Müden (Örtze)
Encyclopedia
Müden is a village in the municipality of Faßberg
in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath
in the German state of Lower Saxony
.
The village, which is situated in the county of Celle has around 2220 inhabitants and is a very popular tourist centre, whose catchment area includes Hamburg
, Bremen
and Hanover
. It is surrounded by large tracts of forest and heathland. The nearest big towns are Lüneburg
(60 km north), Soltau
(30 km west), Uelzen
(45 km east) and Celle
(32 km south). The two rivers, the Wietze
and the Örtze
merge in Müden.
priest and local historian, Ludwig Harms, believed there to be a shrine to the god, Thor
at the confluence of the Wietze and Örtze rivers that, according to Müden historian Ernst Schütze, still existed around AD 800. In any case the Christianization of the area had begun by the end of the 8th century and, according to Harms, there was already a wooden church in Müden in 866. The earliest written record of the village goes back to the year 1022. In the deed of gift by the Bishop of Hildesheim, Bernward
, dated 1 November 1022 for the abbey of St. Michael in Hildesheim is the following statement: item Mutha in pago Muthiwide ("likewise Müden in the sub-district (Untergau) of Mündungswald"). Muthiwide, the latinized form of the Old Saxon term Muthiwiddi (Muth = mouth) refers to the name of a sub-district in the Loingau. Gaus were established during the reign of Charlemagne
around 793 as regional administrative units. The settlement of Müden was located on the border of the Loingau, which stretched from the area around the lower Leine river to the Sothriet, Rodau and Örtze, and had a northern border with the Bardengau. Until the middle of the 15th century the history of Müden was linked to the neighbouring village of Hermannsburg
, with which it formed a common parish until 1440. The region was ruled by the House of Billung
until the line died out, it then went over to the Guelphs and until 1866 belonged to the House of Hanover
. The Reformation
was introduced into Müden in 1530 by order of Ernest the Confessor. The population at that time was 119.
of the Wietze and Örtze, such as the Müllerhof, the Martenshof and the Renkenhof, which still exist today near the church, albeit fulfilling different roles (inter alia the Hotel Bauernwald). Müden had its first chapel in 1185, although it belonged to Hermannsburg
. Construction on the Church of St. Lawrence started in 1189 and it was completed in 1217. Not until 1444 was the parish finally separated from Hermannsburg and the village was given its own priest.
For the year 1589 we have the first reliable report about the farmsteads in Müden thanks to a tax list, the so-called Schatzregister (treasury register). This recorded that, at that time, there were six full and two half farmsteads and five so-called Kotenhöfe or cottages. Their owners had 483 sheep, 254 cattle, 92 pigs and 24 horses between them. Almost every farm also had one or more beehives. But the tax record of 1589 says nothing about the farmers' land; the first information about that appears in 1770. By then, there were twelve farms with a total of 151 hectares (373.1 acre) of land, the Müllerhof with 22 hectares (54.4 acre) owning the largest acreage. The keeping of moorland sheep (Heidschnucke
n), typical of the region, had expanded in almost 200 years to 1,040 animals. In the years that followed, agriculture continued to be important. In 1867 there were 28 farms, but numbers reached a zenith in 1936 with 98 farms.
In an outbuilding there are two Francis shaft turbines
for the generation of electricity. One turbine is still in operation and has an output of 7 kW
. Until 1959 electricity was generated to operate the grain mill. Today it is primarily used to supply the mill building. The superfluous electricity is fed into the public electricity network. A near-natural fishway has been laid to bypass the weir.
s, smith
s, carpenters
and shoemakers
, in order to be able to use their services more cheaply than by using craftsmen from outside the village.
In 1839, on the introduction of land reforms in the Kingdom of Hanover, it became possible for the Müden farmers to release themselves from their manorial duties. To do that they had to pay twenty-five times the annual tax as a release fee. Only the Müllerhof and the Martenshof were able to raise this themselves, the other farms had to continue to pay manorial dues for a long time thereafter. However this did not affect the expansion of the village. The number of inhabitants grew steadily: in 1821 there were 333, in 1890, 580. In 1852 the cemetery around the church, where there were already up to five graves layered one above the other, was closed and a new one laid out north of the village.
The Kingdom of Hanover had become a Prussian
province in 1866, and Müden became part of the district of Celle following the district reforms of 1885. At the same time there began a gradual change in emphasis away from a pure farming village into a summer retreat. Tourism was promoted by the narratives of the writer Hermann Löns
and Richard Linde, who also drew other authors like Felicitas Rose and Diedrich Speckmann as well as the painter Fritz Flebbe to Müden. Rose and Flebbe are buried in Müden. In 1889 the Gasthof zur Post inn was opened, which grew into a busy hotel in the years that followed (today's Posthotel). Another boost for tourism was the opening of the Kleinbahn
railway from Celle to Munster on 23 April 1910, with a station at Müden, together with the junction to Hanover. In 1913 the electrification of the village began.
, the billeting of the 78th Infantry Regiment and the quartering of French and Belgian prisoners-of-war. At the end of the war, Müden itself had lost 22 soldiers. In the interwar years, tourism again became important. The number of inhabitants continued to grow and reached 822 in 1928. In 1938 the registered population was 1,162. In 1931 a youth hostel was opened; whose original Bauhaus
style was heavily contested. From 1940 the youth hostel had to act as a military hospital.
From 1944 the Müden population endured frequent air raid alarms, in response to British bombers attacking the nearby airfield at Faßberg. On 14 April 1945 British troops advanced towards the bridges over the Örtze. When a German detachment blew up the bridge over the Wietze in front of them, British tanks that were already in the area opened fire on the village, setting alight and destroying several houses. Not until 1949 was the last damage repaired. As a result of accepting refugees from Germany's eastern territories the number of villagers had grown by 1946 to 1,746. In 1949 new streets were laid out for Müden's new citizens. In 1954, a larger cemetery was laid out on the eastern edge of the village. In 1965 the corn mill and sawmill
were closed and, in 1993, the buildings were turned into a tourist and cultural centre. In order to improve the attraction of Müden, a deer park was established in 1971 and, in 1976, the Örtze was partially diverted to create an artificial lake, the Heidesee (Heath Lake). It covers an area of 6.5 hectares (16.1 acre) and is used for sailing
, angling
and walking. With its concentration on tourism, the character of the village had completely changed inside 60 years: in 1995 there were only four agricultural concerns left in the village. Today the place advertises itself as the "Pearl of the Südheide".
In 1973 Müden was absorbed into the collective municipality of Faßberg and, on 1 January 1977 became fully incorporated into the new Faßberg
municipality. The last Bürgermeister of Müden was Günther H. Wilmsen, who held office from 1973 to 1976.
On the second Sunday in September a mill festival (Mühlenfest) is held at the old mill.
North of the village there is a natural monument, an ancient oak, known as the Hillige Eeke (holy oak), which is over 600 years old. It was probably used as a Gerichtsbaum, a tree under which regular court sessions were held.
Faßberg
Faßberg is a municipality in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 35 km north of Celle, and 30 km west of Uelzen.-Places of interest:* Historic village centre of Müden * Berlin Airlift memorial* St...
in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath
Lüneburg Heath
The Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve...
in the German state of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
.
The village, which is situated in the county of Celle has around 2220 inhabitants and is a very popular tourist centre, whose catchment area includes Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
and Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
. It is surrounded by large tracts of forest and heathland. The nearest big towns are Lüneburg
Lüneburg
Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...
(60 km north), Soltau
Soltau
- Middle Ages :The region of the Lüneburg Heath had already been settled by the start of the New Stone Age about 4,000 years ago. The Soltau area was initially occupied by a few individual farms. The parish of Soltau was probably founded around 830 and the first wooden church Sante Johannis...
(30 km west), Uelzen
Uelzen
Uelzen is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality....
(45 km east) and Celle
Celle
Celle is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the River Aller, a tributary of the Weser and has a population of about 71,000...
(32 km south). The two rivers, the Wietze
Wietze (Örtze)
The Wietze is a river, 29 kilometres long, in the South Lüneburg Heath, in Lower Saxony, Germany.The river rises east of the Soltau suburb of Moide and flows from there in a southerly direction to Wietzendorf. Here it is joined by the only tributary of any size, the Aue...
and the Örtze
Örtze
The Örtze is a river in the North German state of Lower Saxony, which rises north of Munster in the Große Heide and, after , joins the Aller southeast of Winsen.- Source and course :...
merge in Müden.
Middle Ages
The HermannsburgHermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the River Örtze, approx. 15 kilometers east of Bergen and 30 kilometers north of Celle.-Division of the municipality:...
priest and local historian, Ludwig Harms, believed there to be a shrine to the god, Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
at the confluence of the Wietze and Örtze rivers that, according to Müden historian Ernst Schütze, still existed around AD 800. In any case the Christianization of the area had begun by the end of the 8th century and, according to Harms, there was already a wooden church in Müden in 866. The earliest written record of the village goes back to the year 1022. In the deed of gift by the Bishop of Hildesheim, Bernward
Bernward of Hildesheim
Saint Bern[w]ard was the Bishop of Hildesheim from 993 until his death in 1022.Bernward came from a Saxon noble family and studied at the cathedral school of Hildesheim...
, dated 1 November 1022 for the abbey of St. Michael in Hildesheim is the following statement: item Mutha in pago Muthiwide ("likewise Müden in the sub-district (Untergau) of Mündungswald"). Muthiwide, the latinized form of the Old Saxon term Muthiwiddi (Muth = mouth) refers to the name of a sub-district in the Loingau. Gaus were established during the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
around 793 as regional administrative units. The settlement of Müden was located on the border of the Loingau, which stretched from the area around the lower Leine river to the Sothriet, Rodau and Örtze, and had a northern border with the Bardengau. Until the middle of the 15th century the history of Müden was linked to the neighbouring village of Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the River Örtze, approx. 15 kilometers east of Bergen and 30 kilometers north of Celle.-Division of the municipality:...
, with which it formed a common parish until 1440. The region was ruled by the House of Billung
Billung
The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries.The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811...
until the line died out, it then went over to the Guelphs and until 1866 belonged to the House of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
. 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 into Müden in 1530 by order of Ernest the Confessor. The population at that time was 119.
Farming
At the beginning of the 11th century the first agricultural farmsteads appeared at the confluenceConfluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the Wietze and Örtze, such as the Müllerhof, the Martenshof and the Renkenhof, which still exist today near the church, albeit fulfilling different roles (inter alia the Hotel Bauernwald). Müden had its first chapel in 1185, although it belonged to Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg
Hermannsburg is a municipality in the Celle district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the River Örtze, approx. 15 kilometers east of Bergen and 30 kilometers north of Celle.-Division of the municipality:...
. Construction on the Church of St. Lawrence started in 1189 and it was completed in 1217. Not until 1444 was the parish finally separated from Hermannsburg and the village was given its own priest.
For the year 1589 we have the first reliable report about the farmsteads in Müden thanks to a tax list, the so-called Schatzregister (treasury register). This recorded that, at that time, there were six full and two half farmsteads and five so-called Kotenhöfe or cottages. Their owners had 483 sheep, 254 cattle, 92 pigs and 24 horses between them. Almost every farm also had one or more beehives. But the tax record of 1589 says nothing about the farmers' land; the first information about that appears in 1770. By then, there were twelve farms with a total of 151 hectares (373.1 acre) of land, the Müllerhof with 22 hectares (54.4 acre) owning the largest acreage. The keeping of moorland sheep (Heidschnucke
Heidschnucke
The Heidschnucke is a group of three types of moorland sheep from northern Germany. Like a number of other types from Scandinavia and Great Britain, they are Northern European short-tailed sheep...
n), typical of the region, had expanded in almost 200 years to 1,040 animals. In the years that followed, agriculture continued to be important. In 1867 there were 28 farms, but numbers reached a zenith in 1936 with 98 farms.
Log rafting
In addition to agriculture, log rafting was also carried out on the River Örtze until 1912. Trees were felled in the nearby forests; the logs were tied together into rafts and transported downriver via the Aller to Bremen. At its peak in the last quarter of the 19th century almost 2,000 timber rafts were floated downriver each year.Mills
From the records it is known that there was already a corn mill on the Örtze in 1438, which was driven by water power. In 1465 Ole Müller, owner of the Müllerhof was awarded royal mill rights by the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Around 1621 a mill was built on the spot where today the mill building dating to 1913 now stands. The mill was in service until 1973. From 1993 to 1997 the building was renovated and, today, it houses the tourist information bureau, a bookshop, a wedding room and exhibition rooms.In an outbuilding there are two Francis shaft turbines
Francis turbine
The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts....
for the generation of electricity. One turbine is still in operation and has an output of 7 kW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
. Until 1959 electricity was generated to operate the grain mill. Today it is primarily used to supply the mill building. The superfluous electricity is fed into the public electricity network. A near-natural fishway has been laid to bypass the weir.
Other trades
From the middle of the 18th century the farms in the village employed many tradesmen, such as cooperCooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
s, smith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s, carpenters
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
and shoemakers
Shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...
, in order to be able to use their services more cheaply than by using craftsmen from outside the village.
Early modern period
Little is known about the damage caused in Müden by the Thirty Years War. From parish bills during the years 1638 to 1650 it can however be deduced that there was destruction and plundering, because damage to the church had to be repaired and new communion items procured. In addition, the largest church bell was cracked and had to be recast.In 1839, on the introduction of land reforms in the Kingdom of Hanover, it became possible for the Müden farmers to release themselves from their manorial duties. To do that they had to pay twenty-five times the annual tax as a release fee. Only the Müllerhof and the Martenshof were able to raise this themselves, the other farms had to continue to pay manorial dues for a long time thereafter. However this did not affect the expansion of the village. The number of inhabitants grew steadily: in 1821 there were 333, in 1890, 580. In 1852 the cemetery around the church, where there were already up to five graves layered one above the other, was closed and a new one laid out north of the village.
The Kingdom of Hanover had become a Prussian
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...
province in 1866, and Müden became part of the district of Celle following the district reforms of 1885. At the same time there began a gradual change in emphasis away from a pure farming village into a summer retreat. Tourism was promoted by the narratives of the writer Hermann Löns
Hermann Löns
Hermann Löns was a German journalist and writer. He is most famous as "The Poet of the Heath" for his novels and poems celebrating the people and landscape of the North German moors, particularly the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony. Löns is well known in Germany for his famous folksongs...
and Richard Linde, who also drew other authors like Felicitas Rose and Diedrich Speckmann as well as the painter Fritz Flebbe to Müden. Rose and Flebbe are buried in Müden. In 1889 the Gasthof zur Post inn was opened, which grew into a busy hotel in the years that followed (today's Posthotel). Another boost for tourism was the opening of the Kleinbahn
Kleinbahn
The term Kleinbahn was a light railway concept used especially in Prussia for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requirements placed on its construction and operation that main lines or secondary lines...
railway from Celle to Munster on 23 April 1910, with a station at Müden, together with the junction to Hanover. In 1913 the electrification of the village began.
Later modern period
For Müden the First World War saw the arrival of refugees from East PrussiaEast Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, the billeting of the 78th Infantry Regiment and the quartering of French and Belgian prisoners-of-war. At the end of the war, Müden itself had lost 22 soldiers. In the interwar years, tourism again became important. The number of inhabitants continued to grow and reached 822 in 1928. In 1938 the registered population was 1,162. In 1931 a youth hostel was opened; whose original Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
style was heavily contested. From 1940 the youth hostel had to act as a military hospital.
From 1944 the Müden population endured frequent air raid alarms, in response to British bombers attacking the nearby airfield at Faßberg. On 14 April 1945 British troops advanced towards the bridges over the Örtze. When a German detachment blew up the bridge over the Wietze in front of them, British tanks that were already in the area opened fire on the village, setting alight and destroying several houses. Not until 1949 was the last damage repaired. As a result of accepting refugees from Germany's eastern territories the number of villagers had grown by 1946 to 1,746. In 1949 new streets were laid out for Müden's new citizens. In 1954, a larger cemetery was laid out on the eastern edge of the village. In 1965 the corn mill and sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
were closed and, in 1993, the buildings were turned into a tourist and cultural centre. In order to improve the attraction of Müden, a deer park was established in 1971 and, in 1976, the Örtze was partially diverted to create an artificial lake, the Heidesee (Heath Lake). It covers an area of 6.5 hectares (16.1 acre) and is used for sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, angling
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
and walking. With its concentration on tourism, the character of the village had completely changed inside 60 years: in 1995 there were only four agricultural concerns left in the village. Today the place advertises itself as the "Pearl of the Südheide".
In 1973 Müden was absorbed into the collective municipality of Faßberg and, on 1 January 1977 became fully incorporated into the new Faßberg
Faßberg
Faßberg is a municipality in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 35 km north of Celle, and 30 km west of Uelzen.-Places of interest:* Historic village centre of Müden * Berlin Airlift memorial* St...
municipality. The last Bürgermeister of Müden was Günther H. Wilmsen, who held office from 1973 to 1976.
Local politics
According to Lower Saxony's municipal regulations, villages that are part of another village's municipality must choose either to elect representatives (Ortsräte) on the municipal council or to nominate a local parish council leader (Ortsvorsteher) for the duration of the voting period. The parish of Faßberg has decided that the villages should elect their own parish council leaders. Since 1977 Müden has elected the following leaders:- 1977–1989 Günther H. Wilmsen
- 1989–2006 master painter Otto Schaper
- November 2006 - present regular officer Volker Nickel
Sights
Each year, on the second Thursday in July, the moorland sheep (Heidschnucke) auction takes place. The strongest young rams are presented to the breeders and spectators and the best animals win prizes. The Heidschnucke rams can be bid for at the accompanying auction.On the second Sunday in September a mill festival (Mühlenfest) is held at the old mill.
North of the village there is a natural monument, an ancient oak, known as the Hillige Eeke (holy oak), which is over 600 years old. It was probably used as a Gerichtsbaum, a tree under which regular court sessions were held.
Sport
The local sports club, MTV Müden/Örtze, founded in 1913, runs a variety of sports including the triathlon, handball, endurance sports, cycling, gymnastics, leisure pursuits and swimming. The club has around 1,000 members.Daughters and sons
- Harald Küppers (b 1928), German researcher
- Felicitas Rose (b 31 July 1862 in ArnsbergArnsbergArnsberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg's administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochsauerlandkreis.-Geography:...
; d 18 June 1938 in Müden (Örtze), real name Rosa Caroline Mathilde Emma Schliewen) was a German authoress.