Wiernsheim is a municipality in the Enz district of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

Wiernsheim became a possession of

Maulbronn Monastery Maulbronn Monastery () is a former Cistercian abbey and ecclesiastical state in the Holy Roman Empire located at Maulbronn, Baden-Württemberg. The monastery complex, one of the best-preserved in Europe, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

in 1259 and was governed by the monastery's district office until 1806. When Maulbronn became a possession of the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg () was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a Imperial Estate, state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1803. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries was mainly du ...

in 1504, Wiernsheim and the village of Iptingen also became part of the Duchy. The villages of Pinache and Serres were founded in 1699 by

Waldensians The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...

fleeing persecution in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. On 18 March 1806, the administrative district of Maulbronn was reorganized into , to which Wiernsheim and Iptingen were assigned. Iptingen was reassigned around 1842 to the jurisdiction of Vaihingen. It was joined on 1 October 1938 when the district of Maulbronn was dissolved and its constituents were assigned to the new . On 1 January 1970, Wiernsheim incorporated Pinache. As part of , Wiernsheim, Iptingen, and Serres were assigned on 1 January 1973 to the newly created Enz district. The next year, Wiernsheim incorporated Iptingen and Serres.

Geography

The municipality ('' Gemeinde'') of Wiernsheim covers of the

Enzkreis Enzkreis is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Karlsruhe, Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg, Böblingen and Calw. The district-free Pforzheim area in the south is ne ...

, a district of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

. It is located in the metropolitan areas of

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

and

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

, along the southwestern edge of the . Wiernsheim is physically in the

Heckengäu The Heckengäu is a part of the Gäu (Baden-Württemberg), Gäu, a region in the counties of Landkreis Böblingen, Böblingen, Landkreis Calw, Calw, Landkreis Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg and Enzkreis in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Part of ...

, a region characterized by wooded and karstified hills of

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; ) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 m ...

. Elevation above sea level in municipal area ranges from a low of

Normalnull ("standard zero") or (short N. N. or NN) is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany. Elevations using this reference system were to be marked (“meters above standard zero”). has been replaced by (NHN). History In 187 ...

(NN) on the Kreuzbach and a high of NN in the southwest.

Coat of arms

Wiernsheims' municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

shows a golden

crosier A crozier or crosier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catho ...

, wrapped in

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

oak branches, upon a field of field framed on either side by five golden six-pointed stars. The crosier is a reference to Maulbronn, though the oak branches wrapped around it have no definite meaning. The stars were added around 1900 and are references to the Waldensian foundations at the villages of Pinache and Serres. The present pattern was devised in 1939 and its

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

in 1956. The Federal Ministry of the Interior approved both for official use by Wiernsheim on 12 December 1957.

References

{{Authority control Enzkreis