Grebenhain
Encyclopedia
Location
The community of Grebenhain lies from 400 to 733 m above sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
in the southeastern Vogelsberg Mountains
Vogelsberg Mountains
The Vogelsberg Mountains are a group duct of ancient volcanic activity and are separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda River and its valley....
, about 30 km west of Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
.
Neighbouring communities
Grebenhain borders in the north on the town of HerbsteinHerbstein
-Location:The spa town of Herbstein lies on the eastern slope of the Vogelsberg Mountains.-Neighbouring communities:Herbstein borders in the north on the community of Lautertal and the community of Wartenberg, in the east on the communities of Großenlüder and Hosenfeld , in the south on the...
, in the east on the community of Hosenfeld
Hosenfeld
Hosenfeld is a municipality in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany....
(Fulda
Fulda (district)
Fulda is a Kreis in the north-east of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Wartburgkreis, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, Rhön-Grabfeld, Bad Kissingen, Main-Kinzig, Vogelsbergkreis.-History:...
district), in the south on the communities of Freiensteinau
Freiensteinau
-Neighbouring communities:Freiensteinau borders in the north on the community of Grebenhain, in the northeast on the community of Hosenfeld , in the east on the community of Neuhof , in the south on the town of Steinau an der Straße and in the west on the community of Birstein .-Constituent...
and Birstein
Birstein
Birstein is a municipality on the northeastern edge of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany with approximately 6,600 inhabitants. It was the home of the former principality of Isenburg-Birstein.-Geography:...
(Main-Kinzig-Kreis
Main-Kinzig-Kreis
Main-Kinzig is a Kreis in the east of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Wetteraukreis, Vogelsbergkreis, Fulda, Bad Kissingen, Main-Spessart, Aschaffenburg, Offenbach and the district-free cities of Offenbach and Frankfurt.-History:...
), in the southwest on the town of Gedern
Gedern
Gedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, once one of the largest inactive volcanoes in Europe.-Neighboring towns:...
(Wetteraukreis
Wetteraukreis
The Wetteraukreis is a Kreis in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Landkreis Gießen, Vogelsbergkreis, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, district-free Stadt Frankfurt, Hochtaunuskreis, Lahn-Dill-Kreis.-History:...
), and in the west on the town of Schotten
Schotten
Schotten is a town in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Larger towns nearby include Alsfeld in the north, Fulda in the east, Friedberg in the south and Gießen in the west.-Location:...
.
Constituent communities
The community consists of 15 centres named Bannerod, Bermuthshain, Crainfeld, Grebenhain (administrative seat), Hartmannshain, Heisters, Herchenhain, Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen, Metzlos, Metzlos-Gehaag, Nösberts-Weidmoos, Vaitshain, Volkartshain, Wünschen-Moos und Zahmen.History
The area nowadays occupied by the greater community of Grebenhain in the Vogelsberg was likely settled by waves of settlers from the WetterauWetterau
The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains....
between the eighth and eleventh centuries as part of the expansion carried out in 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....
by the Abbots of Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
.
The oldest place in today's municipal area is Crainfeld, which was alluded to as early as the ninth century in a Fulda donation announcement. The first definite and verifiable mention of Crainfeld, however, is in a king's document from 1012, which also mentions Bermuthshain and Ilbeshausen in a document for the first time.
Crainfeld advantageously lay at the crossroads of two important mediaeval trade roads, and was moreover until 1821 the seat of a court district, witnessed even today by the Edelhof, the Amt
Amt (subnational entity)
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only found in Germany, but formerly also common in northern European countries. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to a U.S...
building used by the Oberschultheiß
Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...
en (roughly "sheriffs") when the Landgrave
Landgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
s held sway in Hesse. The stately half-timbered
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
house was built in 1685 by carpenter Hans Muth from Ilbeshausen. Hans Muth also built the Hansenmühle (or "Teufelsmühle" – "Devil's Mill") in Ilbeshausen in 1691, one of the loveliest half-timbered buildings in Upper Hesse. Crainfeld is furthermore still the seat of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
even today. Until the State Highway (Staatsstraße), today's Bundesstraße 275, was built in 1834-1857, and the railway line in 1901-1906 through the neighbouring community of Grebenhain, Crainfeld was the region's main town.
The communities of Crainfeld, Grebenhain, Bermuthshain and Ilbeshausen have been Hessian since 1437 and formed until 1821 the court district of Crainfeld, which belonged to the Hessian Amt of Nidda. From 1852, they belonged to the Lauterbach district. The communities of Hartmannshain and Herchenhain have likewise been Hessian since 1437 and belonged to the court district of Burkhards. Until 1938, they were part of the Schotten district. The communities of Bannerod, Heisters, Zahmen, Wünschenmoos, Vaitshain, Nösberts, Weidmoos, Metzlos-Gehaag and Metzlos belonged until 1806 to the court districts of Altenschlirf and Moos, held by the Riedesel
Riedesel
Riedesel is a German family name that began to appear in legal documents in the early 13th century. They were of the knightly class, though not all had the official status of Ritter or knight. Its exact geographical and temporal origins are uncertain. However, all of the early references are from...
family. When the Riedesel state was mediatized
Mediatization
Mediatisation is the loss of imperial immediacy. Broadly defined it is the subsumption of one monarchy into another monarchy in such a way that the ruler of the annexed state keeps his sovereign title and, sometimes, a measure of local power...
, they became Hessian. The community of Volkartshain was until 1806 owned by the Counts of Stolberg-Gedern.
The main community of Grebenhain had its first documentary mention in a Riedesel document in 1338. Until the fifteenth century, iron ore was mined there, which is recalled today in the names Am Eisenberg (a hall) and Eisenbergsweg (a street), Eisen being German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for "iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
". In the west of the village, there was until 1789 a large manorial pond.
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the 13 formerly independent municipalities of Bannerod, Bermuthshain, Crainfeld, Grebenhain, Hartmannshain, Herchenhain, Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen, Metzlos, Metzlos-Gehaag, Nösberts-Weidmoos, Steigertal (Heisters, Wünschenmoos, Zahmen), Vaitshain and Volkartshain had to merge on 1 January and 1 August 1972 into the greater community of Grebenhain.
Economy
- Oberwaldklinik in Grebenhain
- Vogelsbergklinik in Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen
- Robbe Modellsport in Metzlos-Gehaag