Fraulautern is a district of
Saarlouis in the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
region of Germany. In 1936, the village of Fraulautern was incorporated into the city of Saarlouis. It is also the source of the alternative name for Saarlouis, ''Saarlautern''. Fraulautern has approximately 7000 inhabitants.
Location
Although the city of Saarlouis proper is situated on the left side of the
Saar, the district of Fraulautern (along with the districts of
Roden and
Steinrausch) are found on the river's right bank. Fraulautern borders the former coal-mining facility of the neighboring community of
Ensdorf.
History
Since the middle of the 12th century, a place known as "Lutrea Wilrea" was recorded as being the home of a settlement of either
cannons
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...
or monks. From this settlement arose the
Fraulautern Abbey, a
Stift
The term (; nl, sticht) is derived from the verb (to donate) and originally meant 'a donation'. Such donations usually comprised earning assets, originally landed estates with serfs defraying dues (originally often in kind) or with vassal tenan ...
made up of noble
Augustinian nuns.
The name "Fraulautern" comes from both the inhabitants of the cloister as well as the celtic word "Lutra" meaning "swampy stream" - a reference here to Fraulautern's location at the junction of the Fraulautern Bach into the
Saar.
The first seal of the cloister bore the symbol of the Holy Trinity – the patron saint of the cloister. From 1581, the cloister belonged to the
Duchy of Lorraine
The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy.
It was founded in 959 following th ...
, however, the town successfully contended for
Imperial immediacy
Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular pri ...
in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
before the
Reichskammergericht
The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...
on account of its holdings in
Schwarzenholz. Between 1795 and 1815, it was part of the
Département Moselle (
Canton of Saarlouis).
In 1540, the present-day Appollonia-Kapelle was consecrated as a parish church. In 1814, however, the cloister church from 1739 took over the parish church function. The decision to build a new parish church occurred in 1884 followed eventually by the laying of the cornerstone in 1893 and the consecration of the new building in 1895.
The first train station within the boundaries of present-day Saarlouis was opened in Fraulautern on December 16, 1858 in the course of the construction of the
Saar Railway. The move of the
Saarlouis Central Train Station to its present location in
Roden occurred on December 19, 1912.
On December 1, 1944, air raids destroyed large portions of Fraulautern, including the parish church and the Apollonia-Kapelle. After the cornerstone was laid for current church, the
Church of the Holiest Trinity, was consecrated on November 16, 1960 by auxiliary bishop Bernhard Stein.
Local Dialect
The local dialect in Saarlouis belongs to the
Moselle Franconian/Saarlandish group of dialects.
Sources
Fraulautern: Historie
{{Authority control
Villages in Saarland