Hüffelsheim
Hüffelsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rüdesheim, whose seat is in the municipality of Rüdesheim an der Nahe.
Geography
Location
Hüffelsheim lies on a high plateau at an elevation of roughly 220 m above sea level above the River Nahe at the Naturpark Soonwald-Nahe. Bad Kreuznach, the district seat, lies only a few kilometres away to the east-northeast. The municipal area measures 657 ha, of which 30 ha is wooded and 20 ha is planted with vineyards.Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, Hüffelsheim's neighbours are the municipality of Rüdesheim an der Nahe, the town of Bad Kreuznach and the municipalities of Traisen, Norheim, Niederhausen, Schloßböckelheim and Weinsheim, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district.Constituent communities
Also belonging to Hüffelsheim are the outlying homesteads of Antoniushof, Marienhof and Wiesenhof.History
Hüffelsheim is believed to have grown out of a Roman country estate, which after the Frankish conquest under King Clovis about AD 500 would have been taken into ownership by the Frankish nobleman Hufileib and, over time, expanded. About 766, the village had its first documentary mention. As long ago as 800, the first Christian church arose on noble property, which was consecrated to Saint Lambert of Maastricht. The counts of the Nahegau exercised sovereignty over the village. In the 10th century, it was the Archbishopric of Magdeburg that held both the land and the tithes, and later on it was Mainz. About 1200, the village belonged as an Imperial fief to the Rhinegrave of Stein, although he in turn enfeoffed various knightly families with his own landhold. Among these families were the Hundesrucke, the Lords of Sien and the Family von Sickingen-Ebernburg. The Hüffelsheim village lordship was also further granted in fief by the Waldgraves of Kyrburg and Dhaun to other fiefholders, such as Hermann von der Porten and the knights Boos von Waldeck. According to legend, a knight Boos supposedly acquired the village of Hüffelsheim by drinking from a boot. Hüffelsheim's current coat of arms acknowledges this legend in one of its charges. On into the 18th century, the Families Boos von Waldeck and Sickingen exercised their rights in Hüffelsheim that had come down to them from the Middle Ages. The village church was converted and enlarged in Gothic times. About 1542, the Hüffelsheim town hall came into being, later acquiring a bakehouse addition in 1575. Next to this lay the lordly estate with the tithe barn. Arising here later was a Boos von Waldeck Amt winery. During the Thirty Years' War, the village was empty of people for some years. Begun thereafter was an ongoing development of community life that has persisted down to the present day. After the Peace of Augsburg, the Reformation was also introduced into Hüffelsheim. A village school was established about 1660. The years after the Thirty Years' War, however, also brought hardship with French troops who showed up in the course of King Louis XIV's wars of conquest. The old village church was given a makeover about 1706-1708 as a Baroque hall church and for more than 180 years thereafter, it was shared with the then recently arrived Catholic inhabitants, until the Catholics built their own church in 1886. In the mid 18th century, the Sickingen landholds were sold to the Princes of Bretzenheim. When the French Revolutionary troops came about 1796, however, the time of nobles and lords, even the Barons Boos von Waldeck, came to an end. For two decades, Hüffelsheim, along with the rest of the German lands on the Rhine’s left bank, belonged to France, and then eventually Napoleonic France. After Napoleon’s defeat in the German campaign, the last and decisive phase of the War of the Sixth Coalition and indeed of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna grouped Hüffelsheim into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815. The village remained in Prussia until the end of the Second World War. On 13 August 1913, the King of Prussia – who was also the Emperor of Germany – Kaiser Wilhelm II visited Hüffelsheim. Since 1949, the village has belonged to the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.The bell from Powunden
In the Second World War, the great bell from the Hüffelsheim church was seized by the authorities and met a more than usually unkind fate. It never did get melted down for wartime use. Instead, it was destroyed in a bombing at the storage yard – these places were called “bell graveyards” – in Hamburg. So, the Evangelical church community asked the bell office at the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland for a replacement. Instead, they were given a loaner in 1952. It was one of the two bells from the church at Powunden near Königsberg in East Prussia, although even by this time, as a result of shifts in borders in the wake of the war, this place was already known as Khrabrovo. The formerly East Prussian bell still calls worshippers in Hüffelsheim to services even today. See also :#Town partnerships|Town partnerships below.Population development
Hüffelsheim's population development since Napoleonic times is shown in the table below. The figures for the years from 1871 to 1987 are drawn from census data:ReligionHüffelsheim has two churches, one Protestant and one Catholic. As at 30 September 2013, there are 1,328 full-time residents in Hüffelsheim, and of those, 673 are Evangelical, 412 are Catholic, 24 belong to other religious groups and 219 either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.PoliticsMunicipal councilThe council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:MayorHüffelsheim's mayor is Jochen Fiscus, and his deputies are Uwe Weidmann and Ernst-Walter Thomas.Coat of armsThe municipality's arms might be described thus: Per bend sinister gules in dexter chief a bunch of grapes below which three arming buckles flory in bend sinister, all Or and Or a boot sable.In 1980, Hüffelsheim gave itself a new coat of arms. Hüffelsheim had had no arms of its own until that time. All that was known before these arms was an old court seal with Saint Lambert's image. In Prussian times, the Prussian Eagle graced the seal and the municipal stamps. The charges borne in the arms refer to Hüffelsheim's only local legend, the one that tells of the drink from the boot. The bunch of grapes also stands for the wine made in Hüffelsheim. The three buckles stand for the Family Boos von Waldeck, one of whose members figures in the legend. The boot, according to legend, was the drinking vessel used by a knight Boos to partake of wine – a fair amount, given that the legend says that he drank a whole bootful – and he thereby earned the right to acquire Hüffelsheim for himself and his family. Town partnershipsHüffelsheim fosters partnerships with the following places:
Culture and sightseeingBuildingsThe following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
ClubsHüffelsheim distinguishes itself with its very active club life, as well as its harmonious sense of community. The following clubs are active in Hüffelsheim:
Economic structureToday roughly 1,400 people make their homes in Hüffelsheim. The village has the infrastructure that one would usually associate with such a small place. Basic needs are supplied by resident shops such as bakeries, inns and a drink market. There is a kindergarten for young children, and local public transport links may be described as good.TransportRunning through Hüffelsheim is Landesstraße 108, off which, right in the village centre, branches Kreisstraße 53, which leads a short way to Bundesstraße 41, which passes by the village just to the north. Serving nearby Norheim is a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway.EducationHüffelsheim's kindergarten is made up of three groups, each with 25 children. There are eight kindergarten teachers on staff. All together, 75 places are available for children aged from 2 to 6. Thirty-four of those places are all-day places.Famous peopleFamous people associated with the municipality
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