Neunkirch is a small, historic town and 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 ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. It is set in the south of the Lange Rande (), part of the mountains range

Randen Randen may refer to: * Randen (mountain range), in Switzerland and Germany * Randen, a tram line of the Keifuku Electric Railroad in Japan See also * Randens Randens (; frp, Randèns) is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auve ...

Name

The first documentary record of Neunkirch is in 850; the town is called ''Niuchilchun''. It is Old High German and means new church. This name varies several times during the ages. Versions are known such as Nuinchilchen, Niuchilchen and Nüwenkilch. Some 17th-century documents mention Nükilch or Nünkilch. The name was finally fixed as Neunkirch because it belonged to the Bishopric of Constance, whose

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

already included a town called Niuchilchun or Neukirch. To avoid confusion with this town, the names were made different.

History

Neunkirch was mentioned first in a deed of gift to the Rheinau Abbey on a Sunday 21 September in the reign of Louis the German. An exact year is not mentioned. Researches show, that 21 September was a Sunday only in 850, 861, 867 and 872. A commission decided in 1901, that the first year, 850, should officially be taken as the first date Neunkirch was mentioned in. The document itself doesn't exist anymore, but there is a copy in the public record office of

Zürich<