Mömlingen

Mömlingen
Mömlingen
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Location of Mömlingen
	Mömlingen Mömlingen
	Coordinates: 49°51′N9°5′E / 49.850°N 9.083°E Coordinates: 49°51′N9°5′E / 49.850°N 9.083°E
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Unterfranken
District	Miltenberg
Government
• Mayor	Siegfried Scholtka (CSU)
• Governing parties	CSU
Area
• Total	18.45 km2 (7.12 sq mi)
Elevation	148 m (486 ft)
Population (2017-12-31) [1]
• Total	4,930
• Density	270/km2 (690/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	63853
Dialling codes	06022
Vehicle registration	MIL
Website	www.moemlingen.de

Last updated April 26, 2019

Mömlingen is a municipality in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

Municipalities are the lowest level of official territorial division in Germany. This is most commonly the third level of territorial division, ranking after the Land (state) and Kreis (district). The Gemeinde which is one level lower in those states also includes Regierungsbezirke as an intermediate territorial division. The Gemeinde is one level higher if it is not part of a Samtgemeinde. Only 10 municipalities in Germany have fifth level administrative subdivisions and all of them are in Bavaria. The highest degree of autonomy may be found in the Gemeinden which are not part of a Kreis. These Gemeinden are referred to as Kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise, sometimes translated as having "city status". This can be the case even for small municipalities. However, many smaller municipalities have lost this city status in various administrative reforms in the last 40 years when they were incorporated into a Kreis. In some states they retained a higher measure of autonomy than the other municipalities of the Kreis. Municipalities titled Stadt are urban municipalities while those titled Gemeinde are classified as rural municipalities.

Miltenberg is a Landkreis (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the city of Aschaffenburg, the districts of Aschaffenburg and Main-Spessart, and the states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse.

A Regierungsbezirk is a type of administrative division in Germany.

Geography

Location

Mömlingen, which styles itself “Gateway to the Odenwald”, lies framed by wooded heights of the northern Odenwald on the Bavaria-Hesse boundary in the charming Mümling valley. Bordering on Mömlingen are the Bavarian district of Aschaffenburg in the north, and in the west the two Hessian districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg and Odenwaldkreis.

The Odenwald (help·info) is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.

Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hesse, is a federal state (Land) of the Federal Republic of Germany, with just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden; the largest city is Frankfurt am Main.

Aschaffenburg is a Landkreis (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg, Offenbach, Main-Kinzig, the districts Main-Spessart and Miltenberg, and the town of Aschaffenburg.

History

Celts and Romans

Witnessing a prehistoric human presence are many barrows and sporadic finds, some of which go back to the Stone Age. From Roman times come parts of so-called Jupiter Columns (or Jupitergigantensäulen in German) and other worship stones. They show, together with the many traces of Roman country houses (villae rusticae) in the heights all around Mömlingen, the extent of the once mighty Roman Empire, which only a few kilometres away to the east held its frontier at the “Wet Limes”, namely the Main.

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.

The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted roughly 3.4 million years and ended between 8700 BCE and 2000 BCE with the advent of metalworking.

In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire. The civilization began as an Italic settlement in the Italian Peninsula, conventionally founded in 753 BC, that grew into the city of Rome and which subsequently gave its name to the empire over which it ruled and to the widespread civilisation the empire developed. The Roman Empire expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world, though still ruled from the city, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants and covering 5.0 million square kilometres at its height in AD 117.

Frankish settlement

An early Frankish settlement beginning in the 6th century in what is now the heart of the community is witnessed by an extensive row grave field unearthed by archaeologists west of the village. Besides the many graves with scanty or missing grave goods, graves with extraordinarily rich appointments were discovered, such as a Mainz gold coin and remnants of silk, leading to the conclusion that there was a stately noble class among the villagers. These nobles could well have driven the Frankish taking of the land on royal orders.

The Franks were a collection of Germanic peoples, whose name was first mentioned in 3rd century Roman sources, associated with tribes on the Lower and Middle Rhine, on the edge of the Roman Empire. Later the term was associated with Romanized Germanic dynasties within the collapsing Roman Empire, who eventually commanded the whole region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. They then imposed power over many other post-Roman kingdoms and Germanic peoples, and still later they were given recognition by the Catholic Church as successors to the old rulers of the Western Roman Empire.

Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.

First documentary mention

The settlement itself crops up in written records as Miminingen in a document from the Imperial Abbey at Fulda issued sometime between 802 and 817 (Abbot Ratgar’s time in office). Compared to many neighbouring communities, this is a very early first documentary mention.

The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories.

Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (Kreis). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival.

To early Frankish times can be dated the establishment of the first church in Mömlingen. Bearing witness to this is what is said to be the typically Frankish custom of consecrating the old parish church to Saint Martin of Tours.

Saint Martin of Tours was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in Western tradition.

Church and nobility – Mainz and Breuberg

From the Middle Ages, many ecclesiastical institutions and members of the upper and middle nobility are known who had holdings in the municipal area, imposed taxes and held sundry rights. In 1024, Emperor Heinrich II donated the County of Stockstadt, within which lay Mömlingen, to the Imperial Abbey at Fulda. In 1278, the place passed with the County of Bachgau to Electoral Mainz. The circumstances of Mömlingen’s belonging politically (until 1803) to the Electoral Mainz tithing region of the Bachgau while village jurisdiction, extensive landholdings and further traditional entitlements were held by the lords at the nearby Breuberg Castle led to neverending disputes between the territorial overlords of Mainz and Breuberg.

Lords of Mimling – Hans Memling

In the Late Middle Ages, members of a, probably, lower noble family named “von Mimling” (among other spellings) began cropping up in documents, mostly as clergymen and tithe counts. Historical research leaves no doubt that the forebears of the famous painter Hans Memling, born about 1435 in Seligenstadt, came from Mömlingen. His works can now be found hanging in the world’s most famous painting galleries.

Hausen hinter der Sonne

South of Mömlingen, on the north slope of the Buchberg, once stood the village of Hausen hinter der Sonne (the affix meaning “Behind the Sun”), belonging to the Bishopric of Bamberg. The great countrywide wave of Plague that swept across the land in 1348 may already have thoroughly decimated the inhabitants, but the little settlement finally died in the early 16th century when the last few inhabitants moved to Mömlingen, likely under the effects of war. Mömlingen’s municipal area thereby grew considerably. Even neighbouring Hainstadt gained land area by the small village’s death.

Thirty Years’ War and its aftermath

Information about Mömlingen’s size in the Late Middle Ages can be drawn from an interest register from 1426. At this time, the Counts of Wertheim, as holders of the lordship of Breuberg, were taxing 62 farms. Hence, Mömlingen was quite a grand place. Grave effects on Mömlingen’s development were brought by the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Plague, sacking and pillaging harried the people, leaving only a few survivors by 1650. Many longtime families had been taken away by this dreadful war. Soon after the war ended, many new names come forth from the archives. Newcomers arrived mainly from the South Tyrol, France and the Netherlands.

The Thirty Years' War also thwarted the building of a new local church. Only in 1774-1777 could the plan be realized. The old parish church built in the Baroque style is said to be the community’s landmark.

Mömlingen passes to Bavaria

With the onset of the 19th century, an epoch that had lasted more than 600 years came to an end when Mömlingen ceased to be part of Electoral Mainz’s once vast holdings. In 1803 it passed to the newly formed Principality of Aschaffenburg, with which it passed in 1814 (by 1810 it had become a department of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt) to Bavaria.

Today the community of Mömlingen, which since the Second World War has undergone great growth through building, presents itself as a lower centre that has at its disposal a colourful pallet of not-for-profit institutions, and whose scenically charming location is treasured by many visitors.

Politics

Mayor

since 2008: Siegfried Scholtka (born 1962)

Community council

The council is made up of 20 council members, not counting the mayor, with seats apportioned thus:

CSU 11 seats
FW 9 seats

(Elections in March 2014)

Town partnerships

La Rochette, Savoie, France since 1992

Coat of arms

The community’s arms might be described thus: Gules, a wheel spoked of six argent between in chief three roses of the second seeded Or in bar arched, in base two mullets of six of the second.

Although the example in this article does not show it clearly, the German blazon clearly states that the roses are to be “seeded Or”, that is, with golden centres (“Rosen mit goldenen Butzen”).

The six-spoked wheel, the so-called Wheel of Mainz, comes from the arms borne by the Archbishopric of Mainz, to which the community belonged until the Old Empire’s downfall in 1803. The heraldic roses are drawn from the arms once borne by the Counts of Wertheim, and the mullets (star-shapes) are from those once borne by the Schenken (roughly, “stewards” or “bearers”) of Erbach.

The arms have been borne since 1955.^[2]

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The old parish church, St. Martin, a Baroque church, built in the years 1774 to 1777

Personalities

Drafi Deutscher (1946-2006), singer, lived during the last years of his life in Mömlingen

Related Research Articles

Großostheim is a market community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. The inhabitants call themselves Aistmer.

Karlstein am Main is a municipality in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the easternmost settlement in Bavaria.

Goldbach is a market community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

Breuberg is a town in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany, 28 km east of Darmstadt, and 20 km southwest of Aschaffenburg.

Wörth am Main is a town in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 4,700.

Blankenbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany, and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Schöllkrippen.

Geiselbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

Glattbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. It has around 3,300 inhabitants.

Kleinostheim is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

Krombach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Schöllkrippen.

Mespelbrunn is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Mespelbrunn, whose seat is in Heimbuchenthal.

Stockstadt am Main is a market community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

Neustadt am Main is a community in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Lohr am Main.

Altenbuch is a community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Stadtprozelten. Altenbuch has around 1,200 inhabitants.

Elsenfeld is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the river Main between the hills of the Spessart, east of the river, and Odenwald, west of the river. Elsenfeld has a total population of around 9,000.

Faulbach is a municipality in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 2,600.

Hausen is a community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Kleinwallstadt.

Kirchzell is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

The Aschaffenburg−Höchst (Odenwald) railway was a single-tracked, Bavarian branch line in southern Germany, running from Aschaffenburg to the Odenwald railway at Höchst im Odenwald. Because the railway ran through the Bachgau, it was also known as the Bachgaubahn.

References

↑ "Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes". Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung (in German). September 2018.
↑ Description and explanation of Mömlingen’s arms ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

External links

Mömlingen history portal (in German)
Community’s official webpage (in German)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes". Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung (in German). September 2018.

[2] Description and explanation of Mömlingen’s arms ^{[ permanent dead link ]}