Christiansdorf, historically spelt ''Christianesdorph'' in 1183 and ''Christianisdorf'' in 1185, was a forest settlement in the

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

(the present day German state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

) that only existed for a few years, but is credited as being the first place in the Ore Mountains that

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

ore was discovered. The little mining settlement in the

March of Meissen The Margravate of Meissen (german: Markgrafschaft Meißen) was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, created out of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' (Saxon ...

and was a forerunner of the present town of Freiberg, which itself was founded in the 1160s. Christiansdorf was located on the so-called ''Schüppchenberg'' hill, where the cul-de-sac of ''Berggasse'' now is. According to oral tradition and legend, the first ore - sterling silver - in the

Freiberg Mining Field The Freiberg Mining Field (german: Freiberger Revier or ''Freiberger Bergbaurevier'') is an ore field which is located on an ore deposit of precious and non-ferrous metals roughly 35 x 40 kilometres in area in the lower Eastern Ore Mountains of Sa ...

, and also in the whole Ore Mountains, was discovered on the fields of Christiansdorf by the ''Schüppchenberg'' around 1168.''Kleine Chronik von Freiberg als Führer durch Sachsens Berghauptstadt und Beitrag zur Heimatkunde'', Heinrich Gerlach, 2nd fully revised edition, Gerlach'sche Buchdruckerei, 1897

References

External links

Christiansdorf
{{ore-mountain-stub Mittelsachsen Freiberg Former municipalities in Saxony