Brenz an der Brenz is a borough of the village of

Sontheim Sontheim (full name: Sontheim an der Brenz) is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located northeast of Ulm, at the southern end of the Swabian Jura. Neighboring municipalities Sonthe ...

in the Heidenheim District of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...

in Germany. Brenz an der Brenz was an independent village until it merged with Sontheim. The borough has about 1100 inhabitants.

Location

Brenz an der Brenz is located directly on the Brenz River near the

Swabian Alb The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...

and the Danube River Valley.

History

The Brenz region has been settled since at least the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. In the 2nd or 3rd century C.E., on the commanding ''Kirchberg'' in Brenz, a ''

Villa rustica Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...

'' was built. Additional finds of other monumental buildings dating from the Roman era indicate that a Roman town was located here. Brenz also is located at the crossing of two Roman roads; the road from

Günzburg Günzburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Genzburg'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is a ''Große Kreisstadt'' and the capital of the Swabian Günzburg (district), district Günzburg. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city ...

(lat. ''Guntia'') to Heidenheim (lat. ''Aquileia'') and the North Danube road from (lat. ''Ad Lunam'') to

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

(lat. ''Castra Regina''). In 2002 on the ancient road between Sontheim and

Bächingen Bächingen is a municipality in the district of Dillingen in Bavaria in Germany. The town is a member of the municipal association Gundelfingen an der Donau Gundelfingen an der Donau is a town in the Bavarian district Dillingen in Swabia. Gun ...

a mile stone with the name of Emperor

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

and a reference to Faimingen (lat. ''Phoebiana'') was discovered.History of Sontheim from the City Website (German)
/ref> Following the invasion of

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

and the retreat of the Roman Empire in c. 260 C.E., the local Germanic tribe used the strategic ''Kirchberg'' to found a settlement. Archeological digs in the 1960s have identified the remains of an early Christian wooden church and graveyard that would have been built around 650. This church is the oldest church in the Brenz valley, and it is likely that the Christianization of the surrounding communities (

and Bergenweiler) as well as the rest of the Brenz valley started at Brenz an der Brenz. The wood church was replaced with a stone church around 680. The church on the Brenz is first mentioned during the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

. In 875

Ludwig II Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...

gave the ''Capella ad Prenza'' to the Monastery at Faurndau. A few years later ownership of the Brenzer Church moved to the

Abbey of St. Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall (german: Abtei St. Gallen) is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot w ...

in modern-day

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Following numerous reconstructions and renovations the ''Galluskirche'' (German: Church of St. Gall) reached its final, Romanesque form in 1200. During the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

ownership of Brenz an der Brenz rested with a minor noble family who took their name from the location. Members of this family are mentioned several times in the records from this time. In the ''Galluskirche'' there is a gravestone from 1190 for Sebolt von Brenz who is listed as a Crusader. After 1250 a side line of the noble family ''von Güssenberg'' (known as Güssen) occupied Schloss Brenz. To pay debts, the family quickly fell into

highway robbery A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...

and the castle was destroyed under orders of Louis IV in 1340. However the castle was partly repaired soon afterward. In 1546, during the

Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (german: link=no, Schmalkaldischer Krieg) was the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (simultaneously King Charles I of Spain), commanded by the Duk ...

Charles V. stayed at the Schloss Brenz as a guest of the Güssen. The Güssen family became too poor to support the castle, and in 1613 sold the entire village and castle to the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg (german: Herzogtum Württemberg) was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a member of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1806. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries ...

. In 1617 Duke Julius Friedrich von Württemberg took the villages of Brenz and Weiltingen under his control, founding the junior Württemberg line of Württemberg-Weiltingen. Schloss Brenz was used as a temporary home for his family. However, the damaged castle was destroyed in 1634 during the Battle of Nördlingen of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. In 1672 Duke Friedrich Ferdinand had the castle rebuilt in a

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. After the junior Württemberg-Weiltingen line died out, Brenz returned to the main line

House of Württemberg The House of Württemberg is a German dynasty and former royal family from Württemberg. History County The House probably originated in the vicinity of the Salian dynasty. Around 1080 the ancestors of modern Württemberg, which was then called ...

. Duke Eberhard Ludwig gave the castle to his mistress

Wilhelmine von Grävenitz Christine Wilhelmine Friederike von Grävenitz (born 4 February 1684, Schwerin – d. 21 October 1744, Berlin) was a German noblewoman who was the royal mistress to Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg, between 1706 and 1731. The couple married in ...

in 1721. When she fell out of favor, she was forced to leave Württemberg and all her gifts behind. Schloss Brenz remained generally empty afterward, though a branch of the family von Racknitz lived in the castle for a short while. In the 19th century the community inherited the castle. It was used for by the city government and also as a school. In 1906 the oldest Community Heritage Museum in Württemberg was founded in the castle. In 1972 the community of Brenz an der Brenz was absorbed into the larger village of Sontheim, which had been founded by Brenz.

Culture and Sights

Museums

The Community Heritage Museum in Schloss Brenz is the oldest such museum in Württemberg.

Buildings

* Church of St. Gall or Galluskirche: The late romanesque

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

is, from a historical standpoint, one of the most significant constructions in the Heidenheim District as well as all of Baden-Württemberg. During the renovation of the church in 1964/66 every effort was made to bring the church back to a true romanesque style.

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

elements from earlier reconstructions were removed from the church. The romanesque paintings in the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

were restored and can now be seen in the church. * Schloss Brenz: Excellent example of a renaissance castle. Richly decorated arcades of the courtyard (German: ''Innenhof'') and the Knights Hall (German: ''Rittersaal'') are especially noteworthy. * Market Square (German: ''Marktplatz''): The market square is surrounded with several historical facades including the ''Galluskirche'', the

Rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

, ''Schlössle'' (Little Castle) which is today the Hotel ''Hirsch'', Hotel ''Krone'' and the town hall.

Literature

*Cichy, Bodo: Die Kirche von Brenz, 1991 (3. Aufl.). *Gemeinde Sontheim an der Brenz (Hg.): Heimatbuch Sontheim an der Brenz, 1984.

External links

Galluskirche

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenz An Der Brenz Heidenheim (district) Towns in Baden-Württemberg Coloniae (Roman)