Rennerod
Encyclopedia
Rennerod is a town in the Westerwaldkreis
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Rennerod
, a kind of collective municipality. Within the municipal area, until German Reunification
on 3 October 1990, lay the Federal Republic’s
geographical centre.
on Bundesstraße
54 between Limburg an der Lahn
to the south and Siegen
30 km to the north. Bad Marienberg
lies 10 km to Rennerod’s northwest. Through the town flows the Holzbach. Northeast of the town is found the 613 m-high Alsberg, some 2 km northnortheast of the Breitenbach Reservoir
on the Breitenbach, an eastern tributary to the river Nister.
times. The settlement’s importance stemmed from its location on several trading roads that linked the Siegerland
, Koblenz
, Frankfurt
, the Lahn
area and Mainz
. Referring to the salt
trade are field names such as Seltzerweg and Selßer Heck. Supposedly, the settlement would have been enclosed in the mid 11th century by the Counts of Diez, likely also to defend the Niederlahngau’s northern border.
After the Counts of Diez, the Nassau lines of Nassau-Diez became the landlords, as of 1420 to half of Nassau-Dillenburg, and as of 1557 to three fourths, and as well to Eppstein-Königstein, the Electorate of Trier, Katzenelnbogen and the Landgraviate of Hesse
. As of 1564, Rennerod was wholly part of Nassau-Dillenburg, as of 1606 of Nassau-Beilstein, as of 1620 of Nassau-Hadamar, as of 1717 of Nassau-Diez, as of 1743 of Nassau-Orange and as of 1806 of the Grand Duchy of Berg
. The House of Merenberg had considerable holdings in Rennerod’s municipal area. The House of Runkel owned the church patronage as well as other lordly rights. Further rights were held by the Lords of Westerburg as well as other noble houses and ecclesiastical institutions.
No later than 1452, Rennerod was for the first time a tithe count’s seat, and thereby also a court’s. Until 1591, Rennerod asserted itself against neighbouring Emerichenhain, which for a time also held the court seat. “Blood court
” jurisdiction, however, was only carried out in the community until 1650 or thereabouts. The last documentary proof for a tithe count in Rennerod goes back to 1731. In 1720, a new Amt was instituted, which in the years that followed took over the functions of the court region. The Amtmann sat first in Rennerod, later in Westernohe
, and as of 1744, the Amt administration was in Hadamar
. As of 1775, Rennerod was once again the seat, keeping this function on into the time when it became Duchy of Nassau domain.
Ecclesiastically, Rennerod was at first under Seck
’s care. In 1344 the parish passed to the Gemünden Monastery
. In 1362, the first chapel
was built in Rennerod, which was consecrated to Mary
and Saint Huprecht. In 1565, Rennerod became Lutheran
. After various shifts in parish regions as a result of the Reformation
, Rennerod was given its own parish in 1614 which also had several outlying communities under its care. The next year, the first parish house was standing. Between 1614 and 1631, the chapel
was expanded into a parish church. In 1631, the parish became Catholic again. In 1777, the steeple
was in an ill state of repair and had to be torn down; the next year, a smaller one was built. In 1876 a completely new building was put up for the church. In 1665, the Antonskapelle came into being.
A schoolmaster is known to have been in Rennerod as of 1609, and in 1738, a schoolhouse. In 1750, the (reformed) parish house and schoolhouse came into being from the renovated house formerly occupied by the Flick family of tithe counts. As of 1812 it served as a gendarmerie barracks and as food storage. After the reformed parish’s abolition, the Catholic parish bought it as a parish house in 1817.
Rennerod’s main livelihood over the centuries was agriculture. Because it lay on the long-distance road, there were many inns. In the 18th century, brown coal
was still being mined, although yields were quite small. It is known that in the 16th and 18th centuries, there were millstone
quarries
. A livestock
market is first known to have existed in 1742, and last in 1811. A mill is first known to have existed in 1454.
In 1969, Emmerichenhain was amalgamated as an Ortsteil. In 1971, Rennerod was granted town rights. In 1972, it became the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Rennerod, to which 23 formerly independent communities were joined.
Several now forsaken villages are known to have lain within Rennerod’s municipal area: Finkenhain, Himmenhain, Fackenhahn, Seiblingen, Seitenstein, Fuhrmannshof, Waldmühlen (occupied at least until 1811), Eichelerhof and Küchenhofen (forsaken no later than 1484)
).
, modelled on the community seal from 1816, in Nassau times, was approved as the town’s civic coat of arms on 21 May 1940.
n, B 54 linking Limburg an der Lahn
with Siegen
and B 255 leading from Montabaur
to Marburg
, cross each other. The nearest Autobahn interchange
is Herborn
on the A 45
(Dortmund
–Aschaffenburg
), some 20 km away, and there is also Montabaur on the A 3 (Cologne
–Frankfurt), some 35 km away.
stop is the railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
is stationed in Rennerod.
Westerwaldkreis
The Westerwaldkreis is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, 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 the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Rennerod
Rennerod (Verbandsgemeinde)
Rennerod is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district , in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the is in .The Rennerod consists of the following :...
, a kind of collective municipality. Within the municipal area, until German Reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
on 3 October 1990, lay the Federal Republic’s
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
geographical centre.
Location
Rennerod lies in the WesterwaldWesterwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
on Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
54 between Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
to the south and Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
30 km to the north. Bad Marienberg
Bad Marienberg
Bad Marienberg is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and also the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality.- Geography :...
lies 10 km to Rennerod’s northwest. Through the town flows the Holzbach. Northeast of the town is found the 613 m-high Alsberg, some 2 km northnortheast of the Breitenbach Reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
on the Breitenbach, an eastern tributary to the river Nister.
History
In 1217, Reynderode had its first documentary mention. Its founding, however, might go back to CarolingianCarolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
times. The settlement’s importance stemmed from its location on several trading roads that linked the Siegerland
Siegerland
The Siegerland is a region of Germany covering the old district of Siegen and the upper part of the district of Altenkirchen, belonging to the Rhineland-Palatinate adjoining it to the west.Geologically, the Siegerland belongs to the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge...
, Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, the Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
area and Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
. Referring to the salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
trade are field names such as Seltzerweg and Selßer Heck. Supposedly, the settlement would have been enclosed in the mid 11th century by the Counts of Diez, likely also to defend the Niederlahngau’s northern border.
After the Counts of Diez, the Nassau lines of Nassau-Diez became the landlords, as of 1420 to half of Nassau-Dillenburg, and as of 1557 to three fourths, and as well to Eppstein-Königstein, the Electorate of Trier, Katzenelnbogen and the Landgraviate of Hesse
Landgraviate of Hesse
The Landgraviate of Hesse was a Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a unity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided between the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.-History:...
. As of 1564, Rennerod was wholly part of Nassau-Dillenburg, as of 1606 of Nassau-Beilstein, as of 1620 of Nassau-Hadamar, as of 1717 of Nassau-Diez, as of 1743 of Nassau-Orange and as of 1806 of the Grand Duchy of Berg
Grand Duchy of Berg
The Grand Duchy of Berg was established by Napoleon Bonaparte after his victory at the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz on territories between the French Empire at the Rhine river and the Kingdom of Westphalia.-History:...
. The House of Merenberg had considerable holdings in Rennerod’s municipal area. The House of Runkel owned the church patronage as well as other lordly rights. Further rights were held by the Lords of Westerburg as well as other noble houses and ecclesiastical institutions.
No later than 1452, Rennerod was for the first time a tithe count’s seat, and thereby also a court’s. Until 1591, Rennerod asserted itself against neighbouring Emerichenhain, which for a time also held the court seat. “Blood court
Blood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
” jurisdiction, however, was only carried out in the community until 1650 or thereabouts. The last documentary proof for a tithe count in Rennerod goes back to 1731. In 1720, a new Amt was instituted, which in the years that followed took over the functions of the court region. The Amtmann sat first in Rennerod, later in Westernohe
Westernohe
Westernohe is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
, and as of 1744, the Amt administration was in Hadamar
Hadamar
Hadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Memorial...
. As of 1775, Rennerod was once again the seat, keeping this function on into the time when it became Duchy of Nassau domain.
Ecclesiastically, Rennerod was at first under Seck
Seck
Seck is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
’s care. In 1344 the parish passed to the Gemünden Monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
. In 1362, the first chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
was built in Rennerod, which was consecrated to Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
and Saint Huprecht. In 1565, Rennerod became Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
. After various shifts in parish regions as a result of 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...
, Rennerod was given its own parish in 1614 which also had several outlying communities under its care. The next year, the first parish house was standing. Between 1614 and 1631, the chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
was expanded into a parish church. In 1631, the parish became Catholic again. In 1777, the steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
was in an ill state of repair and had to be torn down; the next year, a smaller one was built. In 1876 a completely new building was put up for the church. In 1665, the Antonskapelle came into being.
A schoolmaster is known to have been in Rennerod as of 1609, and in 1738, a schoolhouse. In 1750, the (reformed) parish house and schoolhouse came into being from the renovated house formerly occupied by the Flick family of tithe counts. As of 1812 it served as a gendarmerie barracks and as food storage. After the reformed parish’s abolition, the Catholic parish bought it as a parish house in 1817.
Rennerod’s main livelihood over the centuries was agriculture. Because it lay on the long-distance road, there were many inns. In the 18th century, brown coal
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
was still being mined, although yields were quite small. It is known that in the 16th and 18th centuries, there were millstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
quarries
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
. A livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
market is first known to have existed in 1742, and last in 1811. A mill is first known to have existed in 1454.
In 1969, Emmerichenhain was amalgamated as an Ortsteil. In 1971, Rennerod was granted town rights. In 1972, it became the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Rennerod, to which 23 formerly independent communities were joined.
Several now forsaken villages are known to have lain within Rennerod’s municipal area: Finkenhain, Himmenhain, Fackenhahn, Seiblingen, Seitenstein, Fuhrmannshof, Waldmühlen (occupied at least until 1811), Eichelerhof and Küchenhofen (forsaken no later than 1484)
Town council
The council is made up of 20 council members, as well as the honorary and presiding mayor (Bürgermeister), who were elected in a municipal election on 13 June 2004.| CDU | SPD | FWG | WG Emmerichenhain | Total | |
| 2004 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 20 seats |
Mayor
The Stadtbürgermeister is Hans-Jürgen Heene (SPDSocial Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
).
Coat of arms
The town’s armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, modelled on the community seal from 1816, in Nassau times, was approved as the town’s civic coat of arms on 21 May 1940.
Road transport
Within the town, two BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
n, B 54 linking Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
with Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
and B 255 leading from Montabaur
Montabaur
Montabaur is a town and the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. At the same time, it is also the administrative centre of the Verbandsgemeinde of Montabaur – a kind of collective municipality – to which 24 other communities belong...
to Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
, cross each other. The nearest Autobahn interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
is Herborn
Herborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
on the A 45
Bundesautobahn 45
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Dortmund in the west with Aschaffenburg in the southwest. It is colloquially known by its byname Sauerlandlinie, which derives from the Sauerland, the landscape which said autobahn is running through between the cities of Hagen and Siegen. Many people think of...
(Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
–Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
), some 20 km away, and there is also Montabaur on the A 3 (Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
–Frankfurt), some 35 km away.
Rail transport
Rennerod lay on the former Westerwaldquerbahn. The section between Steinringsberg and Rennerod was abandoned on 31 May 1959, and that between Rennerod and Montabaur on 31 May 1981. The nearest InterCityExpressInterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
stop is the railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
Public institutions
The Lazarettregiment (“Military Hospital Regiment”) 21 of the BundeswehrBundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
is stationed in Rennerod.