Vendersheim
Encyclopedia
Vendersheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
(some 28 km away) and Alzey
(some 14 km away). The highest mountain in the Palatinate, the Donnersberg
, rises some 30 km away to the southsouthwest (as the crow flies
). Vendersheim is surrounded by vineyards shaped like a horseshoe with the open end towards the south, and has more than 1,500 hours of sunshine each year. The soil around Vendersheim is very fertile, made up as it is of weathered loess
, the so-called Lößlehm (decalcified loess).
. In the Vendersheim area, there have been only a few finds to confirm any Bronze Age
settlement. In Roman
times there was a rural Roman settlement in the form of a Roman farmstead – a villa rustica
– with cropraising, livestock raising and winegrowing.
In 406, the Franks
crossed the Rhine frontier and settled the area between the Donnersberg and the Rhine. New placenames with the ending —heim (cognate with English
home) were overwhelmingly the Franks’ favourite choice. King Clovis
had himself christened in 498, and the Franks became Christian
. In the time that followed, it is believed that Vendersheim also arose as a Frankish-Christian settlement. The placename Fendersheim first crops up only in a document in 1426 (Staatsarchiv Koblenz). It was drawn up by Father Pleban at Saint Martin’s Church (St. Martinuskirche) in Fendersheim. In 1443, the name was written as Venderßheim in Hessian documents. The name means “the fendiheri’s home”, fendiheri meaning a Frankish commander.
It is worth pointing out that the letter V is generally pronounced the same way as F in German
.
In the 15th century, Vendersheim belonged to the territory of the Junker
s Faust zu Stromberg. Through the Reformation
in Electoral Palatinate, Vendersheim became a Lutheran
parish in 1556, and Saint Martin’s became a Lutheran church. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia
contained certain stipulations for Electoral Palatinate dealing with simultanea
. Vendersheim was among the places that became simultanea, that is, Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed
citizens were and would remain entitled to their right of abode. Junker Faust became Catholic in 1660 and the church’s estate in Vendersheim passed to the Catholic Church.
The family von Faust died out in 1730 and Vendersheim passed to the House of the Counts at Eltz (Grafen zu Eltz). Saint Martin’s Church became a simultaneous church
. Lutherans and Catholics used the same church building. In 1790 and 1791, with the Count’s help, the Catholic parish built the new Saint Martin’s Church (distinguished in German
by being called Martinskirche instead of St. Martinuskirche), while the Evangelical
parish kept using the old church.
During the occupation by French
troops from 1792 to 1814, Vendersheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
(or Donnersberg in German
). Feudal rights were abolished and for births, marriages and deaths, only state certification was valid. State schools were also instituted. After the 1815 Congress of Vienna
, the Worms, Alzey, Mainz and Bingen region were annexed as the Province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
.
The Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Rhenish Hesse united in 1822 to become the Evangelical Church
. The old Saint Martin’s Church (St. Martinuskirche) was falling into disrepair and was torn down in 1869, and in 1870 and 1871, the new Evangelical church, which still stands today, was built.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
might be described thus: Per fess gules a demi-lion rampant Or and Or a cross pattée of the first issuant from the centre in bend sinister a staff of the first from which a guidon party per fess gules and argent.
A different coat of arms was proposed for Vendersheim in 1956, but never adopted, containing only the charge
s and tincture
s seen below the line of partition.
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 Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the district Groß-Gerau , the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen.- History :...
district 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...
.
Location
The municipality lies in Rhenish Hesse between MainzMainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
(some 28 km away) and Alzey
Alzey
Alzey is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, and Bingen....
(some 14 km away). The highest mountain in the Palatinate, the Donnersberg
Donnersberg
For the Czech mountain, see MilešovkaThe Donnersberg is the highest peak of the Palatinate region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen en Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the mountain. The highway A63 runs along the southern edge...
, rises some 30 km away to the southsouthwest (as the crow flies
As the crow flies
"As the crow flies" or beelining is an idiom for the shortest route between two points; the geodesic distance.An example is the great-circle distance between Key West and Pensacola, at either end of the U.S...
). Vendersheim is surrounded by vineyards shaped like a horseshoe with the open end towards the south, and has more than 1,500 hours of sunshine each year. The soil around Vendersheim is very fertile, made up as it is of weathered loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
, the so-called Lößlehm (decalcified loess).
History
After the last ice age and the return of plantlife began the permanent settlement of the Rhine valley by the Linear Pottery cultureLinear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
. In the Vendersheim area, there have been only a few finds to confirm any Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
settlement. In Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times there was a rural Roman settlement in the form of a Roman farmstead – a villa rustica
Villa rustica
Villa rustica was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a villa set in the open countryside, often as the hub of a large agricultural estate . The adjective rusticum was used to distinguish it from an urban or resort villa...
– with cropraising, livestock raising and winegrowing.
In 406, the 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...
crossed the Rhine frontier and settled the area between the Donnersberg and the Rhine. New placenames with the ending —heim (cognate with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
home) were overwhelmingly the Franks’ favourite choice. King Clovis
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
had himself christened in 498, and the Franks became Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. In the time that followed, it is believed that Vendersheim also arose as a Frankish-Christian settlement. The placename Fendersheim first crops up only in a document in 1426 (Staatsarchiv Koblenz). It was drawn up by Father Pleban at Saint Martin’s Church (St. Martinuskirche) in Fendersheim. In 1443, the name was written as Venderßheim in Hessian documents. The name means “the fendiheri’s home”, fendiheri meaning a Frankish commander.
It is worth pointing out that the letter V is generally pronounced the same way as F in 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....
.
In the 15th century, Vendersheim belonged to the territory of the Junker
Junker
A Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...
s Faust zu Stromberg. Through the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in Electoral Palatinate, Vendersheim became a Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
parish in 1556, and Saint Martin’s became a Lutheran church. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
contained certain stipulations for Electoral Palatinate dealing with simultanea
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...
. Vendersheim was among the places that became simultanea, that is, Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed
Reformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
citizens were and would remain entitled to their right of abode. Junker Faust became Catholic in 1660 and the church’s estate in Vendersheim passed to the Catholic Church.
The family von Faust died out in 1730 and Vendersheim passed to the House of the Counts at Eltz (Grafen zu Eltz). Saint Martin’s Church became a simultaneous church
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...
. Lutherans and Catholics used the same church building. In 1790 and 1791, with the Count’s help, the Catholic parish built the new Saint Martin’s Church (distinguished in 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....
by being called Martinskirche instead of St. Martinuskirche), while the Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
parish kept using the old church.
During the occupation by 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...
troops from 1792 to 1814, Vendersheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...
(or Donnersberg in 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....
). Feudal rights were abolished and for births, marriages and deaths, only state certification was valid. State schools were also instituted. After the 1815 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,...
, the Worms, Alzey, Mainz and Bingen region were annexed as the Province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
.
The Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Rhenish Hesse united in 1822 to become the Evangelical Church
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
. The old Saint Martin’s Church (St. Martinuskirche) was falling into disrepair and was torn down in 1869, and in 1870 and 1871, the new Evangelical church, which still stands today, was built.
Population development
| Year | 1904 | 1905 | 1950 | 1972 | 1982 | 1992 | 2000 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| Inhabitants | 414 | 502 | 498 | 396 | 429 | 412 | 590 | 605 | 590 |
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.
Coat of arms
The municipality’s armsCoat 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: Per fess gules a demi-lion rampant Or and Or a cross pattée of the first issuant from the centre in bend sinister a staff of the first from which a guidon party per fess gules and argent.
A different coat of arms was proposed for Vendersheim in 1956, but never adopted, containing only 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...
s and tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s seen below the line of partition.
Buildings
- Catholic church, consecrated: 1790
- EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
church, consecrated: 1871 (27 November)
Regular events
- Vendersheimer Martini Kerb (kermis, or church consecration festival), second weekend in November