Stadtprozelten
Encyclopedia
Stadtprozelten is a town in the Miltenberg district
Miltenberg (district)
Miltenberg is an administrative 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 .-History:During the Middle Ages there was continuous...

 in the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...

of Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria , Germany ....

 (Unterfranken) in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, 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...

 and the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (Administrative Community) of Stadtprozelten.

A traditional, mainly Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 village, it is known to its inhabitants as Stadtprozle.

Location

Stadtprozelten lies on the southern edge of the Spessart
Spessart
The Spessart is a low mountain range in northwestern Bavaria and southern Hesse, Germany. It is bordered on three sides by the Main River. The two most important towns located at the foot of the Spessart are Aschaffenburg and Würzburg....

 (range) and on the right bank of the Main in the middle of the south side of the Mainviereck (“Main Square”), 8 km northwest of Wertheim am Main
Wertheim am Main
Wertheim is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg with a population of 24,202. It is located on the confluence of the rivers Tauber and Main.It is known for its wine, castle and medieval town centre.-Geography:...

..

Neighbouring municipalities

Stadtprozelten is bordered by Faulbach
Faulbach
Faulbach is a community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- Location :Faulbach lies in the Bavarian Lower Main Region....

 in the east and Dorfprozelten
Dorfprozelten
Dorfprozelten is a community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany and one of the oldest settlements on the Lower Main.- Location :...

 in the west.

Constituent communities

The Stadtteil of Neuenbuch lies 2 km away from the town centre.

History

In 1287, Stadtprozelten had its first documentary mention. The former Electoral Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...

 Amt passed in 1803 to Prince Primate
Prince primate
Prince-Primate is a rare princely title held by individual archbishops of specific sees in a presiding capacity in an august assembly of mainly secular princes, notably the following:-Germany - Confederation of the Rhine:The Rheinbund or 'Confederation of the Rhine' was founded in 1806, when several...

 von Dalberg’s
Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg
Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg was Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, Arch-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince of Regensburg, primate of the Confederation of the Rhine and Grand-Duke of Frankfurt.-Biography:...

 newly formed Principality of Aschaffenburg
Principality of Aschaffenburg
The Principality of Aschaffenburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the Confederation of the Rhine from 1803–10. Its capital was Aschaffenburg....

, with which it passed in 1814 (by this time it had become a department of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt) to Bavaria. In the course of administrative reform in Bavaria, the current municipality came into being with the Gemeindeedikt (“Municipal Edict”) of 1818.

Six hundred and fifty years of holding town rights were celebrated in 2005. The first documentary mention, however, is not yet fully established beyond doubt.

Town council

The council is made up of 12 council members, not counting the mayor, with seats apportioned thus:
Election year CSU
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...

 
SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 
FWG Stadtprozelten-Neuenbuch  Total
2008 8 4 n.a. 12 seats
2002 5 2 5 12 seats

Coat of arms

The town’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 be described thus: Argent a castle with a gate tower gules and roofs azure, above the gateway the letter B Or, in chief dexter the sun in his glory, and in chief sinister the moon in her increment of the last.

The oldest known town seals come down from the 16th century. The building in the arms might be the old castle held here by the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

. The sun and moon are presumably old town symbols. The letter B comes from another coat of arms dating from 1600 seen on a pane of glass from the Town Hall. It stands for the town’s former name, Brodselden (the name Stadtprozelten first crops up in 1319).

The arms have been borne at least since the 16th century.

Buildings

Looming over the town is the Henneburg castle ruin on the hill known as the Kühlberg.

Other important heritage buildings in town are:
  • Hospital, likely endowed by Elisabeth von Hohenlohe about 1320;
  • Hospital Administration: this building has been used since the 18th century as a postal station and a schoolhouse;
  • Parish Church built in Gothic
    Gothic architecture
    Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

     style: the interior, as far as is possible, has been kept in its original style; the former hospital church was raised to parish church about 1800;
  • Town Hall from 1520: the stair tower was built only in 1621; the oriel sits on two Tuscan columns;
  • Benefiziatenbau (“Prebedary’s Building”), probably a rectory until 1811;
  • Apothecary: built after 1811 on the spot formerly occupied by the Georgenkapelle (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,...

    );
  • Ämtergebäude (“Office Building”) from the time about 1600: an Electoral Mainz
    Archbishopric of Mainz
    The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...

     administrative building, in the 19th century a state court, and then later a savings and loan institution;
  • Former prison from the 19th century;
  • Remnants of the late mediaeval
    Middle Ages
    The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

     town wall;
  • Forest House, built in 1854 in the “new Munich Byzantine style”.

Schäfflertanz

The Schäfflertanz (“Coopers’ Dance”) is put on according to tradition every seven years. The coopers’ group, possibly Germany’s biggest and the only one in white and blue, is made up of well over 60 and up to 90 actors, that is, master coopers, wineglass swingers, dancers, clowns, waiters and the boys who pull the cart. Because it is a group dance, the number of these exclusively male dancers is always a multiple of eight.

This tradition goes back to the Plague year of 1517, when in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 the members of the coopers’ guild were the first to go back into the streets, to spread some lust for life.

Beginning about 1830, journeyman coopers brought the dance to other places such as Eggenfelden, Frontenhausen, Geiselhöring, Mainburg, Mühldorf, Murnau, Kelheim, Landshut, Partenkirchen and Wasserburg.

In 1887 the Schäfflertanz was put on in Stadtprozelten for the first time. The next performances are expected in the years 2013, 2020, 2027, and so on.

Doude Moo

This event has its roots in the time of the Plague, when dead bodies had to be fetched from the houses. The body gatherers would call out as they went through town “Hejo - doude Moo - moje kommd en annern droo” (roughly, “Hello, dead man, tomorrow it’ll be another’s turn”; this is dialectal, not standard High German).

Nowadays children enjoy the sweets that are thrown out into the street from all the houses as a straw doll is borne ahead of them out of the town and then burnt. Doude Moo is always held on the third Sunday before Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

.

The event is known in official circles as Todemo.

Sons and daughters of the town

Georg Anton von Stahl was born in Stadtprozelten on 13 April 1805. From 1840 to 1870 he was Bishop of Würzburg. He died during the First Vatican Council
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...

 in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

Johann Michael Herberich (1845–1930) was founder of the Saint Joseph Foundation (St. Josef Stift) in Eisingen.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK