Gielde is a village and a former municipality in the district of Wolfenbüttel, in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Since 1 November 2013, it is part of the

Schladen-Werla Schladen-Werla is a municipality in the district of Wolfenbüttel, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was formed on 1 November 2013, when the municipalities of the former ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Schladen: Gielde, the town of Hornbu ...

municipality.

Geography

Gielde is situated in the northern foothills of the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountain range, located between

Vienenburg Vienenburg is a borough of Goslar, capital of the Goslar (district), Goslar district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The former independent municipality was incorporated in Goslar on 1 January 2014. Geography It is situated in the north of the Harz mou ...

(part of

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...

) in the south and

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest c ...

in the north; neighbouring villages are

Schladen Schladen is a village and a former municipality in the Wolfenbüttel (district), district of Wolfenbüttel, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2013, it is part of the municipality Schladen-Werla. It is situated on the river Oker, approx. 15 ...

in the southeast and

Liebenburg Liebenburg is a municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography The municipal area is situated north of the Harz mountain range, within the eastern Salzgitter Hills of the Innerste Uplands. It borders on the distri ...

in the southwest.

History

A settlement at the site named ''Gelithi'' was first mentioned in a 953 deed and as ''Gelithe'' in 1140. A first parish church was probably erected during the incumbency of Bishop

Gotthard of Hildesheim Gotthard (or Godehard) (960 – 5 May 1038 AD; la, Gotthardus, Godehardus), also known as ''Gothard'' or ''Godehard the Bishop'', was a German bishop venerated as a saint. Life Gotthard was born in 960 near Niederaltaich in the diocese of Pa ...

in the early 12th century. The area then was part of the medieval

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 remnants of a Saxon

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

(''Kukeriulenburg'') are visible in the north of the present-day village, possibly used as a

refuge castle A refuge castleCreighton, Oliver (2015). ''Early European Castles''. Bloomsbury. or refuge fort (german: Fliehburg, also ''Fluchtburg'', ''Volksburg'', ''Bauernburg'' or ''Vryburg'') is a castle-like defensive location, usually surrounded by rampa ...

related to the nearby

Royal palace of Werla The Royal Palace of Werla (German language, German: ''Königspfalz Werla'') is located near Werlaburgdorf (municipality: Schladen-Werla) in Lower Saxony. The grounds of the Königspfalz, royal palace cover about 20 hectares rising atop Kreuzberg hi ...

. The manor of Altenrode, which may have been built from stones of the decayed castle, was documented as an estate of the Heiningen monastery since 1306. When the abbey was

secularised In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

in 1810, the manor became a private property and today is a listed monument.

References

External links

Gielde
on schladen-werla.de {{in lang, de Wolfenbüttel (district) Former municipalities in Lower Saxony Populated places disestablished in 2013