Thüngen


Thüngen is a market community in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Zellingen.

Geography

Location

Thüngen lies in the Würzburg Region, 25 km north of Würzburg and 30 km west of Schweinfurt, in the north of the Main Triangle on the river Wern.
The community has only the Gemarkung of Thüngen.

History

On 19 April 788, Thüngen had its first documentary mention. In the Codex Eberhardi, it says:
... Manto comes et frater eius Megingoz tradiderunt sancto Bonifacio bona sua in his locis: Isinhusen, Wanchei, Heselere, Tungede, Binizfelt, Hoholtesheim, Steti, Bucheled...

The placename Thüngen comes from the word Thing. A þing or a Ding was the name for Volksversammlungen and assizes held under old Germanic law. Thüngen's origins therefore point to a place where such gatherings were held. This explanation for the community's name's origin is disputed, however, with alternate explanations positing a Celtic or Roman source for older forms of the name such as Thungidi or Tungede.
Until about 1200, the community's lords were the Counts of Henneberg. After they died out, the lordship was taken over by a knightly noble family who later named themselves “von Thüngen” after the place. Thüngen's history is tightly bound with this noble family.
In 1366, a Thüngen townsman was named in a document for the first time, and in 1419 the first village order was decreed. In 1465, Thüngen was raised to town, which allowed its fortification with walls and towers as well as a town constitution. Guilds could be introduced and weekly markets held. From 1551, with lordly approval, the Reformation was definitively introduced, which led to considerable contention between the denominations over the next few centuries, especially in the wake of the Thirty Years' War, which left part of the village in the hands of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg. A rural Jewish community arose in the 16th century.
On 28 June 1814, in connection with the Napoleonic Wars, Thüngen was awarded to the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1825, the guilds had to be shut down. Officially, town rights were never revoked. In 1846, the Schlossbrauerei Thüngen, still in business today, was founded by Wilhelm, Wolfgang and Hanskarl von Thüngen. Once the Werntalbahn was finished in 1879, the first train ran through Thüngen on 16 April.
In the presence of Prince Ludwig III of Bavaria, on 18 May 1892, the Ludwigslinde was planted at the Planplatz.
In 1923, the association Bayern und Reich staged an event in Thüngen at which owing to arguments with inhabitants, a worker was killed. Of the 152 Jewish inhabitants still in the community in 1933, many had emigrated by 1940. Nevertheless, at least 50 Thüngen inhabitants were deported and murdered.
Since 1978, the market communities of Thüngen and Zellingen, and the communities of Himmelstadt and Retzstadt have formed the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Zellingen.

Population development

Within town limits, 1,336 inhabitants were counted in 1970, 1,341 in 1987 and in 2006 1,375.

Politics

Community council

The mayor is Klaus Enzmann. He succeeded Armin Weber in 2002. In 2008 he was confirmed in office.
On the Marktgemeinderat since May 2008 have been:
Freie Wähler:
Klaus Enzmann, Anja Morgenstern, Dieter Beutel, Thomas Ammersbach, Wolfgang Heß, Walter Lippert, Günter Morgenstern, Simone Hohmann
SPD:
Richard Steigerwald, Lorenz Strifsky, Gerd Kunitzky
CSU:
Hubert Schömig, Christiane von Thüngen
Municipal taxes in 1999 amounted to €619,000, of which net business taxes amounted to €54,000.

Coat of arms

The community's arms might be described thus: Gules a cogwheel spoked of six argent between two ears of grain palewise with stalks turned to base Or, in a chief embattled of two merlons and one embrasure of the second a fess paly wavy of seven of the third and first.
The partition in the escutcheon is meant to resemble battlements, which represents the local castle, which is the community's landmark. In the chief are the family arms of the Barons of Thüngen, Lutz Line. Underneath is a cogwheel as a symbol of local industry, and thereby also business, between two ears of grain as a symbol of local agriculture.

Sightseeing

East of the main street is found, in a somewhat overgrown park, the "Burgschloss", an old residential castle from the 16th century, onto which is built the "Spitalschloss", in both of which live families of the Barons of Thüngen. South of this is found the "Alter Stock", a remnant of an early mediaeval castle complex. The "Burgsinner Schloss" west of the main street serves mainly economic ends.
Saint George's Evangelical Church in the community core was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War and, owing to the Catholic Juliusspital’s ownership entitlements, could not be built again until the 19th century. At the Planplatz stands the town hall from the Gründerzeit.
On the river Wern is found an historic weir, as well as the Waaghäuschen.
The former synagogue was damaged in 1938, and it has now been converted into a house. In November 2007 a memorial plaque was affixed to it.

Economy and infrastructure

According to official statistics, there were 363 workers on the social welfare contribution rolls working in producing businesses in 1998. In trade and transport this was 0. In other areas, 37 workers on the social welfare contribution rolls were employed, and 541 such workers worked from home. There were 0 processing businesses. Two businesses were in construction, and furthermore, in 1999, there were 16 agricultural operations with a working area of 911 ha, with the Barons’ estate alone accounting for more than 300 ha of this.

Established businesses

Thüngen is crossed by Bundesstraße 26. On the heights of the inn Schwarzer Adler, Staatsstraße 2437 meets Bundesstraße 27 towards Würzburg on the B 26.
The electrified Werntalbahn is now only used for goods transport. The railway station is now a private dwelling.
Local public transport comes in the form of OVF buses going towards Karlstadt/Gemünden or Schweinfurt and to Würzburg.

Education

As of 1999 the following institutions existed in Thüngen:
In 2007, the local CSU association was taken as an example in a Stern article about Edmund Stoiber’s resignation from his offices of Minister-President and party chairman.