The Ländchen was a region east of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

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 ...

that comprised ten villages: Breckenheim, Delkenheim, Diedenbergen, Igstadt, Langenhain, Massenheim, Medenbach, Nordenstadt, Wallau, and Wildsachsen, plus Domäne Mechtildshausen. Ländchen was a Hessian territory for about 300 years. It was bounded by the

County of Nassau The County of Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later part of the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, the male line of which is now extinct, was the House of Nassau. Origins Nassau, originally a county, developed ...

to the west and the territory of the

Archbishopric of Mainz The Electorate of Mainz (german: Kurfürstentum Mainz or ', la, Electoratus Moguntinus), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the ...

to the east. (It is distinct from the Blue Ländchen at

Nastätten Nastätten is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Taunus, approx. 25 km southeast of Koblenz, and 35 km northwest of Wiesbaden. Nastätten is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...

.) Breckenheim, Delkenheim,

Igstadt Igstadt is an eastern borough of Wiesbaden, capital of the state of Hesse, Germany. It was incorporated into Wiesbaden on April 1, 1928 and currently has about 2,200 residents. Igstadt is situated on the eastern slope of the Wäschbachtal valley a ...

, Medenbach, and

Nordenstadt Nordenstadt is one of Wiesbaden's eastern suburbs, and was incorporated into the city of Wiesbaden on 1 January 1977. Its population is 7,829 (2020). It hosted the first corporate headquarters of Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literall ...

are now

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

s of Wiesbaden. Domäne Mechtildshausen is also part of the borough of

Wiesbaden-Erbenheim Erbenheim is a borough of Wiesbaden, capital of the federal state of Hesse, Germany. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. Formerly an independent municipality, the settlement was incorporated into Wiesbaden on April 10, 1928. ''Militärflugplatz ...

. Diedenbergen,

Langenhain Langenhain is a village and a district in the town of Hofheim, Hesse, near Frankfurt, Germany. The village was incorporated into Hofheim in 1972, and it is in the north part of the city. The district currently has a population of around 4,000. Ro ...

Wallau image:Wappen Wallau (Taunus).png, The Coat of arms, Coat of Arms of Wallau Wallau in Taunus is a quarter of Hofheim, Hesse, Hofheim in Main-Taunus-Kreis in Hesse, Germany, and has a population of 4,442 (as of 31 December 2019). An archaeological te ...

, and Wildsachsen are now boroughs of

Hofheim am Taunus Hofheim (; officially known as Hofheim am Taunus) is the administrative centre of Main-Taunus-Kreis district, in the south of the German state of Hesse. Its population in September 2020 was 39,946. Geography Location The town is located on the so ...

. Massenheim is a borough of

Hochheim am Main Hochheim am Main (; Old English: Hockamore) is a town in the Main-Taunus district of the German state of Hesse. It is located near the right bank of the river Main three miles above its confluence with the Rhine, as well as on the German Timber- ...

. The Ländchen gives its name to a railway line, the Ländchesbahn, which traverses this territory.

History

The Ländchen was sold by Count Gottfried IX (X) of Eppstein-Münzenberg in 1492 to the Landgrave William III "The Younger" of Hesse. In 1526, Landgrave Philipp I "the Magnanimous" led the population to

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. Until the 20th century, the Ländchen was a purely Protestant territory. Thus, the census of December 1, 1910 counted only 248 Catholics and 133 Jews among its 7818 inhabitants. In the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

, the population fell to just 400 citizens in 1630. By 1821, the population was up to 4805. As a result of the Secularization of 1803, the Ländchen, as well as the adjacent territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz, were given to the

Principality of Nassau-Usingen Nassau-Usingen was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Upper Rhenish Circle that became a principality in 1688. The origin of the county lies in the medieval county of Weilnau that was acquired by the counts of Nassau-Weilburg in 1602. T ...

(which would become part of the

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

in 1806).P. Wagner: ''Die Bildung des Herzogtums Nassau und das nassauische Fürstenhaus''. In: Karl Jacobi (Hrsg.): ''Nassauisches Heimatbuch''. Gebrüder Petmecky, Wiesbaden 1913.

References

Sources

* H. Diefenbach: ''Das Ländchen'', in Karl Jacobi (Hrsg.): ''Nassauisches Heimatbuch''. Gebrüder Petmecky, Wiesbaden, 1913. {{DEFAULTSORT:Landchen Nassau (state) Geography of Wiesbaden