Niederstotzingen
Encyclopedia
Niederstotzingen is a small city in the district of Heidenheim
in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 17 km southeast of Heidenheim, and 24 km northeast of Ulm
. The city consists of four sections or villages; Niederstotzingen, Oberstotzingen, Stetten ob Lontal and the combined section Lontal und Reuendorf. There are 4,850 inhabitants.
The region around Niederstotzingen has been inhabited since pre-historic times. Finds of mammoth
ivory
carvings in the area have been dated to 35,000 BC
. The main source of these carvings is the Vogelherdhöhle, a cave near modern Niederstotzingen which may have been used as a rest area and shelter for nearly 30,000 years.
The cave was discovered in 1931 by a senior railroad clerk and historian, Hermann Mohn, as he explored the hills above the city. An expedition in 1931, led by Gustav Riek
discovered eleven carved animal figures that dated from around 32,000 years ago. A 2005/2006 expedition by the university of Tübingen
discovered several additional statues including one, an ivory horse, which may be one of the oldest human artworks in the world. Then, in 2006 another sculpture was discovered. This one, a mammoth carved from mammoth ivory, was dated from 35,000 years ago making it the oldest artwork in the world.
Additionally, nearby caves in the Lonetal (Lone valley) have also sources of ancient carvings (see Lion man
). The Lone valley may have even been home to two different types of humans. It appears likely that both the Neanderthal
and the Cro-Magnon
may have occupied the valley. Professor Riek, who discovered many of the early carvings, wrote a documentary novel entitled Die Mammutjäger im Lonetal (Mammoth hunters in the Lone Valley) which included violent conflicts between the Bärentöter (Bear Killers or Neanderthal) and the Mammutjäger (Mammoth Hunters or Homo Sapiens
).
entered Germania
, the Celt
s occupied the Lone Valley. A celtic Viereckschanze or "four-sided earthworks" has been discovered near modern Niederstotzingen. From the Roman era, a villa rustica (or Roman Farm) has been discovered between Niederstotzingen and Sontheim
. The villa was located along the old Roman road
that lead from Urspring to Regensburg
.
n cemetery contained the remains of several nobles as well as their animals and valuables.
The name Stotzingin first appears in 1143, though the meaning of the name is still not clear. During the High Middle Ages
, a minor noble family named itself after the city. The family, which is still in existence, ruled Niederstotzingen until 1330. In 1366 Emperor Charles IV
gave Niederstotzingen to Wilhelm von Riedheim with a directive to expand and fortify the city. The city was granted the status of a city which it has held ever since (except for a short interruption in the 19th century).
In 1400 the von Leimberg family acquired the rights to rule the city. Only fifty years later the rights went to the knightly family
von Westernach. The von Westernachs then traded Niederstotzingen in 1457 to the vom Stain family in exchange for Konzenberg
.
The Stain family expanded and developed their fief
over the following centuries. They granted several important privileges including a guarantee that the citizens of the city couldn't be judged in foreign courts. They also sought to use the wealth of the city to become free Imperial Knights, to only owe loyalty and taxes to the Emperor. However, in 1550 the inheritance of Bernhard vom Stain was split into two pieces: the burgschlossische (called after the old knightly castle, the Burgschloss) and the steinhausische half (called after the Steinhaus or new castle). In 1565 Heinrich vom Stain became Protestant
and ordered his half of the town to convert. His brother in the steinhausischen half remained Catholic. The citizens of the city were therefore split over religion for centuries. The Niederstotzinger Church was used by both faiths until 1960.
After the death of the childless Heinrich vom Stain in 1605 his part of Niederstotzingen was granted to his cousin Leopold Karl, who ruled in the neighboring city of Bächingen
. Leopold then split his half of Niederstotzingen in 1624, between his two sons. Inside the small city wall of Niederstotzingen there were now three related lords ruling a section of town. There was the Catholic steinhausische, the burgschlossische and the new freihausische rulers.
In 1661 the steinhausische section was sold to the Kaisheim Abbey
. In 1799 the last holder of the freihausische section died childless and the section was reunited with the burgschlossische under the Graf
(or Count
) Karl Leopold vom Stain. He also died in 1809 without any children and his territory (Niederstotzingen as well as Riedhausen
) as well as his newly built castle went to his nephew Graf (or Count) Joseph Alexander von Maldeghem. The Schloss Niederstotzingen
is currently owned by this family, which had also purchased the villages of Oberstotzingen and Stetten to expand their holdings.
Heidenheim (district)
Heidenheim is a district in the east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ostalbkreis, Dillingen, Günzburg, Alb-Donau and Göppingen.-History:...
in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 17 km southeast of Heidenheim, and 24 km northeast of Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
. The city consists of four sections or villages; Niederstotzingen, Oberstotzingen, Stetten ob Lontal and the combined section Lontal und Reuendorf. There are 4,850 inhabitants.
Vogelherdhöhle
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
carvings in the area have been dated to 35,000 BC
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
. The main source of these carvings is the Vogelherdhöhle, a cave near modern Niederstotzingen which may have been used as a rest area and shelter for nearly 30,000 years.
The cave was discovered in 1931 by a senior railroad clerk and historian, Hermann Mohn, as he explored the hills above the city. An expedition in 1931, led by Gustav Riek
Gustav Riek
Born in Stuttgart in 1900, Gustav Riek was an archaeologist from the University of Tübingen who worked with the SS Ahnenerbe in their excavactions, and led the team that excavated the Heuneburg Tumulus burial mounds in 1937.- Works :YearTitle...
discovered eleven carved animal figures that dated from around 32,000 years ago. A 2005/2006 expedition by the university of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...
discovered several additional statues including one, an ivory horse, which may be one of the oldest human artworks in the world. Then, in 2006 another sculpture was discovered. This one, a mammoth carved from mammoth ivory, was dated from 35,000 years ago making it the oldest artwork in the world.
Additionally, nearby caves in the Lonetal (Lone valley) have also sources of ancient carvings (see Lion man
Lion man
A lion headed figure, first called the lion man , then the lion lady , is an ivory sculpture that is the oldest known zoomorphic sculpture in the world and one of the oldest known sculptures in general. The sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an...
). The Lone valley may have even been home to two different types of humans. It appears likely that both the Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
and the Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
may have occupied the valley. Professor Riek, who discovered many of the early carvings, wrote a documentary novel entitled Die Mammutjäger im Lonetal (Mammoth hunters in the Lone Valley) which included violent conflicts between the Bärentöter (Bear Killers or Neanderthal) and the Mammutjäger (Mammoth Hunters or Homo Sapiens
Archaic Homo sapiens
Archaic Homo sapiens is a loosely defined term used to describe a number of varieties of Homo, as opposed to anatomically modern humans , in the period beginning 500,000 years ago....
).
Roman Era
Before the RomansRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
entered Germania
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
, the Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s occupied the Lone Valley. A celtic Viereckschanze or "four-sided earthworks" has been discovered near modern Niederstotzingen. From the Roman era, a villa rustica (or Roman Farm) has been discovered between Niederstotzingen and Sontheim
Sontheim
Sontheim is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located northeast of Ulm, at the southern end of the Swabian Alb.-Neighboring municipalities:...
. The villa was located along the old Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
that lead from Urspring to Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
.
Middle Ages
During construction in the south part of town, in 1962, a small cemetery from the later half of the 7th century was discovered. The AlamanniaAlamannia
Alamannia or Alemannia was the territory inhabited by the Germanic Alamanni after they broke through the Roman limes in 213.The Alamanni expanded from the Main basin during the 3rd century, raiding the Roman provinces and settling on the left bank of the Rhine from the 4th century.Ruled by...
n cemetery contained the remains of several nobles as well as their animals and valuables.
The name Stotzingin first appears in 1143, though the meaning of the name is still not clear. During the High Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
, a minor noble family named itself after the city. The family, which is still in existence, ruled Niederstotzingen until 1330. In 1366 Emperor Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
gave Niederstotzingen to Wilhelm von Riedheim with a directive to expand and fortify the city. The city was granted the status of a city which it has held ever since (except for a short interruption in the 19th century).
In 1400 the von Leimberg family acquired the rights to rule the city. Only fifty years later the rights went to the knightly family
Imperial Knight
The Free Imperial Knights, or the Knights of the Empire was an organisation of free nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, whose direct overlord was the Emperor, remnants of the medieval free nobility and the ministeriales...
von Westernach. The von Westernachs then traded Niederstotzingen in 1457 to the vom Stain family in exchange for Konzenberg
Konzenberg
Konzenberg is located in Bavaria in Germany. It is a small village eastern in the valley of the river Mindel, which ends in the Danube....
.
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
over the following centuries. They granted several important privileges including a guarantee that the citizens of the city couldn't be judged in foreign courts. They also sought to use the wealth of the city to become free Imperial Knights, to only owe loyalty and taxes to the Emperor. However, in 1550 the inheritance of Bernhard vom Stain was split into two pieces: the burgschlossische (called after the old knightly castle, the Burgschloss) and the steinhausische half (called after the Steinhaus or new castle). In 1565 Heinrich vom Stain became Protestant
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...
and ordered his half of the town to convert. His brother in the steinhausischen half remained Catholic. The citizens of the city were therefore split over religion for centuries. The Niederstotzinger Church was used by both faiths until 1960.
After the death of the childless Heinrich vom Stain in 1605 his part of Niederstotzingen was granted to his cousin Leopold Karl, who ruled in the neighboring city of Bächingen
Bächingen
Bächingen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria in Germany....
. Leopold then split his half of Niederstotzingen in 1624, between his two sons. Inside the small city wall of Niederstotzingen there were now three related lords ruling a section of town. There was the Catholic steinhausische, the burgschlossische and the new freihausische rulers.
In 1661 the steinhausische section was sold to the Kaisheim Abbey
Kaisheim Abbey
Kaisheim Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Kaisheim, Bavaria, Germany.- History :It was founded by Henry II, Count of Lechsgemünd and his wife Liutgard, and was a daughter house of Lucelle Abbey in Alsace. Count Henry's initial gift of the land was made in 1133; the foundation charter was dated...
. In 1799 the last holder of the freihausische section died childless and the section was reunited with the burgschlossische under the Graf
Graf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
(or Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
) Karl Leopold vom Stain. He also died in 1809 without any children and his territory (Niederstotzingen as well as Riedhausen
Riedhausen
Riedhausen is a town in the district of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
) as well as his newly built castle went to his nephew Graf (or Count) Joseph Alexander von Maldeghem. The Schloss Niederstotzingen
Schloss Niederstotzingen
Schloss Niederstotzingen is a Neo-Classical castle located in Niederstotzingen in the district of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The new castle was built on the site of the medieval castle. The castle is first mentioned around 1050 in connection with the von Stotzingen family. It was partly...
is currently owned by this family, which had also purchased the villages of Oberstotzingen and Stetten to expand their holdings.
Tourism and sights
- Schloss NiederstotzingenSchloss NiederstotzingenSchloss Niederstotzingen is a Neo-Classical castle located in Niederstotzingen in the district of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The new castle was built on the site of the medieval castle. The castle is first mentioned around 1050 in connection with the von Stotzingen family. It was partly...
, NeoclassicNeoclassicismNeoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
structure from 1780, built on the location of the old castle (Burgschloss) by the Graf (or Count) vom Stain. Although the castle in the property of von Maldeghem family, and was declared an indivisible and permanent possession of the family in 1843, the schloss may be sold. - Schloss OberstotzingenSchloss OberstotzingenSchloss Oberstotzingen is a castle located at the north end of Niederstotzingen in the district of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. At present it is a hotel and restaurant, though both are currently closed....
, built in the 16th century by the von JahrsdorfJahrsdorfJahrsdorf is a municipality in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
family, today it is a castle hotel. - BaroqueBaroqueThe 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...
Church St. MartinMartin of ToursMartin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
in Oberstotzingen, built in 1761 on Roman wall foundations. - Andreas Church in Niederstotzingen
- Schloss Stetten, built in 1583 for the von Riedheim family. In 1712 rebuilt in the baroque style by Valerian Brenner.
- Baroque pilgrimagePilgrimageA pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
church in Stetten, built in 1733, with a copy of the Black MadonnaMadonna (art)Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
which is found in Einsiedeln, SwitzerlandEinsiedeln, SwitzerlandEinsiedeln is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey. Einsiedeln is also the birthplace of Paracelsus, a Renaissance physician and alchemist who is credited with first naming zinc.-Prehistoric... - Ruins of Burg KaltenburgBurg KaltenburgKaltenburg Castle is a ruined castle, located in the Lonetal between the cities of Giengen and Niederstotzingen in the district of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany...
in Lonetal - Vogelherdhöhle in Lonetal, site of the Lonetal (Lone valley) horse, believed to be one of the oldest examples of human artwork in the world. The cave has been used by humans for over 35,000 years.
Personalities
- Johann Christoph Friedrich Haug (1761–1829), Professor at the Stuttgart Carl's AcademyKarlsschule StuttgartHohe Karlsschule was the strict military academy founded by Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg in Stuttgart, Germany.Politically the duke was quite unimportant and with this school he wanted to enhance his prestige. In 1770, it was moved to Castle Solitude, and in 1775 into the city...
(a strict military academyMilitary academyA military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
founded by Karl Eugen, Duke of WürttembergKarl Eugen, Duke of WürttembergCharles Eugene , Duke of Württemberg was the eldest son of Duke Karl I Alexander and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis .-Life:...
) and royal poet in StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart 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 .... - Rudolf Friedrich Heinrich von Magenau (1767–1848), Church leader and writer.