Gumpelstadt is a village of the
Moorgrund municipality in the
Wartburgkreis
Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Wer ...
district in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
,
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 1994).
Geography
Gumpelstadt is located at an altitude of about 280 meters on the southwest edge of the
Thuringian Forest
The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...
and about five kilometers northeast of
Bad Salzungen
Bad Salzungen () is a town in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wartburgkreis district.
Geography
Location
Bad Salzungen is situated on the river Werra, east of Tiefenort and south of Eisenach.
Divisions
In July 2018 the former m ...
.
History
Gumpelstadt was first mentioned in 1155. It was first a territory of the
Fulda monastery
The Abbey of Fulda (German ''Kloster Fulda'', Latin ''Abbatia Fuldensis''), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda (''Fürstabtei Fulda'') and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (''Fürstbistum Fulda''), was a Order of Saint Benedict, Benedicti ...
. In 1346 it was take over by the
House of Wettin
The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...
.
Between 1629 and 1664 there were
witch trial
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...
s held in Gumpelstadt in which a woman and a man were burned to death and a woman died under torture.
In 1680, with the fracturing of the
Ernestine duchies
The Ernestine duchies (), also known as the Saxon duchies (, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose numb ...
, Gumpelstadt became part of the Principality of
Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia.
Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernestin ...
. It was first part of Amt Altenstein, in 1868 it became part of Meiningen county and in 1950 part of Bad Salzungen county. In 1955, Gumpelstadt had 1223 inhabitants.
Historic industries in the village were agriculture and livestock, and later mining and textile industry.
On 25 March 1994, the municipalities Gumpelstadt, Waldfisch and Witzelroda were dissolved and merged to form the new community
Moorgrund.
[Thüringer Verordnung über die Auflösung und Zusammenlegung der Gemeinden Gumpelstadt, Waldfisch und Witzelroda vom 25. Februar 1994]
Sights
Gumpelstadt is home to 2 nature reserves, Jachzenthal and the mountain Alte Warth, both designated on 6 April 1995.
Famous people
* Margarete Schuck (1861-1950), writer
References
{{authority control
Former municipalities in Thuringia
Wartburgkreis