neckar which is dedicated to Saint Martin in the Villa Hlauppa.”
The name "Hlauppa" (which has become "Lauffen") is characteristic of places with rapids or waterfalls. Other examples of this derivation are Laufen
and Laufenburg
. The rapids which are occasionally visible at Lauffen were created by erosion when the Neckar shortened its course after breaking through the neck of a great bow - an event which is estimated to have taken place between 400 BC and 100 BC
granted the then unfortified village to his son-in-law Ernst, the margrave
of Nordgau
in the Upper Palatinate
, on condition that the inhospitable place be suitably developed – it was the property of the Emperor, who intended to use it for hunting. The initial cultivation of the Neckar slopes and the first castle can be traced back to Ernst.
According to legend, the Graf’s infant daughter, Regiswindis, was murdered by her wet nurse and the body thrown into the Neckar. After this incident, the margrave Ernst returned to his home in the Upper Palatinate
and the village was transferred back to the emperor with effect from 861, before the expiration of the lease and the death of the Graf.
In 889, 923 and 993, various German emperors transferred their rule over the village to the Bishopric of Würzburg
. In 1003, Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
called for the establishment of a convent in the village, which had meanwhile been fortified. A Benedictine
convent was accordingly set up under the auspices of Bishop Heinrich von Würzburg.
and noble descendants of the Poppon tribe of Lauffen. They pressed ahead with the fortification of the settlement and of the castle. In around 1150, they had the rocks on the eastern riverbank cut back, thus creating the basis for a moated castle – the present-day “Pfalzgrafenburg“. The three brothers - Heinrich II, Boppo V and Konrad II – all died without male issue. With the death of the last scion
in 1218 or 1219, the house of Lauffen died out, although its coat of arms survives to this day as the arms of the District of Heilbronn
.
In the 13th century, the town once again reverted to the German Emperor (Holy Roman Emperor
).
In 1227, the Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II
mortgaged Lauffen, Sinsheim
and Eppingen
to Herman V of Baden. In the mortgage deed, Lauffen was first referred to as "civitas" (town with civic institutions). The upward designation to “town” is frequently dated as having taken place in the year 1234. The Margraves of Baden administered the town through a family of bailiffs. A church was built in 1227 to replace an existing chapel and dedicated to the now canonized Saint Regiswindis.
The families of the ruling aristocracy were beset with problems over complex inheritance disputes and mortgage debts. As a result, hegemony over the town changed frequently, transferring to (among others) the Dukes of Teck
. In 1327, Lauffen was mortgaged to Württemberg. In 1346, Sir Albrecht (Ritter Albrecht Hofwarth) acquired town and castle from the Margraves of Baden for 3000 heller
. However in 1361, he resold his acquisition to Graf Eberhard von Württemberg and his brother for double the purchase price. Due to the proximity of the Free Imperial City of Heilbronn, the rulers of Württemberg demanded a commitment of loyalty from the inhabitants of Lauffen.
rights which affected many of the inhabitants. The lake of Lauffen was created by Ulrich V, Count of Württemberg
in 1454. In 1460 his troops were called upon to defend fishing and customs rights against Palatinate troops. However, the following year, the Palatinate Graf Friedrich gave an undertaking to stop attacks against various localities in Württemberg. Then, in 1469, a treaty between the Palatinate and Württemberg resolved the customs disputes over the transportation of timber along the River Murr.
In 1474 the first bridge at Lauffen was built over the Neckar thus bringing the entire customs duties for river traffic to the town. The bridge was destroyed by the flood of 1529 and rebuilt in 1532.
A town hall was built and a weekly market established in 1480. Two years later, the bubonic plague
caused the death of 1,300 inhabitants.
During the German Peasants' War
, an 8,000-strong army of peasants set up camp between Lauffen and Gemmrigheim
in 1525. Bowing to superior force, the town council sided with the peasants - as a result only the convent was sacked. On 13 May 1534, at the Battle of Lauffen, the 11,000 troops of Austria were outnumbered by those of the Rulers of Hesse
, whose forces consisted of some 25,000 men. As a result of the victory over the Austrians, Ulrich IV, Count of Württemberg
regained his territory and led his subjects towards the Reformation. Lauffen was occupied for over a year in approximately 1547 by Spanish troops during the war of the Schmalkaldic League
, then reverted to Württemberg. 1564 saw the return of the bubonic plague, which claimed some 800 victims. The plague returned in 1606, 1607 and 1626 although there were fewer fatalities.
During the Thirty Years' War
, Lauffen was the scene of several battles and troop movements. The bridge and the nearby ford proved to be of major strategic significance. In April 1622, a large force belonging to Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
and George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
assembled at the bridge to engage the imperial troops. Battle was joined at Wimpfen early in May and resulted in victory for the imperial forces. After this defeat, two companies of the Margrave’s troops and many Neckargartach farmers took refuge in Lauffen. The town was spared major fighting for several years, but almost 20 years of suffering were still to come.
In 1629, a large force of imperial troops moved through the town, to be followed in 1631 by troops of Lorraine. In 1634, Croatian soldiers plundered Lauffen and two days later the imperial forces returned. In November the last 16 head of cattle were confiscated. At Christmas 1634, Lauffen provided winter quarters for five transiting regiments. At Whitsun 1635, the Mühlheimische Kürassier-Regiment seized the entire winter crop, thus creating a famine which claimed 800 lives.
In 1636, Lauffen was sacked by a Colonel Liddaw and his regiment of cuirassiers. In the autumn of 1637, it was overrun by two different regiments - a state of affairs which caused a shortage of food during the winter and resulted in the deaths of 200 people. In 1638, it had to endure the presence of a company of Parischen troops; then, in May and again in September, it was once more descended upon by imperial forces. In the autumn, two regiments of cavalry looted the harvest and, at the beginning of December, three cavalry regiments sacked the town. At Christmas 1638, the imperial general staff took over Lauffen. By the end of that year, the population had fallen to just 30. The misery continued during 1639 with frequent occupations by troops.
The years 1640 to 1642 were comparatively quiet, but in 1643 French Weimar regiments were in occupation, along with the entire French general staff. The so-called “Weimar occupation” lasted until May 1643, when victory was achieved after three days of fighting by the Bavarian army under the command of Graf Fugger
. In 1645, the town was again plundered by French and Hessian troops. Subsequently the Bavarians moved back, but provisions were barely enough to feed them. Virtually all that remained were cabbages, beets and new wine.
A year later, Swedish troops joined the Bavarians and extensive defences were constructed. After the armistice of 1647 between France and Bavaria, the town’s defences were razed to the ground. The Bavarians withdrew, to be replaced over the winter by a company of Weimar cavalry. With the failure of the armistice, a French garrison arrived and set about constructing more defences, which nevertheless became redundant with the conclusion of peace in 1648. For many years after the end of the war, and at frequent intervals, Lauffen would be taken over and occupied by troops.
At the end of the Thirty Years' War
, the population was 155. The upper castle had been destroyed, the lower one severely damaged. The town’s church was also badly damaged. In all, 270 houses were damaged and 452 acres (1.8 km²) of vineyards, 1,239 acres (5 km²) of fields and 50 acres (202,343 m²) of meadows had been laid to waste.
strengthened the fortifications around Lauffen with drawbridges and parapets as a defence against potential attacks by the French
. Just a few years after the devastating Thirty Years' War, Lauffen was the scene of invasions for a second time. In 1674, the army of the Elector of Brandenburg
crossed the Neckar on the way to Strasbourg
, to be followed by the Lüneburg-Zellsche army. Upon the withdrawal of these forces, the Brandenburgers set up their headquarters at Isfeld. In May 1675, the imperial army, arriving from The Netherlands, crossed the river near Lauffen. In 1676, the town served as winter quarters for an imperial regiment of cuirassiers and, in 1679, for a company of cavalry from Lorraine. In 1688, the French army arrived, confiscating all the horses and destroying the bridge. During the following decade, the area witnessed more hostilities and was again occupied. Yet more looting occurred, along with the destruction of agricultural land. The population, which had increased between the two wars, was later decimated to 210 persons in 1697.
The 18th century was also dominated by matters military. In 1704 the Anglo-Dutch cavalry crossed the Neckar at Lauffen, and in 1707, 2000 French horsemen sacked the town for a second time. 1709, a cuirassier regiment from Kürnbach
was quartered there. However, more than 100 years after the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War
, Lauffen was starting to recover from the damage which had been inflicted. In 1721, the town hall was rebuilt and in 1724 the temporarily repaired bridge dating from 1693 was converted into a covered suspension bridge. From 1728, a night watch was established in response to a spate of murders and robberies. In 1744, Lauffen was besieged by the imperial Bavarian army under Feldmarschall von Seckendorff and 1754 witnessed repeated returns of the French. There followed subsequent occupations by troops from Wimpfen and Anhalt.
In 1755, the previous protectorate structure was abolished and Lauffen became an “Oberamt” (administrative area). Thirty years later, 160 inhabitants died of typhus
.
had sent his forces against the advancing French army. The French, who had already struck Heilbronn three time in 1799 alone, subsequently succeeded in re-taking Lauffen, setting it on fire, plundering and taking hostages.
Wine growing was improved by abandoning unprofitable varieties. The main variety became Pinot Blanc
. The town planted more than 2,000 fruit trees within its boundaries and countless willows along the banks of the Neckar. Agriculture continued to increase in importance.
From 2000 inhabitants in 1800, the population increased to approximately 4000 in 1850.
The section of railway between Stuttgart and Heilbronn was completed in 1847, giving rise to the construction of buildings around the railway station. Following a fire on 14 October 1861, a volunteer fire brigade was formed on 19 November of the same year. In 1889, the second shaft of the railway tunnel (584 m) was completed between Kircheim am Neckar and Lauffen, thus removing a major bottleneck on the Franconia Railway from Heilbronn to Stuttgart. The year 1891 saw the world’s first long distance transmission of alternating three-phase electric current. This important technical achievement – a link between Lauffen and Frankfurt Main – is described in the section 'Economy and infrastructure' below.
Of the soldiers who served in the First World War, 189 failed to return. A war memorial was erected in their honour in front of the town hall in 1922. This was removed in 1949 to make way for a widening of the canal, and to enable the plaque bearing the names of the fallen to be set into the wall of the old cemetery alongside another dedicated to the even greater number of victims of the Second World War.
In the mid 1930s, work was started on the construction of a by-pass canal for the Neckar. This new canal had the effect of making the rocks of the Pfalzgrafenburg into an island once more. For a time, the cliff was linked to the town via a millrace which had been artificially created, and the Neckar sped in front of the cliffs and the bridge over rocks which had been placed there to produce rapids. (Pictures dating from 1640 and 1800 provide an interesting comparison.) The building of the canal was given high priority – several houses and even the first commercial three-phase power station were demolished. The original generator is now on display at the Deutsches Museum
in Munich. Nearby, the Oskar von Miller
Strasse (the westerly access road to the cement works) is a reminder of the power station’s previous location. Electricity has since been generated at the dam further upstream. Parallel with the construction of the canal came the laying of a narrow gauge railway for the transportation of stone along the right bank of the river between the Lauffen cement works and the quarry at Neckarwestheim
. The railway ceased operation in 1984, with the rails later removed to create a new footpath and cycle way. The engine is preserved on a playground near the old bridge beside the former railway track. The quarry is now the site of the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant
(GKN). Between 1935 and 1938, work took place on the so-called ‘Neckar-Enz Line’ between Eberbach
and Unterriexingen. This was a series of fortifications designed to resist a possible attack from the west. Eleven bunkers were constructed in the Lauffen sector, none of which had any impact on the end of the war.
There are two locks at Lauffen, both upstream of the castle. The first was constructed between 1938 and 1945 - the second between 1950 and 1951.
Following boundary change legislation in 1938, the administrative area known as the Oberamt Besigheim
was dissolved and Lauffen became part of the Landkreis Heilbronn (district of Heilbronn).
During the Second World War the town suffered 37 air raids, this number being partly influenced by its proximity to the decoy target known as ‘Brasilien’, which was laid out to look like the main railway station at Stuttgart
. On 13 April 1944, an allied bomber formation was returning to base having failed to bomb its primary and secondary targets (Nuremberg
and Stuttgart
) when it was attacked by a German fighter and forced to jettison its load over Lauffen. The town escaped serious damage and casualties from the bombs, which were dropped at random and in some cases unprimed. Most fell in fields or the river although some dropped on the Sonnenstrasse, the Brückenstrasse, the old cemetery and in the vicinity of the cement works and St Martin’s Church. There were 59 fatalities including a number of forced labourers. The then mayor was criticised for not having sounded the air raid warning. Secondary targets for the bombers had been in northern Württemberg, Hesse or the Ruhr. As was so often the case, a return to base with the bomb load had not been included in the fuel calculations. The bombing of Lauffen can thus be regarded as the sacrifice of a pawn – a sacrifice in favour of a city.
On 20 June 1959, there was a serious accident at Lauffen when a public service bus operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn
crashed into an express train on the Tübingen
-Würzburg
(via Stuttgart
) route. At the time, this accident was the worst since the Second World War, killing 45 and seriously injuring a further 27. The cause of the accident was attributed to human error on the part of the level-crossing keeper; the level-crossing has since been replaced by an underpass. A commemorative plaque was erected in memory of those who lost their lives.
. A reference to the first Protestant vicar, Hieronymus Hailbrunner, occurs in 1546 but he was no doubt already in office before this date. Since then, a majority of the town’s worshippers has been of the Protestant faith. A Roman Catholic congregation did not exist until 1946. The Protestant congregation numbers some 6,000; there are approximately 3,000 Roman Catholics, some of whom are in Neckarwestheim. There is also a New Apostolic Church
and congregation in the town.
The mayor is also a member of the district council and its chairman.
: Argent
a messenger vested Vert
in shoes Gules
, holding in his dexter hand an envelope of the field sealed of the third and in his sinister hand a spear of the same headed Azure
.
The town’s colours are green and white.
Lauffen originally bore the coat of arms of the founders of the town, the Grafen von Lauffen (the Earls of Lauffen). This was a clawless eagle (cp. the present arms of the district of Heilbronn). From 1220 to 1346, the town was a possession of Baden
, and in 1311 the arms of Baden first appeared in a Lauffen seal. The present coat of arms, one of the type which alludes to its owner, was first verified in a seal for the year 1464. Drawings of the arms in the natural colours survive from the year 1575, although the background of the shield sometimes appears tinged in gold rather than silver.
with:-
*Regiswindis Church: The rebuilding of the church in its present form was well underway by 1567 after a fire had destroyed all but the choir three years previously. The church dates from 1227, when it was dedicated to Saint Regiswindis, but previous structures (St Martin’s Church) date back to 741. Fragments of a Mount of Olives painting C 1507 by Hans Seyfer survive on the exterior of the choir.
Regiswindis Chapel: Originally a graveyard chapel dedicated to Saint Ann, its crypt served as a charnel house. In 1901, the piles of bones were collected and buried. The stone sarcophagus containing the remains of Regiswindis were transferred to the chapel in 1882, at which point the building acquired its present name.
*There are many historic buildings in the town centre, including dwellings in the baroque
style dating from the 18th century, and those associated with the Kirchberg, which include an old bake house. The curious Grabengasse (moat lane) winds its way by the Kirchberg. This lane is part of the town’s original moat which has been overbuilt with timber-framed houses. At one time it was the route for river traffic, which included even motorised craft.
Lauffen am Neckar was the birthplace of alternating current transmission. For the International Electro-Technical Exhibition - 1891
in Frankfurt am Main, Dolivo-Dobrowolsky and Oskar von Miller
constructed a three-phase high-voltage transmission line which came into operation on 24 August 1891. For this, a three-phase alternator made by Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon was installed in the cement works at Lauffen, with an overhead cable to carry the current to Frankfurt - a distance of 175 km. The entrance to the exhibition was lit with 1000 light bulbs and the middle section surmounted by an arch bearing the inscription “Power Transmission Lauffen – Frankfurt 175 km”. At the same time, an artificial waterfall some 6 metres high was powered by electric current. At the close of the exhibition, transmission of current from the Lauffen three-phase alternator was maintained to Heilbronn, which thus became the first town in the world to receive a regular supply of electricity from a remote location. To this day, the name of the local electricity utility, ZEAG (Zementwerk Lauffen - Elektrizitätswerk Heilbronn AG), is a reminder of this achievement.
was founded in 1935 and, with an annual yield of some six million litres and sales of approximately 22 million euros, is one of the largest high-quality cooperatives in the wine region Württemberg
. The cooperative has some 600 members, the area of vines covering approximately 570 hectares. Quality wines marketed under the name “Katzenbeißer” are especially well known. In addition to those forming part of the cooperative, other growers cultivate and market their own wines independently. The vineyards at Lauffen are part of the greater Kirchenweinberg area of the Württemberg lowland winegrowing region. An annual event is the selection of Württemberg’s ‘Weinkönigin’ (Wine Queen), whose role it is to represent the wine growing industry at events not only in Württemberg
, but also throughout Germany and elsewhere in Europe. A prerequisite for the title holder is a knowledge of wine and the wine-production process. Girls from Lauffen have twice been crowned Wine Queen: for 1984/1985, the choice was Karoline Rembold (subsequent married name, Steinle); for 1972–1974, the crown went to Ilse Eberbach (subsequent married name, Riederer).
trains to Stuttgart and Heilbronn. Until 1995, Lauffen was the terminus of the Zabergäubahn to Leonbronn. Passenger services ceased operation in 1986, but the section to Zaberfeld
is scheduled to re-open in 2011, and to be integrated into the Heilbronn tram network.
near Ilsfeld
.
is one of the largest manufacturers of toolholding and automation
equipment in the world. The company has a worldwide workforce of 1,440. Of these, 770 are in Lauffen and the nearby village of Hausen.
The town also has a public library.
Heilbronn (district)
Heilbronn is a district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neckar-Odenwald, Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Rems-Murr, Ludwigsburg, Enz, Karlsruhe and Rhein-Neckar...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, 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 is situated on the river Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
, 9 km southwest of Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
. The town is famous as the birthplace of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
and for its quality wines – in particular the “Lauffener Katzenbeißer Schwarzriesling“.
Geography
Lauffen is located in the southern part of the district of Heilbronn, 9 kilometres south of Heilbronn and 50 kilometres north of the capital of Baden-Württemberg, StuttgartStuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, on the Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
. The small river Zaber
Zaber
The Zaber is a minor tributary of the River Neckar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is some 22 km in length and joins the Neckar from the west at Lauffen am Neckar...
flows into the Neckar at this point. The neck of the previous great bow in the course of the north-flowing Neckar was broken through by erosion somewhere between 400 BC and 100 BC and for several centuries the watercourse survived as a ring of lakes. The old circular riverbed is now dry, apart from one small artificial lake. Along the old riverbed, a round hill was formed - its slopes now partially covered by the Kaywald forest and with other areas given over to the cultivation of vines. There is a hill on the western bank of the Neckar at the centre point of the ancient river bow. This hill became separated from another on the present eastern bank when the river broke through. Lauffen grew up on the western bank, on the ridge which is the site of today’s Regiswindis Church. This hill settlement became known as Lauffen-Dorf (Lauffen village). In the middle of the river, between the two hills, is an island with a castle. This castle, originally the seat of the Earls of Lauffen, is now home to the town hall - the island itself is a nature reserve. Another settlement, Lauffen-Stadt (Lauffen town), later established itself on the hill on the eastern bank. The two districts, Lauffen-Dorf and Lauffen-Stadt, are joined by a bridge. A smaller bridge from Lauffen-Stadt leads to the island and the town hall. Yet another district, the so-called Lauffen-Dörfle (Lauffen little village), grew up around a convent and is situated on the western bank to the north of Lauffen-Dorf and the Zaber. An exclave of Lauffen, the town's forest of Etzlenswenden, is located further east in the Löwenstein
Löwenstein
Löwenstein is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was first mentioned in 1123. The castle of Löwenstein served as a residence for the counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim. In 1634 the castle was destroyed by the imperial forces....
Mountains. It is presumed that this forested area was allocated to the town by its founders in around AD 1200, as there was no other forest within its boundaries from which timber and firewood could be obtained. It is here, in the exclave, that the highest point is situated – 452 m above sea level; the lowest point – 154 m above sea level is by the Neckar.
Neighbouring municipalities
Neighbouring towns and villages of Lauffen are (clockwise from the west): BrackenheimBrackenheim
Brackenheim is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 15 km southwest of Heilbronn.With an area of 826 hectare of vineyards, it's the biggest grape-growing municipality of Württemberg....
, Nordheim
Nordheim, Baden-Württemberg
Nordheim is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
, Talheim
Talheim, Neckar
Talheim is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is commonly known for its wine, the tennis tournament Heilbronn Open in its industrial park, and, additionally, for the Death Pit discovered in 1983....
, Isfeld, Neckarwestheim
Neckarwestheim
Neckarwestheim is a municipality with 3524 inhabitants in the Heilbronn district, Baden-Württemberg, in south-west Germany. It is located on the Neckar river and is well known as the location of a nuclear power station.-Geographical position:...
and Kirchheim am Neckar
Kirchheim am Neckar
Kirchheim is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
(District of Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg urban district with about 87,000 inhabitants...
). The exclave Stadtwald Etzlenswenden is surrounded (from the west) by Abstatt
Abstatt
Abstatt is a municipality in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.- Geography :Abstatt is situated in the south of the district of Heilbronn at the Schozach river...
, Untergruppenbach
Untergruppenbach
Untergruppenbach is a municipality near Heilbronn, a city in the northern half of the German state Baden-Württemberg.There are a total of 7,600 inhabitants living in six villages that form the municipality of Untergruppenbach. Approximately 5,100 live in Untergruppenbach, Donnbronn and...
, Löwenstein
Löwenstein
Löwenstein is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was first mentioned in 1123. The castle of Löwenstein served as a residence for the counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim. In 1634 the castle was destroyed by the imperial forces....
and Beilstein
Beilstein
Beilstein may refer to:*places in Germany:**Beilstein, Württemberg, in Baden-Württemberg**Beilstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, in Rhineland-Palatinate**Beilstein, Hessen*a 2270-metre mountain of the Hochschwab Plateau, Northern Limestone Alps, Styria...
. All neighbouring villages as far as Heilbronn and Kircheim come under the Landkreis (district) Heilbronn. Lauffen has combined with Neckarwestheim and Nordheim to form a joint association of administrations.
Town structure
The localities of Lauffen-Stadt (town) and Lauffen-Dorf (village) were combined on 1 April 1914 to create today's Lauffen am Neckar. The outlying farmsteads of the Landturm, an old customs house on the former Württemberg boundary, are included as part of the town. The defunct hamlets of Osterhofen and Talhofen originally lay within its bounds.First settlement and origin of place name
The foundations of a Roman estate (Villa Rustica) dating from between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, along with coins and pottery, were discovered some two kilometres to the southeast of the present town centre. Archaeological excavations show that the Alemannians came to the area in around 260 AD upon the departure of the Romans. With the arrival of the Franks in 500 AD, a royal estate was founded together with a church dedicated to St Martin. The ownership of the estate alternated frequently between princes and church. A document from 823 refers to this “church in the tribal district of Neckar which is dedicated to Saint Martin in the Villa Hlauppa.”
The name "Hlauppa" (which has become "Lauffen") is characteristic of places with rapids or waterfalls. Other examples of this derivation are Laufen
Laufen
Laufen is a municipality on the southeastern border of Bavaria with Austria.-History:It was first mentioned in a deed of 748. The rapids that gave the town the name were also responsible for the town's wealth from the salt trade...
and Laufenburg
Laufenburg
- Places :* Laufenburg, Germany* Laufenburg, Switzerland* Laufenburg District, a district of the canton of Aargau, Switzerland...
. The rapids which are occasionally visible at Lauffen were created by erosion when the Neckar shortened its course after breaking through the neck of a great bow - an event which is estimated to have taken place between 400 BC and 100 BC
9th Century to 11th Century
In 832 Emperor Ludwig Louis the PiousLouis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
granted the then unfortified village to his son-in-law Ernst, the margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
of Nordgau
Nordgau
The Nordgau can refer to two distinct areas:* Nordgau , the Alsatian Nordgau, the medieval County of Nordgau, the northern part of Alsace...
in the Upper Palatinate
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of Bavaria.- History :The region took its name first in the early 16th century, because it was by the Treaty of Pavia one of the main portions of the territory of the Wittelsbach Elector...
, on condition that the inhospitable place be suitably developed – it was the property of the Emperor, who intended to use it for hunting. The initial cultivation of the Neckar slopes and the first castle can be traced back to Ernst.
According to legend, the Graf’s infant daughter, Regiswindis, was murdered by her wet nurse and the body thrown into the Neckar. After this incident, the margrave Ernst returned to his home in the Upper Palatinate
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of Bavaria.- History :The region took its name first in the early 16th century, because it was by the Treaty of Pavia one of the main portions of the territory of the Wittelsbach Elector...
and the village was transferred back to the emperor with effect from 861, before the expiration of the lease and the death of the Graf.
In 889, 923 and 993, various German emperors transferred their rule over the village to the Bishopric of Würzburg
Bishopric of Würzburg
The Bishopric of Würzburg was a prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire, located in Lower Franconia, around the city of Würzburg, Germany. Würzburg was a diocese from 743. In the 18th century, its bishop was often also Bishop of Bamberg...
. In 1003, Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
called for the establishment of a convent in the village, which had meanwhile been fortified. A Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
convent was accordingly set up under the auspices of Bishop Heinrich von Würzburg.
High Middle Ages
The end of the 11th century saw the arrival of the Gaugrafen von Lauffen (Frankish earls) who were allied to the Bishopric of WormsBishopric of Worms
The Bishopric of Worms was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Located on both banks of the Rhine around Worms just north of the union of that river with the Neckar, it was largely surrounded by the Palatinate. Worms had been the seat of a bishop from Roman times...
and noble descendants of the Poppon tribe of Lauffen. They pressed ahead with the fortification of the settlement and of the castle. In around 1150, they had the rocks on the eastern riverbank cut back, thus creating the basis for a moated castle – the present-day “Pfalzgrafenburg“. The three brothers - Heinrich II, Boppo V and Konrad II – all died without male issue. With the death of the last scion
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
in 1218 or 1219, the house of Lauffen died out, although its coat of arms survives to this day as the arms of the District of Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
.
In the 13th century, the town once again reverted to the German Emperor (Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
).
In 1227, the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
mortgaged Lauffen, Sinsheim
Sinsheim
Sinsheim is a town in southwestern Germany, in the Rhine Neckar Area of the state Baden-Württemberg about 22 kilometers southeast of Heidelberg and about 28 kilometers northwest of Heilbronn in the district Rhein-Neckar. It consists of a city center and 11 suburbs with a total population of 35,605...
and Eppingen
Eppingen
Eppingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district....
to Herman V of Baden. In the mortgage deed, Lauffen was first referred to as "civitas" (town with civic institutions). The upward designation to “town” is frequently dated as having taken place in the year 1234. The Margraves of Baden administered the town through a family of bailiffs. A church was built in 1227 to replace an existing chapel and dedicated to the now canonized Saint Regiswindis.
The families of the ruling aristocracy were beset with problems over complex inheritance disputes and mortgage debts. As a result, hegemony over the town changed frequently, transferring to (among others) the Dukes of Teck
Duke of Teck
Duke of Teck was, in medieval times, a title borne by the head of a principality named Teck in the Holy Roman Empire, centered around Teck castle in Germany. That territory was held by a branch line of the Zähringen dynasty from 1187 to 1439, known historically as the first House of Teck...
. In 1327, Lauffen was mortgaged to Württemberg. In 1346, Sir Albrecht (Ritter Albrecht Hofwarth) acquired town and castle from the Margraves of Baden for 3000 heller
Heller
People with the surname Heller:* Heller In fiction:* James Heller, a character from the TV series 24*Jettero Heller main character in the mission earth novels written by L. Ron HubbardOther:...
. However in 1361, he resold his acquisition to Graf Eberhard von Württemberg and his brother for double the purchase price. Due to the proximity of the Free Imperial City of Heilbronn, the rulers of Württemberg demanded a commitment of loyalty from the inhabitants of Lauffen.
Late Middle Ages and Peasants' War
The 15th century at Lauffen was characterized by conflicts over complex fishing and titheTithe
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...
rights which affected many of the inhabitants. The lake of Lauffen was created by Ulrich V, Count of Württemberg
Ulrich V, Count of Wurttemberg
Ulrich V of Württemberg called "der Vielgeliebte" , Count of Württemberg. He was the younger son of Count Eberhard IV and Henriette of Mömpelgard.-Life:...
in 1454. In 1460 his troops were called upon to defend fishing and customs rights against Palatinate troops. However, the following year, the Palatinate Graf Friedrich gave an undertaking to stop attacks against various localities in Württemberg. Then, in 1469, a treaty between the Palatinate and Württemberg resolved the customs disputes over the transportation of timber along the River Murr.
In 1474 the first bridge at Lauffen was built over the Neckar thus bringing the entire customs duties for river traffic to the town. The bridge was destroyed by the flood of 1529 and rebuilt in 1532.
A town hall was built and a weekly market established in 1480. Two years later, the bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
caused the death of 1,300 inhabitants.
During the German Peasants' War
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...
, an 8,000-strong army of peasants set up camp between Lauffen and Gemmrigheim
Gemmrigheim
Gemmrigheim is a German village in the district of Ludwigsburg, in the administrative region of Stuttgart, in Baden-Württemberg....
in 1525. Bowing to superior force, the town council sided with the peasants - as a result only the convent was sacked. On 13 May 1534, at the Battle of Lauffen, the 11,000 troops of Austria were outnumbered by those of the Rulers of Hesse
Rulers of Hesse
This is a list of rulers of Hesse during the history of Hesse on west-central Germany. These rulers belonged to a dynasty collectively known as the House of Hesse and the House of Brabant, originally the Reginar...
, whose forces consisted of some 25,000 men. As a result of the victory over the Austrians, Ulrich IV, Count of Württemberg
Ulrich IV, Count of Württemberg
Ulrich IV of Württemberg , Count of Württemberg. He reigned, together with his brother Eberhard II from 1344 until 1362....
regained his territory and led his subjects towards the Reformation. Lauffen was occupied for over a year in approximately 1547 by Spanish troops during the war of the Schmalkaldic League
Schmalkaldic League
The Schmalkaldic League was a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although originally started for religious motives soon after the start of the Protestant Reformation, its members eventually intended for the League to replace the Holy...
, then reverted to Württemberg. 1564 saw the return of the bubonic plague, which claimed some 800 victims. The plague returned in 1606, 1607 and 1626 although there were fewer fatalities.
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....
, Lauffen was the scene of several battles and troop movements. The bridge and the nearby ford proved to be of major strategic significance. In April 1622, a large force belonging to Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar , was a duke of Saxe-Weimar.Wilhelm was the fifth son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt...
and George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach was Margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth, as well as Regent of Prussia. He was the son of George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and a member of the House of Hohenzollern...
assembled at the bridge to engage the imperial troops. Battle was joined at Wimpfen early in May and resulted in victory for the imperial forces. After this defeat, two companies of the Margrave’s troops and many Neckargartach farmers took refuge in Lauffen. The town was spared major fighting for several years, but almost 20 years of suffering were still to come.
In 1629, a large force of imperial troops moved through the town, to be followed in 1631 by troops of Lorraine. In 1634, Croatian soldiers plundered Lauffen and two days later the imperial forces returned. In November the last 16 head of cattle were confiscated. At Christmas 1634, Lauffen provided winter quarters for five transiting regiments. At Whitsun 1635, the Mühlheimische Kürassier-Regiment seized the entire winter crop, thus creating a famine which claimed 800 lives.
In 1636, Lauffen was sacked by a Colonel Liddaw and his regiment of cuirassiers. In the autumn of 1637, it was overrun by two different regiments - a state of affairs which caused a shortage of food during the winter and resulted in the deaths of 200 people. In 1638, it had to endure the presence of a company of Parischen troops; then, in May and again in September, it was once more descended upon by imperial forces. In the autumn, two regiments of cavalry looted the harvest and, at the beginning of December, three cavalry regiments sacked the town. At Christmas 1638, the imperial general staff took over Lauffen. By the end of that year, the population had fallen to just 30. The misery continued during 1639 with frequent occupations by troops.
The years 1640 to 1642 were comparatively quiet, but in 1643 French Weimar regiments were in occupation, along with the entire French general staff. The so-called “Weimar occupation” lasted until May 1643, when victory was achieved after three days of fighting by the Bavarian army under the command of Graf Fugger
Fugger
The Fugger family was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists like the Welser and the Höchstetter families. This banking family replaced the de'...
. In 1645, the town was again plundered by French and Hessian troops. Subsequently the Bavarians moved back, but provisions were barely enough to feed them. Virtually all that remained were cabbages, beets and new wine.
A year later, Swedish troops joined the Bavarians and extensive defences were constructed. After the armistice of 1647 between France and Bavaria, the town’s defences were razed to the ground. The Bavarians withdrew, to be replaced over the winter by a company of Weimar cavalry. With the failure of the armistice, a French garrison arrived and set about constructing more defences, which nevertheless became redundant with the conclusion of peace in 1648. For many years after the end of the war, and at frequent intervals, Lauffen would be taken over and occupied by troops.
At the end 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....
, the population was 155. The upper castle had been destroyed, the lower one severely damaged. The town’s church was also badly damaged. In all, 270 houses were damaged and 452 acres (1.8 km²) of vineyards, 1,239 acres (5 km²) of fields and 50 acres (202,343 m²) of meadows had been laid to waste.
The War with France
Since the political situation in the second half of the 17th century was far from stable, Eberhard IIIEberhard III, Duke of Württemberg
Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg ruled as Duke of Württemberg from 1628 until his death in 1674....
strengthened the fortifications around Lauffen with drawbridges and parapets as a defence against potential attacks 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...
. Just a few years after the devastating Thirty Years' War, Lauffen was the scene of invasions for a second time. In 1674, the army of the Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...
crossed the Neckar on the way to Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, to be followed by the Lüneburg-Zellsche army. Upon the withdrawal of these forces, the Brandenburgers set up their headquarters at Isfeld. In May 1675, the imperial army, arriving from The Netherlands, crossed the river near Lauffen. In 1676, the town served as winter quarters for an imperial regiment of cuirassiers and, in 1679, for a company of cavalry from Lorraine. In 1688, the French army arrived, confiscating all the horses and destroying the bridge. During the following decade, the area witnessed more hostilities and was again occupied. Yet more looting occurred, along with the destruction of agricultural land. The population, which had increased between the two wars, was later decimated to 210 persons in 1697.
18th Century
Kürnbach
Kürnbach is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.It was the birthplace of John A. Treutlen, who would immigrate to America and become the first Governor of Georgia after the overthrow of British rule....
was quartered there. However, more than 100 years after the outbreak 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....
, Lauffen was starting to recover from the damage which had been inflicted. In 1721, the town hall was rebuilt and in 1724 the temporarily repaired bridge dating from 1693 was converted into a covered suspension bridge. From 1728, a night watch was established in response to a spate of murders and robberies. In 1744, Lauffen was besieged by the imperial Bavarian army under Feldmarschall von Seckendorff and 1754 witnessed repeated returns of the French. There followed subsequent occupations by troops from Wimpfen and Anhalt.
In 1755, the previous protectorate structure was abolished and Lauffen became an “Oberamt” (administrative area). Thirty years later, 160 inhabitants died of typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
.
Napoleonic Wars
Towards the end of the 18th century, its important strategic position was to bring Lauffen centre-stage once again when, in July 1796, imperial artillery arrived with a large quantity of ammunition. Three years later, the Austrian infantry pulled back from Heilbronn to Lauffen, where Frederick I of WürttembergFrederick I of Württemberg
Frederick I William Charles of Württemberg was the first King of Württemberg. He was known for his size: at and about , he was in contrast to Napoleon, who recognized him as King of Württemberg.-Biography:...
had sent his forces against the advancing French army. The French, who had already struck Heilbronn three time in 1799 alone, subsequently succeeded in re-taking Lauffen, setting it on fire, plundering and taking hostages.
19th Century
The Oberamt Lauffen was wound up in 1808, and the town came under the jurisdiction of the Oberamt Besigheim. Two years later, the bridge over the Neckar was again renovated, the wooden elements being replaced by masonry. In 1817, the council bought the Neckar Island with the intention of using the site for a town hall. During the 19th century, emphasis was placed on agriculture. The lake of Lauffen was drained in 1820, thus producing 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of additional land. With the lake gone, the inhabitants lost a rich source of food but, on the other hand, the water had also been the cause of fevers.Wine growing was improved by abandoning unprofitable varieties. The main variety became Pinot Blanc
Pinot Blanc
Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produced white fruit....
. The town planted more than 2,000 fruit trees within its boundaries and countless willows along the banks of the Neckar. Agriculture continued to increase in importance.
From 2000 inhabitants in 1800, the population increased to approximately 4000 in 1850.
The section of railway between Stuttgart and Heilbronn was completed in 1847, giving rise to the construction of buildings around the railway station. Following a fire on 14 October 1861, a volunteer fire brigade was formed on 19 November of the same year. In 1889, the second shaft of the railway tunnel (584 m) was completed between Kircheim am Neckar and Lauffen, thus removing a major bottleneck on the Franconia Railway from Heilbronn to Stuttgart. The year 1891 saw the world’s first long distance transmission of alternating three-phase electric current. This important technical achievement – a link between Lauffen and Frankfurt Main – is described in the section 'Economy and infrastructure' below.
20th Century
In 1914, two districts (Lauffen-Stadt and Lauffen-Dorf) were merged to create the new town of Lauffen am Neckar. The new town council marked the occasion by planting a lime tree in the terraced garden in front of the Pfalzgrafenburg castle. This tree stands opposite another lime at the Regiswindis Church on the other bank, the two trees thus symbolising unity.Of the soldiers who served in the First World War, 189 failed to return. A war memorial was erected in their honour in front of the town hall in 1922. This was removed in 1949 to make way for a widening of the canal, and to enable the plaque bearing the names of the fallen to be set into the wall of the old cemetery alongside another dedicated to the even greater number of victims of the Second World War.
In the mid 1930s, work was started on the construction of a by-pass canal for the Neckar. This new canal had the effect of making the rocks of the Pfalzgrafenburg into an island once more. For a time, the cliff was linked to the town via a millrace which had been artificially created, and the Neckar sped in front of the cliffs and the bridge over rocks which had been placed there to produce rapids. (Pictures dating from 1640 and 1800 provide an interesting comparison.) The building of the canal was given high priority – several houses and even the first commercial three-phase power station were demolished. The original generator is now on display at the Deutsches Museum
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association...
in Munich. Nearby, the Oskar von Miller
Oskar von Miller
Oskar von Miller was a German engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science....
Strasse (the westerly access road to the cement works) is a reminder of the power station’s previous location. Electricity has since been generated at the dam further upstream. Parallel with the construction of the canal came the laying of a narrow gauge railway for the transportation of stone along the right bank of the river between the Lauffen cement works and the quarry at Neckarwestheim
Neckarwestheim
Neckarwestheim is a municipality with 3524 inhabitants in the Heilbronn district, Baden-Württemberg, in south-west Germany. It is located on the Neckar river and is well known as the location of a nuclear power station.-Geographical position:...
. The railway ceased operation in 1984, with the rails later removed to create a new footpath and cycle way. The engine is preserved on a playground near the old bridge beside the former railway track. The quarry is now the site of the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant
Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant
Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Station is a nuclear power plant in Neckarwestheim, Germany. It is sometimes abbreviated GKN . It is operated by EnBW Kernkraft GmbH.-GKN 1:...
(GKN). Between 1935 and 1938, work took place on the so-called ‘Neckar-Enz Line’ between Eberbach
Eberbach (Baden)
Eberbach is a town in Germany, in northern Baden-Württemberg, located 33 km east of Heidelberg. It belongs to the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis. Its sister city is Ephrata, United States.- Location :...
and Unterriexingen. This was a series of fortifications designed to resist a possible attack from the west. Eleven bunkers were constructed in the Lauffen sector, none of which had any impact on the end of the war.
There are two locks at Lauffen, both upstream of the castle. The first was constructed between 1938 and 1945 - the second between 1950 and 1951.
Following boundary change legislation in 1938, the administrative area known as the Oberamt Besigheim
Besigheim
Besigheim is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.It is situated 13 km north of Ludwigsburg at the confluence of the Neckar and Enz rivers. The town has many old buildings and a town hall that dates back to 1459...
was dissolved and Lauffen became part of the Landkreis Heilbronn (district of Heilbronn).
During the Second World War the town suffered 37 air raids, this number being partly influenced by its proximity to the decoy target known as ‘Brasilien’, which was laid out to look like the main railway station at Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
. On 13 April 1944, an allied bomber formation was returning to base having failed to bomb its primary and secondary targets (Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
and Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
) when it was attacked by a German fighter and forced to jettison its load over Lauffen. The town escaped serious damage and casualties from the bombs, which were dropped at random and in some cases unprimed. Most fell in fields or the river although some dropped on the Sonnenstrasse, the Brückenstrasse, the old cemetery and in the vicinity of the cement works and St Martin’s Church. There were 59 fatalities including a number of forced labourers. The then mayor was criticised for not having sounded the air raid warning. Secondary targets for the bombers had been in northern Württemberg, Hesse or the Ruhr. As was so often the case, a return to base with the bomb load had not been included in the fuel calculations. The bombing of Lauffen can thus be regarded as the sacrifice of a pawn – a sacrifice in favour of a city.
On 20 June 1959, there was a serious accident at Lauffen when a public service bus operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
crashed into an express train on the Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
-Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
(via Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
) route. At the time, this accident was the worst since the Second World War, killing 45 and seriously injuring a further 27. The cause of the accident was attributed to human error on the part of the level-crossing keeper; the level-crossing has since been replaced by an underpass. A commemorative plaque was erected in memory of those who lost their lives.
Religion
Following the Battle of Lauffen in 1534, the town became the first in Württemberg to embrace the ReformationProtestant 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...
. A reference to the first Protestant vicar, Hieronymus Hailbrunner, occurs in 1546 but he was no doubt already in office before this date. Since then, a majority of the town’s worshippers has been of the Protestant faith. A Roman Catholic congregation did not exist until 1946. The Protestant congregation numbers some 6,000; there are approximately 3,000 Roman Catholics, some of whom are in Neckarwestheim. There is also a New Apostolic Church
New Apostolic Church
The New Apostolic Church is a chiliastic church, converted to Protestantism as a free church from the Catholic Apostolic Church. The church has existed since 1879 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands...
and congregation in the town.
District council
Following the municipal election of 7 June 2009, the district council of Lauffen has 22 seats. The election result is as follows:| 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... |
8 Sitze | (34,21 %) | |
| FW Lauffen | 4 Sitze | (18,67 %) | |
| FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... /DVP Democratic People's Party (Germany) Democratic People's Party was the name of two liberal parties in southern Germany. It is not to be confused with the Deutsche Volkspartei of 1918 which used the same abbreviation DVP.... |
4 Sitze | (17,64 %) | |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
4 Sitze | (17,21 %) | |
| GRÜNE Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
2 Sitze | (12,28 %) |
The mayor is also a member of the district council and its chairman.
Arms and flag
BlazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
: Argent
Argent
In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
a messenger vested Vert
Vert
The colour green is commonly found in modern flags and coat of arms, and to a lesser extent also in the classical heraldry of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period....
in shoes Gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
, holding in his dexter hand an envelope of the field sealed of the third and in his sinister hand a spear of the same headed Azure
Azure
In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
.
The town’s colours are green and white.
Lauffen originally bore the coat of arms of the founders of the town, the Grafen von Lauffen (the Earls of Lauffen). This was a clawless eagle (cp. the present arms of the district of Heilbronn). From 1220 to 1346, the town was a possession of Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, and in 1311 the arms of Baden first appeared in a Lauffen seal. The present coat of arms, one of the type which alludes to its owner, was first verified in a seal for the year 1464. Drawings of the arms in the natural colours survive from the year 1575, although the background of the shield sometimes appears tinged in gold rather than silver.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Lauffen am Neckar is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:-
- the French municipality La Ferté-BernardLa Ferté-BernardLa Ferté-Bernard is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in north-western France.-Twin towns:It is twinned with Louth in Lincolnshire and also Laufen, Germany.-Local folklore:...
in the DépartementDépartements of FranceThe departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...
SartheSartheSarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...
(since 1974) and - the German town MeuselwitzMeuselwitzMeuselwitz is a town in the Altenburger Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 12 km northwest of Altenburg and 11 km east of Zeitz.-History:...
in Altenburger LandAltenburger LandAltenburger Land is a district in Thuringia, Germany. It is bounded by the district of Greiz, the Burgenlandkreis , and the districts Leipziger Land, Mittweida, Chemnitzer Land, Zwickauer Land in Saxony.- History :...
, ThuringiaThuringiaThe 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....
(since 1990).
Notable Buildings
- Town Hall and Museum: This former castle of the Grafen (Earls) of Lauffen was built in the 11th century. Destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, it was rebuilt after 1648 as the seat of the governor. The castle’s Roman keep survives. The structure has served as the town hall from 1818 and has since been subject to frequent alterations. The town's museum in the convent yard was rebuilt in 1923 from the remains of the previous convent church. It is now the home of exhibitions devoted to the history of Lauffen and Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
.
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style dating from the 18th century, and those associated with the Kirchberg, which include an old bake house. The curious Grabengasse (moat lane) winds its way by the Kirchberg. This lane is part of the town’s original moat which has been overbuilt with timber-framed houses. At one time it was the route for river traffic, which included even motorised craft.
- The pedestrianised area known as Städtle is also worth a visit. This consists mainly of well preserved 15th century houses built in the traditional timber-framed style. Significant are the Erkerhaus (bay-fronted house), the Alte Kelter (old winery) the Vogtshof (governor’s residence) as well as the town wall with its two gates – the 13th century Heilbronner Tor (Heilbronn Gate) and the Neues Heilbronner Tor (New Heilbronn Gate) and the Gefängnisturm (Gaol tower), both of which date from 1772.
- The Martinskirche (Martin's Church) in the Lauffen-Stadt district, erroneously named thus since the middle of the 19th century, was built in honour of St Nicholas in around 1200. Not an independent church, it was ministered by priests from Lauffen-Dorf. Following the Reformation the chapel fell into disrepair and became a store for hay and oats. The Martinskirche was renovated in 1883/4, badly damaged during the Second World War but renovated yet again in 1949 and 1977/78. This chapel, with its single nave, has been used for services since 1978. In 1977/78, several layers of wall paintings were discovered during renovation work.
- The Lauffener Rustica Villa is located out of town on the road to Ilsfeld. This Roman villa was excavated in 1978 and has been partially restored. Also on the Ilsfeld road can be seen the remains of the Württemberg Landgraben (defensive moat) and the Landturm (tower), which was formerly a customs post.
Clubs and societies
The various clubs and societies include cultural organisations such as a music school and choirs, sports bodies like a rowing club and a swimming club, and parent-teacher associations linked to local schools. In all there are over 70 such bodies: a complete list, together with links, is published on the town’s website at http://www.lauffen.de/website/leben_in_lauffen/vereineElectricity
International Electro-Technical Exhibition - 1891
The 1891 International Electro-Technical Exhibition was held between 16 May and 19 October on the disused site of the three former “Westbahnhöfe” in Frankfurt am Main. The exhibition featured the first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electrical current, which was generated...
in Frankfurt am Main, Dolivo-Dobrowolsky and Oskar von Miller
Oskar von Miller
Oskar von Miller was a German engineer and founder of the Deutsches Museum, a large museum of technology and science....
constructed a three-phase high-voltage transmission line which came into operation on 24 August 1891. For this, a three-phase alternator made by Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon was installed in the cement works at Lauffen, with an overhead cable to carry the current to Frankfurt - a distance of 175 km. The entrance to the exhibition was lit with 1000 light bulbs and the middle section surmounted by an arch bearing the inscription “Power Transmission Lauffen – Frankfurt 175 km”. At the same time, an artificial waterfall some 6 metres high was powered by electric current. At the close of the exhibition, transmission of current from the Lauffen three-phase alternator was maintained to Heilbronn, which thus became the first town in the world to receive a regular supply of electricity from a remote location. To this day, the name of the local electricity utility, ZEAG (Zementwerk Lauffen - Elektrizitätswerk Heilbronn AG), is a reminder of this achievement.
Wine-growing
The Lauffen winemaking cooperativeWinemaking cooperative
A winemaking cooperative is an agricultural cooperative which is involved in winemaking, and which in similarity to other cooperatives is owned by its members...
was founded in 1935 and, with an annual yield of some six million litres and sales of approximately 22 million euros, is one of the largest high-quality cooperatives in the wine region Württemberg
Württemberg (wine region)
Württemberg is a region for quality wine in Germany, and is located in the historical region of Württemberg in southwestern Germany, which today forms part of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Under German wine legislation, Württemberg and Baden are separate wine regions.With under vine in...
. The cooperative has some 600 members, the area of vines covering approximately 570 hectares. Quality wines marketed under the name “Katzenbeißer” are especially well known. In addition to those forming part of the cooperative, other growers cultivate and market their own wines independently. The vineyards at Lauffen are part of the greater Kirchenweinberg area of the Württemberg lowland winegrowing region. An annual event is the selection of Württemberg’s ‘Weinkönigin’ (Wine Queen), whose role it is to represent the wine growing industry at events not only in Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, but also throughout Germany and elsewhere in Europe. A prerequisite for the title holder is a knowledge of wine and the wine-production process. Girls from Lauffen have twice been crowned Wine Queen: for 1984/1985, the choice was Karoline Rembold (subsequent married name, Steinle); for 1972–1974, the crown went to Ilse Eberbach (subsequent married name, Riederer).
Rail
Lauffen is situated on the Franconia Railway from Stuttgart to Würzburg. There are two connections every hour via the RegionalBahnRegionalBahn
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 to Stuttgart and Heilbronn. Until 1995, Lauffen was the terminus of the Zabergäubahn to Leonbronn. Passenger services ceased operation in 1986, but the section to Zaberfeld
Zaberfeld
Zaberfeld is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Zaberfeld lies in the Zabergäu, in the southwestern corner of the Heilbronn district, at the head of the Zaber river.-Neighboring communities:...
is scheduled to re-open in 2011, and to be integrated into the Heilbronn tram network.
Road
The link to the motorway network is via by the B27. The nearest motorway junction is at the A81Bundesautobahn 81
is a motorway in Germany. It branches off the A 3 at the Würzburg-West triangle and ends near the border to Switzerland.The oldest part of the A 81 between the Weinsberg intersection near Heilbronn and the Leonberg triangle near Stuttgart was finished in the years 1938 to 1940...
near Ilsfeld
Ilsfeld
Ilsfeld is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Ilsfeld is twinned with Ottery St Mary , Auenstein and Moşna ....
.
Local businesses
SchunkSCHUNK
SCHUNK Intec, Inc. is a multinational manufacturing company, based principally in Germany and in the United States. The company operates worldwide in more than 50 countries with wholly owned subsidiaries, five manufacturing locations in Germany, USA and China, and distribution partners all over the...
is one of the largest manufacturers of toolholding and automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
equipment in the world. The company has a worldwide workforce of 1,440. Of these, 770 are in Lauffen and the nearby village of Hausen.
Public Institutions
Lauffen has a notary public and a police station – the latter is responsible for the south-western sector of the district of Heilbronn and for the valley of the River Lein to the west of the city of Heilbronn. The town’s Volunteer Fire Brigade has 90 active members. In addition to its fire-fighting duties, it also provides emergency rescue services and renders assistance in the event of flooding. The Ulrichsheide open-air swimming pool was reopened in 1995 after refurbishment.Education
Lauffen is a school centre for the surrounding municipalities. The various schools are:- Herzog-UlrichUlrich, Duke of WürttembergHerzog Ulrich von Württemberg succeeded his kinsman Eberhard II as Duke of Württemberg in 1498, being declared of age in 1503.-Early life:...
-Grundschule - HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
-Grundschule - Hölderlin-Hauptschule
- Hölderlin-Realschule
- Hölderlin-Gymnasium
- Erich-KästnerErich KästnerEmil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...
-Schule - Kaywald-Schule
The town also has a public library.
Personalities
Sons and daughters of the town
- 9th century, Regiswindis, local saint
- 1770, March 20, Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
, † June 7, 1843 in Tübingen - 1839, May 6, Friedrich Specht, † June 12, 1909 in Stuttgart, illustrator of Brehms TierlebenBrehms TierlebenBrehms Tierleben is a reference book, first published in the 1860s,which made its author, Alfred Edmund Brehm ,known around the world.- Publishing history :...
- 1849, August 1, August Specht, † 1923 in Stuttgart
- 1863, December 13, Eugen Gradmann, † April 26, 1927 in Stuttgart, German priest
- 1865, July 18, Robert Gradmann, † September 16, 1950 in Sindelfingen, German priest, geographer and botanist
- 1926, October 19, Gotthilf Link, † January 30, 2009 wine-grower and politician, the first to be granted the freedom of Lauffen