Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint of Germany.

History

The town of Spangenberg had its first documented mention in 1261, at about the time when the Treffurt family ruled Spangenberg.

Historic sights

Schloss-Spangenberg Germany October-2010 Front-View

The town is known best of all for Spangenberg Castle, built in 1253 and the town's landmark. Also worth seeing are the

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

buildings in the Old Town and the remains of the town's old wall, several of whose towers are still standing. In World War II, Spangenberg Castle was used as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp,

Oflag IX-A/H Oflag IX-A was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located in Spangenberg Castle in the small town of Spangenberg in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Camp history The camp was opened in October 1939 as Oflag IX-AMattiello (1986), p.206 to hou ...

. There was a second camp a few miles to the south - Oflag IX-A-Z.

Coat of arms

Spangenberg's civic

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is based on the town's oldest known seal from 1317. The object on the viewer's right (heraldically speaking, the left, as the shield is considered from the point of view of the bearer) side is a kind of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

ized plant locally known as a ''Spange'' (also

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

for "brooch" or "clip"), the town's namesake. The item on the viewer's left (heraldic right) is half of a wheel. Wheels are common in German civic heraldry, usually indicating some connection to 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 ...

, whose arms include

wheels A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...

in honor of St. Willigis. The current colours – red and gold – have been in use since 1621.Heraldry of the World
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Constituent communities

In alphabetical order, these are Bergheim, Bischofferode, Elbersdorf, Herlefeld, Kaltenbach, Landefeld, Metzebach, Mörshausen, Nausis, Pfieffe, Schnellrode, Vockerode-Dinkelberg and Weidelbach.

Partnerships

Spangenberg maintains partnerships with the following places: *

Treffurt Treffurt () is a small town in the western region of the Wartburgkreis district which belongs to the federal state of Thuringia. The former municipality Ifta was merged into Treffurt in January 2019. The town lies near the Werra and is surrounded ...

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 ...

since 1990 *

Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron (, ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Charente-Maritime, southwestern France. It is located on the island of Oléron Island, Oléron. As the largest city on the island, it ...

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

since 1997 *

Pleszew Pleszew (; german: Pleschen) is a town in central Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship, about 90 km southeast of Poznań. It is the capital of Pleszew County (''powiat pleszewski''). Population is 17,892 (2004). History The oldest permanen ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

since 1997 Margarethe von der Saale 2

Henry II, Landgrave of Hesse Henry II of Hesse (German: ''Heinrich''), (c. 1299 – 3 June 1376) called "the Iron" was Landgrave of Hesse from 1328–1376. Henry was the son of Otto I, Landgrave of Hesse and Adelheid of Ravensburg. With his wife Elisabeth of Thuringia, dau ...

(before 1302-1376), Landgraf, resided at Schloss Spangenberg *

Hermann II, Landgrave of Hesse Hermann II of Hesse (1341 – 24 May 1413) was Landgrave of Hesse from 1376 to 1413. Hermann II, called "the Scholar", was born in 1345 in Burg Grebenstein (de) (Grebenstein castle), the son of Louis the Junker. Louis the Junker was a son of O ...

(1341-1413), Landgraf, resided at the castle *

William I, Landgrave of Lower Hesse William I of Hesse (german: Wilhelm) (4 July 1466 – 8 February 1515) was the Landgrave of Hesse (Lower Hesse) from 1471 to 1493. His parents were Louis the Frank (1438–1471) and Mechthild, daughter of Count Louis I of Württemberg. On 17 F ...

(1466-1515), Landgraf, died at Schloss Spangenberg *

Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (in English: "the Magnanimous"), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestan ...

(1504-1567), Landgraf, lived at Schloss Spangenberg *

William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel William IV of Hesse-Kassel (24 June 153225 August 1592), also called ''William the Wise'', was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day. Life Lan ...

(1532-1592), Landgraf, gave the castle its present form *

Margarethe von der Saale Margarethe von der Saale (1522 – 6 July 1566) was a German noblewoman, lady-in-waiting and morganatic spouse by bigamy to Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Marriage Born as daughter of Hans von der Saale and his wife, Anna von Miltitz. When she ca ...

(1522-1566), sister of Philip the Magnanimous, lived in the castle seat, her grave is in the city church of St. John *

Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof (sometimes Kirchhoff, — ) was a German Landsknecht, Baroque poet and translator. He left a rich and versatile collection of works. The Ausläufer collections contain sixteen works. His printed and handwritten works number ...

(1525-1605), Burggraf on Schloss Spangenberg * Michael Rutschky (born 1943), writer, grew up in Spangenberg

References

External links

Spangenberg
{{Authority control Schwalm-Eder-Kreis