Schleusingen is a town in the district of Hildburghausen, in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

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 is situated 10 km north of Hildburghausen, and 12 km southeast of Suhl.

Geography

The town of Schleusingen in the Henneberger Land got its name from the river Schleuse, which passes through its town districts Ratscher and Rappelsdorf. The town itself is located on the river Nahe, a tributary of the Schleuse, which runs south of the core town area. From the north, from Erlau, the river Erle joins the Nahe in Schleusingen.

Subdivisions

The town of Schleusingen includes next to the core town another seventeen districts: Altendambach, Breitenbach, Erlau, Fischbach, Geisenhöhn, Gethles, Gottfriedsberg, Heckengereuth, Hirschbach, Hinternah, Oberrod, Rappelsdorf, Ratscher, Schleusingerneundorf, Silbach, Sankt Kilian and Waldau In addition, terms for residential areas such as' 'Upper-' 'and' 'Lower Town, Schmuckplatz, Weißer Berg, Hirtengrund, Kalkrangen, Sonneneck, Rubetal ' etc. are common in the population.

History

Schleusingen was first mentioned in documents in 1232 as 'Villa Slusungen'. Count Poppo VII of Henneberg built the Bertholdsburg as a residence and fortification in the period from 1226 to 1232. In 1274 the

County of Henneberg The House of Henneberg was a medieval German Graf, comital family (''Grafen'') which from the 11th century onwards held large territories in the Duchy of Franconia. Their county was raised to a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, princely county ( ...

was partitioned into three lines; the Bertholdsburg then became the residence of the Schleusinger line of the Counts of Henneberg. Schleusingen experienced a catastrophic fire in 1353; further fires in 1679, 1765, 1773 and 1876 destroyed whole districts of the town. In 1412 Schleusingen received the (the right to be considered a town) but only in 1533 the (the right to, among other things, hold a folk festival or a weekly market). In 1502 Count Wilhelm IV founded a Barfüsserkloster (monastery) in the outskirts. During the riots in the German Peasants' War in the spring of 1525, the inhabitants, documents and valuables of the neighboring monasteries Veßra and were sent to Schleusingen to be brought to safety at the Bertholdsburg. In 1544 the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

was introduced. The Aegidienkapelle of the St. Johannis Church became the burial place of the Counts of Henneberg in 1566 and of Elisabeth of Brandenburg. The Barfüsserkloster was transferred into state ownership and from 1560 it was used as a school. On 7 June 1577 this school was inaugurated on as a Gymnasium (high school) and still exists today under the name Hennebergisches Gymnasium "Georg Ernst". Until 1583 Schleusingen was the seat of the Counts of Henneberg. After the death of Count , with whose death the Henneberg line was extinguished, Schleusingen was transferred to the Saxon dukes of the Ernestine and the Albertine lines, at first under joint administration. From 1500 to 1806 Schleusingen belonged to the

Franconian Circle The Franconian Circle () was an Imperial Circle established in 1500 in the centre of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the eastern part of the former Franconian stem duchy—roughly corresponding with the present-day Bavarian ''Regierungsbez ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

Incorporations

* Fischbach on 1 March 1970 * Geisenhöhn and Gottfriedsberg on 1 April 1974 * Gethles, Ratscher and Heckengereuth on 22 February 1994 * Rappelsdorf on 1 June 1996 * Nahetal-Waldau and Sankt Kilian on 6 July 2018

Population Development

Population development (from 1960 on 31 December):

Main sights

* Castle Bertholdsburg * Townchurch St. Johannis * Teutsche Schule * market place Bertholdsburg2008

References

{{Authority control Hildburghausen (district)