Mörsdorf
Encyclopedia
Mörsdorf is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Treis-Karden
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
between the Dünnbach valley in the east and the Flaumbach valley in the west.
in Mörsdorf amounts to 697 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 39% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
s, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in June. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread rather evenly throughout the year. At fewer than 1% of the weather stations are even lower seasonal swings recorded.
. In 1359, the whole tithe belonged to the noble knight Colin von Senheim and his wife, who enfeoffed the Electorate of Trier with it. Mörsdorf belonged to the Beltheim High Court, and put up two of the 14 Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) of the “three-lord” court that were named by the Electorate of Trier. The Electoral-Trier subjects were governed by the Amt of Baldeneck, while the Sponheim
subjects were answerable to Bell
in the Amt of Kastellaun. Metternich subjects were governed by the Lordship of Beilstein. The church in Mörsdorf is listed in the directory of archiepiscopal rights from about 1220, and appears once again in the Taxa generalia from about 1330 as a church in Morsdorff. The 1552 register and the 1569 Visitation protocol name the church as Saint Castor’s
. A grand new building was built in 1768 by Paul Stehling
Beginning in 1794, Mörsdorf lay under French
rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
at the Congress of Vienna
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Quarterly per saltire argent and sable, in chief a cross engrailed gules, surmounted in chief by a label of three points of the second, dexter a cramp bendwise of the first, sinister a palm leaf palewise Or, and in base issuant from base on a pedestal a cross bottony of the third.
The cross engrailed (that is, with wavy or sawtoothlike edges) refers to the noble family Beissel von Gymnich, who still had holdings in Mörsdorf as late as 1744. The palm leaf on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is Saint Castor’s
attribute, thus representing the parish’s and the church’s patron saint. The charge
on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side, known as a cramp, or crampoon, in English heraldry, and a Maueranker in the German blazon (a “wall anchor”, which is likewise what a cramp is held to be in English heraldry, but not always in German), is drawn from the arms formerly borne by the Lords of Metzenhausen. They were enfeoffed with holdings in Mörsdorf by the Archbishop of Trier in 1493, and are known to have still held sway there in 1779. The charge in base, the red cross bottony (that is, with cloverleaf-shaped ends to the arms), is one of the many stone crosses of this shape that stand throughout the village; this one bears the yeardate 1760.
The arms were designed by A. Friderichs of Zell
and have been borne since 11 January 1982.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell
Cochem-Zell
Cochem-Zell is a district in the north-west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bernkastel-Wittlich, and Vulkaneifel.- History :...
district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
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 belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Treis-Karden
Treis-Karden (Verbandsgemeinde)
Treis-Karden is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Cochem-Zell, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Treis-Karden....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Treis-Karden
Treis-Karden is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde to which it also belongs...
.
Location
The municipality lies on a high plateau in the northern HunsrückHunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
between the Dünnbach valley in the east and the Flaumbach valley in the west.
Climate
Yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
in Mörsdorf amounts to 697 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 39% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
s, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in June. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread rather evenly throughout the year. At fewer than 1% of the weather stations are even lower seasonal swings recorded.
History
In 1103, Moresdörf had its first documentary mention when the Ravengiersburg Monastery received one fourth of the village’s tithes from St. Stephan in Mainz. In 1235 one fourth passed by donation to the St. Martinsberg Monastery near TrierTrier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
. In 1359, the whole tithe belonged to the noble knight Colin von Senheim and his wife, who enfeoffed the Electorate of Trier with it. Mörsdorf belonged to the Beltheim High Court, and put up two of the 14 Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) of the “three-lord” court that were named by the Electorate of Trier. The Electoral-Trier subjects were governed by the Amt of Baldeneck, while the Sponheim
County of Sponheim
The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...
subjects were answerable to Bell
Bell, Rhein-Hunsrück
-History:In 1220, Bell had its first documentary mention in the directory of yearly payments to the Archbishopric of Trier, the liber annalium. Even so, Bell is a much older settlement. The name itself is pre-Germanic, being a Celtic word for a hill or a settlement in the heights...
in the Amt of Kastellaun. Metternich subjects were governed by the Lordship of Beilstein. The church in Mörsdorf is listed in the directory of archiepiscopal rights from about 1220, and appears once again in the Taxa generalia from about 1330 as a church in Morsdorff. The 1552 register and the 1569 Visitation protocol name the church as Saint Castor’s
Castor of Karden
Saint Castor of Karden was a priest and hermit of the 4th century who is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Castor was a pupil of Maximinus of Trier around 345 AD, and was ordained as a priest by Maximinus. Like his teacher, Castor may have come from the region of Aquitaine...
. A grand new building was built in 1768 by Paul Stehling
Beginning in 1794, Mörsdorf lay under French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
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...
at the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of 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 ....
.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Mayor
Mörsdorf’s mayor is Franz-Josef Petry, and his deputies are Bernhard Seibel and Eduard Schnorpfeil.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Oben in Silber ein rotes, gekerbtes Balkenkreuz belegt mit einem schwarzen Turnierkragen, vorne in Schwarz ein silberner Maueranker, hinten in Schwarz eine goldene Palme, unten in silbernem Feld ein rotes Kleeblatt-Schaftkreuz.The municipality’s arms
Coat 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...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Quarterly per saltire argent and sable, in chief a cross engrailed gules, surmounted in chief by a label of three points of the second, dexter a cramp bendwise of the first, sinister a palm leaf palewise Or, and in base issuant from base on a pedestal a cross bottony of the third.
The cross engrailed (that is, with wavy or sawtoothlike edges) refers to the noble family Beissel von Gymnich, who still had holdings in Mörsdorf as late as 1744. The palm leaf on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is Saint Castor’s
Castor of Karden
Saint Castor of Karden was a priest and hermit of the 4th century who is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Castor was a pupil of Maximinus of Trier around 345 AD, and was ordained as a priest by Maximinus. Like his teacher, Castor may have come from the region of Aquitaine...
attribute, thus representing the parish’s and the church’s patron saint. The charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side, known as a cramp, or crampoon, in English heraldry, and a Maueranker in the German blazon (a “wall anchor”, which is likewise what a cramp is held to be in English heraldry, but not always in German), is drawn from the arms formerly borne by the Lords of Metzenhausen. They were enfeoffed with holdings in Mörsdorf by the Archbishop of Trier in 1493, and are known to have still held sway there in 1779. The charge in base, the red cross bottony (that is, with cloverleaf-shaped ends to the arms), is one of the many stone crosses of this shape that stand throughout the village; this one bears the yeardate 1760.
The arms were designed by A. Friderichs of Zell
Zell (Mosel)
Zell is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Zell has roughly 4,300 inhabitants and is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...
and have been borne since 11 January 1982.
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- Saint Castor’sCastor of KardenSaint Castor of Karden was a priest and hermit of the 4th century who is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Castor was a pupil of Maximinus of Trier around 345 AD, and was ordained as a priest by Maximinus. Like his teacher, Castor may have come from the region of Aquitaine...
Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Kastor), Kirchstraße 15 – BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
, 1768, architect Paul Stähling (or Stehling), StrasbourgStrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
; three grave crosses, 1622, 1806, 19th century; further wayside and grave crosses, 1680, 17th and 18th centuries; ensemble with old graveyard and rectory - Kastellauner Straße/corner of Kreisstraße (District Road) 38 – chapelChapelA 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,...
standing as warriors’ memorial; whole complex with gate and hedges - Kirchstraße 17 – former rectory; quarrystone building, 19th century; tithe barn; one-floor quarrystone building, mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, 18th century - Kirchstraße 24 – Old Town Hall, bakehouse and community centre; timber-frameTimber framingTimber 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...
building, partly solid or slated, marked 1645 - Kirchstraße 29a – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street); timber-frame building, partly solid, 19th century
- Pohlstraße/corner of Kastellauner Straße – basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
wayside cross, marked 1814 - St.-Castor-Straße (no number) – Quereinhaus; timber-frame building, partly solid or slated, 19th century
- Treiser Straße 5 – timber-frame house, partly solid, half-hipped roof, early 18th century
- Treiser Straße 7 – Quereinhaus; timber-frame building, partly solid, marked 1739
- Treiser Straße 9 – Quereinhaus; timber-frame building, plastered, mid 19th century
- Before Treiser Straße 19 – chapel, quarrystone building with brick framework, 19th century; basalt wayside cross, marked 1652
- On Landesstraße (State Road) 204, going towards Treis – milestone; basalt obelisk, latter half of the 19th century
- On Landesstraße 204, going towards Treis – BildstockBildstockA wayside shrine, is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mountain. They have been a feature of many cultures,...
, 19th century - On Landesstraße 204 – basalt wayside cross, marked 1709
- On Landesstraße 204 – basalt wayside cross, 18th century