Bromskirchen is a village and a former municipality in

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by merg ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. On 1 January 2023, it was merged into the municipality of

Allendorf (Eder) Allendorf (Eder) () is a municipality which situated in the north west of Hesse, Germany. The municipality is within the Waldeck-Frankenberg district in a rural region called the upper Eder Valley. The Burgwald range is located west of Allendorf ...

.Bromskirchen wird Ortsteil von Allendorf
''Hessenschau'', 14 March 2021.

Geography

Location

Bromskirchen lies at the edge of the

Rothaargebirge The Rothaar Mountains (german: Rothaargebirge, , also ''Rotlagergebirge''), or Rothaar, is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany. It is believed that its name must once have been ...

in southwest Waldeck-Frankenberg, right on the boundary with

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

's district of

Hochsauerlandkreis Hochsauerlandkreis (meaning “High Sauerland District” in German) is a Kreis (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest, Paderborn, Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe, M� ...

. More than 70% of the community's area is wooded.

Neighbouring communities

Bromskirchen borders in the north on the town of

Hallenberg Hallenberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Hallenberg is situated approximately 15 km southeast of Winterberg and 35 km north of Marburg (in Hesse). Neighbouring places * Allen ...

(Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia), in the east on the town of Frankenberg, in the south on the community of Allendorf and the town of

Battenberg Battenberg or Battenburg may refer to: Places * Battenberg (Eder), a town in Hesse, Germany * Battenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Battenberg Hill, in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica People * Batten ...

(all three in Waldeck-Frankenberg), and in the west on the town of

Bad Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest o ...

( Siegen-Wittgenstein in North Rhine-Westphalia).

Constituent communities

*Bromskirchen *Dachsloch *Neuludwigsdorf *Seibelsbach *Somplar

History

Bromskirchen had its first documentary mention in 1238 in an account from the

Archbishopric of Mainz The Electorate of Mainz (german: Kurfürstentum Mainz or ', la, Electoratus Moguntinus), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the ...

. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

, the village passed to

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...

, and in 1866 to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. For centuries, the village's livelihood was based on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

on scant land, and the forest.

Population development

Coat of arms

Bromskirchen's civic

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

might heraldically be described thus: Party per pale, dexter in sable a sword Or with hilt per cross pattée Or, sinister in argent a lattice per lozengy sable, thereover a fess Or. These arms were conferred on 12 November 1982. The sword stands for the local patron saint,

Saint Martin of Tours Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as th ...

, who is actually depicted in some Hessian civic coats of arms (see

Amöneburg Amöneburg () is a town in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. It lies on a mountain and is built around the castle of the same name, ''Burg Amöneburg''. Geography Location Amöneburg lies on a basalt cone that can be see ...

and

Neustadt (Hesse) Neustadt is a town in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Neustadt lies in the Middle Hessian ''Bergland'' ("Highland") at the eastern end of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Neighbouring communities Neustadt bor ...

). The cross stands for the church, thereby making it a

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely '' batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional ' ...

element for the ''—kirchen'' name ending (which means "church"). The other half of the arms comes from those borne by the Lords of Winter, the local rulers from the 15th to 18th century. The black and silver (or white, or indeed grey, as it appears in this article) were the old County of Battenberg colour

Partnerships

Bromskirchen maintains partnership links with: * Arrou, ''département'' of

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, since 1978

Culture and sightseeing

Bromskirchen's town hall was built between 1619 and 1621. It is a

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

house with ornamental carvings.

Economy and infrastructure

Bromskirchen is an economic centre and offers more than 900 jobs in its working trades, the greatest share of which is held by the firm Hoppe AG, a leading manufacturer of door and window fittings.

References

External links

Bromskirchen
* {{Authority control Waldeck-Frankenberg Former municipalities in Hesse