Sassen, Germany
Encyclopedia
Sassen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
word Ansassen or Beisassen, words once used to designate people who were not local, but rather had come from elsewhere to settle. The area around Ülmen and Ürsfeld was already settled when others came along to settle at the village now known as Sassen.
Another explanation, however, is that the name arose from transplanted Saxons
brought to the Eifel
by Charlemagne
. A Carthusian
monk wrote in an account that Charlemagne also removed Franks
from the Eifel to the Saxons’ homeland as part of his campaign to break Saxon resistance once and for all.
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Sassen lies on the south slopes of the Hochkelberg
, the High Eifel’s third highest mountain, in a hollow with an elevation of about 550 m above sea level
.
times, which ended in 1794 with the French
occupation, Sassen belonged to the Electoral-Cologne Amt of Nürburg. Under Prussia
n administration, it was a municipality in the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Kelberg in the Adenau district. In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate
in 1970, the municipality, along with the others in the Amt of Kelberg, was assigned to the Daun district, which has since been given the name Vulkaneifel.
Below the village once lay a farm, which may have been the “seed” for the first settlement in what is now the municipality. The oldest houses are all bungalows built out of Rhenish brick (an air-dried brick made of 9 parts pumice
to 1 part lime) and simple woodwork. The front door opens straight into the kitchen. Above the stove was the smoke hood for smoking meat.
Sassen was once held by the Counts of Nürburg. The court was in Ülmen. Tithe
s were paid to the castle there and to Nürburg
. On the Hohe Acht, a height near the village (not the like-named mountain
), lay two fields, one named Zehntanwand and the other Freianwand, references to paying tithes (Zehnten – frei means “free”).
At the south end of the village stands a small chapel
, which features Stations of the Cross
. It was built in 1807, a date engraved above the door.
The village’s great age makes itself known in the many legends told hereabouts. One tells of a time in the Thirty Years' War
when the Swedes
plundered the village. On the nearby Hochkelberg
once stood, supposedly, a castle of the Knights Templar
, and people speak of a treasure that is supposed to be hidden there.
Ecclesiastically, Sassen once belonged to the parish of Ürsfeld, but since 1809 it has belonged to the parish of Üß.
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: Gules a cross tau with a small bell hanging from each arm argent, on a chief of the second a cross sable.
Until 1794, Sassen belonged as part of the Amt of Nürburg to the Electorate of Cologne. The cross in the chief
recalls this time. The charge
below this, the T-shaped cross, is Saint Anthony’s
attribute, thus representing the municipality’s patron saint. It is shown here with two “pilgrim’s bells”.
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 Vulkaneifel 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 Kelberg
Kelberg (Verbandsgemeinde)
Kelberg is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Kelberg....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Kelberg
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat...
.
Name
The municipality’s name, Sassen, is derived from the GermanGerman 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....
word Ansassen or Beisassen, words once used to designate people who were not local, but rather had come from elsewhere to settle. The area around Ülmen and Ürsfeld was already settled when others came along to settle at the village now known as Sassen.
Another explanation, however, is that the name arose from transplanted Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
brought to the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
by Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. A Carthusian
Carthusian
The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...
monk wrote in an account that Charlemagne also removed Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
from the Eifel to the Saxons’ homeland as part of his campaign to break Saxon resistance once and for all.
Location
The municipality lies in the VulkaneifelVulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Sassen lies on the south slopes of the Hochkelberg
Hochkelberg
At the Hochkelberg is one of the ten highest mountains in the Vulkan Eifel in Germany. It is a former stratovolcano, at the southern foot of which lies the Mosbrucher Weiher, an explosion crater lake or maar. Below the summit of the Hochkelberg is a transmission tower.Originally the mountain...
, the High Eifel’s third highest mountain, in a hollow with an elevation of about 550 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
.
History
In feudalFeudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
times, which ended in 1794 with the 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...
occupation, Sassen belonged to the Electoral-Cologne Amt of Nürburg. Under 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...
n administration, it was a municipality in the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Kelberg in the Adenau district. In the course of administrative restructuring 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 ....
in 1970, the municipality, along with the others in the Amt of Kelberg, was assigned to the Daun district, which has since been given the name Vulkaneifel.
Below the village once lay a farm, which may have been the “seed” for the first settlement in what is now the municipality. The oldest houses are all bungalows built out of Rhenish brick (an air-dried brick made of 9 parts pumice
Pumice
Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...
to 1 part lime) and simple woodwork. The front door opens straight into the kitchen. Above the stove was the smoke hood for smoking meat.
Sassen was once held by the Counts of Nürburg. The court was in Ülmen. Tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s were paid to the castle there and to Nürburg
Nürburg
Nürburg is a town in the German district of Ahrweiler, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is also the name of the local castle, Burg Nürburg , which was built in the High Middle Ages. The town is best known for its 24 kilometer race track, the Nürburgring...
. On the Hohe Acht, a height near the village (not the like-named mountain
Hohe Acht
At , the Hohe Acht is the highest mountain in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Ahrweiler and Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.- Geography and geology :...
), lay two fields, one named Zehntanwand and the other Freianwand, references to paying tithes (Zehnten – frei means “free”).
At the south end of the village stands a small 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,...
, which features Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...
. It was built in 1807, a date engraved above the door.
The village’s great age makes itself known in the many legends told hereabouts. One tells of a time in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
when the Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
plundered the village. On the nearby Hochkelberg
Hochkelberg
At the Hochkelberg is one of the ten highest mountains in the Vulkan Eifel in Germany. It is a former stratovolcano, at the southern foot of which lies the Mosbrucher Weiher, an explosion crater lake or maar. Below the summit of the Hochkelberg is a transmission tower.Originally the mountain...
once stood, supposedly, a castle of the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, and people speak of a treasure that is supposed to be hidden there.
Ecclesiastically, Sassen once belonged to the parish of Ürsfeld, but since 1809 it has belonged to the parish of Üß.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 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.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Unter silbernem Schildhaupt, darin ein durchgehendes, schwarzes Balkenkreuz, in Rot ein silbernes Antoniuskreuz mit zwei daran hängenden silbernen Pilgerglöckchen.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: Gules a cross tau with a small bell hanging from each arm argent, on a chief of the second a cross sable.
Until 1794, Sassen belonged as part of the Amt of Nürburg to the Electorate of Cologne. The cross in the chief
Chief (heraldry)
In heraldic blazon, a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top edge of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by the chief, ranging from one-fourth to one-third. The former is more likely if the...
recalls this time. 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...
below this, the T-shaped cross, is Saint Anthony’s
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
attribute, thus representing the municipality’s patron saint. It is shown here with two “pilgrim’s bells”.
Buildings
- Saint Wendelin’sWendelin of TrierSaint Wendelin or Wendelin of Trier was a hermit and abbot.-Life:There is very little definite information about this saint. His earliest biographies , did not appear until after 1417. The story as told there is that Wendelin was the son of a Scottish king...
Catholic Church (branch church; Filialkirche St. Wendelin), Hauptstraße – 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...
from 1750. - Hauptstraße 12 – 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...
house, partly solid or slated, 19th century. - Heiligenhäuschen (a small, shrinelike structure consecrated to a saint or saints), east of the village – 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...
red sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
niche housing, PietàPietàThe Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
.