Königsau
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Königsau is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
belonging to a ''
Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...
'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke (Bad Kreuznach), Alte Nahebrücke, ...
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
in
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
,
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 ...
. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde''
Kirner Land Kirner Land is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the district of Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Balt ...
, whose seat is in the town of
Kirn Kirn () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a Central place theory, middle centre serving an area ...
.


Geography


Location

Königsau lies in a dale in the southern
Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...
at the edge of the
Soonwald The Soonwald () is a forested, low mountain region, up to , which forms part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands. It lies within the counties of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and Landkreis Bad Kreuznach, Bad Kreuznach in the state of ...
and
Lützelsoon The Lützelsoon (also called the Kleiner Soon) is a part of the Hunsrück hills, , in the county of Bad Kreuznach, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Location The Lützelsoon is a hill ridge southwest of the Soonwald range and north of ...
. The Kellenbach flows through the village.


Neighbouring municipalities

Clockwise from the north, Königsau’s neighbours are the municipalities of Henau, Kellenbach, Schlierschied and – at one point only – Gehlweiler. Of these, only Kellenbach likewise lies within the Bad Kreuznach district. All the others lie in the neighbouring
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district () in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Mainz-Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Birkenfeld, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Cochem-Zell. His ...
.


History

In 1325, Königsau had its first documentary mention as ''Kunigesauwe''. Later spellings of the name, in modern times, render it ''Königß Auen'' (1601) or ''Kinzau'' (1766), the latter of which is preserved to this day in the name for the village used in the local speech, “Kinze”. The
mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
name goes back to the
Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
''cuning'' (meaning the same as and
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
with the English word “king”; it is ''König'' in Modern High German), which has led to the conclusion that the Königsau- Kellenbach area was once a royal or Imperial estate. Fitting this interpretation would be the Lords of Stein (Steinkallenfels), who exercised jurisdiction as Imperial
ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...
at the high court of Kellenbach. In 1325,
Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...
, Prince-Archbishop-Elector of
Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
, acquired from the knight Sir Friedrich of Steinkallenfels shares of the holdings and rights that he held in Königsau and
Schwarzerden Schwarzerden is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach Districts of Germa ...
and had split off from the landholds owned by Count Johann of
Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Steph ...
. In 1334, the Archbishop bought, among other things, a mill complex in Königsau, with which his successor Bohemond II of Trier enfeoffed Sir Tilmann of Stein – of the same knightly house – who was also the builder of
Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
Wartenstein. In the time that followed, the Archbishops of Trier further enfeoffed various families of the lower nobility, such as the families von Elz, von Rüdesheim and von der Leyen, and the '' Vögte'' of Hunolstein, with the Trier landholds and rights in Königsau. It is, however, unclear who held sway over Königsau in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although Trier state law prevailed in Königsau, sovereignty thereover was disputable, for, on the one hand, the
Electorate of Trier The Electorate of Trier ( or '; ) was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince-archbishop of Trier (') wh ...
claimed it for itself, whereas on the other hand, the Baron of Warsberg viewed the village as an
allodial Allodial title constitutes ownership of real property (land, buildings, and fixtures) that is independent of any superior landlord. Allodial title is related to the concept of land held "in allodium", or land ownership by occupancy and defense ...
, Imperial, knightly landhold. Königsau was furthermore part of the court of Kellenbach, which was subject to the
Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Steph ...
'' Amt'' of Kirchberg. In 1708, this ''Amt'' was transferred to the
Margrave of Baden The Margraviate of Baden () was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the right banks of the Upper Rhine in south-western Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, when it was split into the two ...
in the wake of the division of the “Further”
County of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the cou ...
. The tangle of rights and allegiances to various lords during the time of the old empire was swept aside when, beginning in the years 1792-1794, the Revolutionary French overran the German lands on the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
’s left bank and occupied them, eventually placing the region under a central administration in 1798. Königsau and Kellenbach belonged as of roughly 1800 to the ''Mairie'' (“Mayoralty”) of Kirn in the
Arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...
of Simmern, in which it remained (albeit under other terminology than “Arrondissement”) until 1969. In the course of administrative restructuring in
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
, Königsau and Kellenbach were grouped into the new ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirn-Land on 8 November 1970.


Religion

As at 30 September 2013, there are 69 full-time residents in Königsau, and of those, 43 are
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
(62.319%), 16 are
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
(23.188%), 1 is
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
(1.449%), 1 belongs to the Palatinate State Free Religious Community (1.449%) and 8 (11.594%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.


Politics


Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by
majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.


Mayor

Klaus Brühl became mayor of Königsau on August 10, 2023.


Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: The municipality’s
arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...
might in English
heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...
language be described thus: Per fess sable a demilion with forked tail argent armed, langued and crowned Or, and argent a trimount enhanced vert surmounted by a crown of the third. The
charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...
in the upper field, the upper half of a lion, is drawn from arms formerly borne by the Barons of Warsberg, who through inheritance became the landholders in Königsau in 1585. The trimount in the lower field symbolizes the hilly landscape in the municipality, while the crown refers to the village’s name, Königsau (''König'' means “king” in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
). On 19 October 1978, municipal council gave the graphic artist Brust from Kirn-Sulzbach the task of designing a municipal coat of arms. At a council meeting on 11 May 1979, council adopted the design that had been put forth. After consent by the state archive, the Ministry of the Interior in
Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
granted approval for Kellenbach to bear its own arms on 15 August 1979. The municipal banner also bears this coat of arms in the centre.Municipal banner
/ref>


Culture and sightseeing


Clubs

Since it is a very small place, Königsau does not have much of a club life, but it does have three clubs, although one is shared with neighbouring Kellenbach: *''Freunde und Förderer der freiwilligen Feuerwehr Königsau'' — volunteer
fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...
promotional association *''Heimatverein Königsau'' — local history club *''TuS Königsau-Kellenbach e.V.'' —
gymnastic Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sho ...
and
sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...


Economy and infrastructure


Transport

Running through the village is ''
Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...
'' 421. Serving Martinstein is a
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
on the
Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway () is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the Rhine-Nahe Railway ...
( Bingen
Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
).
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Hahn Airporthahn-airport.de
retrieved 30 April 2025
() , also colloquially known and formerly officially br ...
is one of the region’s important economic factors.


Famous people


Sons and daughters of the town

* Jenniffer Kae (b. 1 June 1987), singer * Laura Kästel (b. 29 September 1992), singer


References


External links


Königsau in the collective municipality’s webpages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Konigsau Bad Kreuznach (district)