Leonrod is a village in the borough of the market town of Dietenhofen in the district of Ansbach,

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however, ...

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 ...

Geography

Leonrod lies within the Frankenhöhe Nature Park about one kilometre northwest of Dietenhofen, in the Bibert valley between two spurs of the

Frankenhöhe The Franconian HeightsBavarian State Chancellery, ''Information about Bavaria'', 1981, p. 11. (german: Frankenhöhe) are a hill ridge, up to , in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in South Germany. Location and boundaries The Franconian Heights l ...

. The confluences of the Kiengraben stream and the Bibert and the Hutweihergraben and the Hutweiher are both located in the parish. In addition the Wiesengraben rises here, a right tributary of the Bibert.

History

Leonrod was first mentioned on 1218 as ''Lewenrode'' and was the village near the old jointly-inherited castle or ''

Ganerbenburg A ''Ganerbenburg'' (plural: ''Ganerbenburgen'') is a castle occupied and managed by several families or family lines at the same time. These families shared common areas of the castle including the courtyard, well, and chapel, whilst maintaining th ...

''. Leonrod developed from three originally separate settlements that grew together to form Leonrod. These were ''Heylingsdorff'', ''Heiligendorf'' or ''Seeligendorff'' north of the Bibwert and ''Moosdorf'' south of the Bibert. Heylingsdorff was first mentioned around 1700, appears increasingly often in 18th century records under the name Seeligendorf. In a 1739 deed there is mention of a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

in the village. Moosdorf must have been located where the guest house now is. The guest house brewed its own beer until 1923. On the southwestern edge of the parish stand the ruins of Leonrod Castle, a ''Ganerbenburg'' of the Leonrod family. The

water castle A water castle is a castle whose site is largely defended by water. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbodies such as island castles in a river or offshore. The term comes from European castle st ...

, built in the 13th century, survived 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 ...

unscathed only to burn down in 1651 when attempts were made to burn off the vegetation in the moat. The castle is owned by a community of heirs that goes back to the aristocratic line which died out in 1951. Leonrod came under the jurisdiction of two hanging courts, the part south of the Bibert belonged to Ansbach, the northern part to

Markt Erlbach Markt Erlbach is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim in Bavaria in Germany. Mayor Birgit Kreß was elected in 2008 as the new mayor. References

Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim {{ ...

. In the ''Geographischen statistisch-topographischen Lexikon von Franken'' (1801) the village is described as follows: ''"Leonrod, a village and castle in the knight's estate of Altmühl, the seat of the counts of Leonrod on the Biebert, above Dietenhofen, to which parish its inhabitants belong, within the area of jurisdiction of the Oberamt of Ansbach. The castle is ruined."'' Under the municipal edict Leonrod became an administratively independent municipality. In the wake of the land reforms in Bavaria it was incorporated into Dietenhofen on 1 July 1969.

Heritage monumentsBaudenkmäler in Dietenhofen
(PDF; 138 kB)

* Leonrod Castle ruins: water castle, inner ward, four buildings around a ''bergfried'', 13th–16th century; outer ward, former Chapel of St. George, small hall, around 1327. * House No. 1: Hunting lodge, hipped roof with timber-framed upper storey, 17th/18th century * House No. 19: Gasthaus Weinländer, two-storey, plastered, mansard roof, 18th century

Population growth

Coat of arms

Since 20 May 1948 Leonrod has had a coat of arms designed in 1940. The heraldically stylized water castle and the small shield with a noble coat of arms recall the former estate of the barons of Leonrod with which the name of the village and its history are intertwined. The noble line were later elevated to imperial Franconian knights.

References

Literature

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External links

Photos of the ruins of Leonrod Castle

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