Spessart is a ''
Mittelgebirge
A ''Mittelgebirge'' (German: ''Mittel'', "middle/medium"; ''Gebirge'', "mountain range") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to ...
'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
and
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
in
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 ...
. It is bordered by the
Vogelsberg
The is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley.
Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Europe's largest ...
,
Rhön and
Odenwald
The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...
. The highest elevation is the
Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level.
Etymology
![Schwarzspecht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Schwarzspecht.jpg)
The name is derived from "Spechtshardt". ''Specht'' is the German word for
woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
and ''Hardt'' is an outdated word meaning "hilly forest".
Geography
Location
The Spessart is a ''
Mittelgebirge
A ''Mittelgebirge'' (German: ''Mittel'', "middle/medium"; ''Gebirge'', "mountain range") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to ...
'', part of the German
Central Uplands
The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...
, located in the
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia.
History
After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally ...
region of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
and in
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
,
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 ...
. It is bordered by other ranges of hills: the
Vogelsberg
The is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley.
Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Europe's largest ...
in the north,
Rhön in the northeast and
Odenwald
The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...
in the southwest. Another way of describing the extent of the range is by naming the rivers that border it: the
Main
Main may refer to:
Geography
* Main River (disambiguation)
**Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries
...
in the south and west, the
Kinzig in the north and the
Sinn
In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an idea of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in 1892 (in his paper "On Sense and Reference"; German: "Über Sinn und Bedeutung"), reflecting the ...
in the northeast.
The area of the Spessart totals around 2,440 square kilometres, of which 1,710 square kilometres are part of Bavaria.
The highest elevation is the
Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level.
The highest elevation in the Hessian part of the Spessart is
Hermannskoppe
Hermannskoppe is a hill of Hesse, Germany. Its peak is located in the municipality of Flörsbachtal and is, at 567 m above NHN, the highest elevation of the Hessian part of the ''Mittelgebirge'' Spessart. It lies right on the border with the stat ...
at 567 metres.
Since the admission of
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU), the geographical centre of the EU is located in the village of Westerngrund, near
Schöllkrippen
Schöllkrippen is a market community in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and seat of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municipal association) of Schöllkrippen. It ha ...
, according to the ''Institut de Géographie'' in Paris. Previously, the centre was located west of
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one o ...
.
Divisions
There are a number of ways of dividing the Spessart into sub-regions. A popular approach is to divide it into ''Mainspessart'', ''Vorspessart'', ''Hochspessart'' and ''Nordspessart'' (or ''Kinzigtal'').
The western edge of the range between Aschaffenburg and
Miltenberg
Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000.
Geography
Location
The old town lies on the Mai ...
is generally referred to as ''Vorspessart''.
However, some use that name also for the more northerly area between Aschaffenburg, Alzenau and Gelnhausen.
It extends east to around Schöllkrippen and Mespelbrunn. The highest elevation here is the Hahnenkamm (460 metres).
The ''Nordspessart'' is the stretch of hills to the south of the valley of the Kinzig, flowing from
Schlüchtern
Schlüchtern is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hessen, Germany. It is located on the river Kinzig, approximately 30 km southwest of Fulda. Schlüchtern has a population close to 16,000.
Location
Schlüchtern is located in the '' Be ...
to its mouth in the Main at
Hanau
Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...
.
It also includes the valleys of small streams feeding the Kinzig from the south like the Bieber or Orb. There is some overlap with the northwestern part of the ''Vorspessart''. The name ''Hochspessart'' is generally used for the central uplands of the range, stretching around 50 kilometres west to east and almost 100 kilometres north to south. The area contains around 70,000 hectares of forest, which was protected from logging during the Middle Ages due to its use as a hunting preserve.
Finally, the region between Gemünden, Wertheim, Miltenberg and Klingenberg is known as ''Mainspessart''.
The major
natural region
A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate.
From the ecology, ecological point of view, the naturally occurring fl ...
s making up the Spessart are known as ''Sandstein-Spessart'' and ''Vorspessart''.
Parts of the Spessart lie within the
Main-Kinzig district (Hesse) and the Bavarian districts
Main-Spessart,
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat.
Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
(city),
Landkreis Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg (Low Franconian: ''Ascheberg'') is a Districts of Germany, ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg, Offenbach (district), Offenbach, Main-Kinzig ...
and
Miltenberg
Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000.
Geography
Location
The old town lies on the Mai ...
.
According to a strictly geological definition, a small region south of the Main near
Wertheim and another south of
Gemünden can be considered part of the Spessart. That definition would mean that part of the Spessart lies in the state of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
.
The area within the triangle
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
-Wertheim-Gemünden is sometimes referred to as ''Würzburger Spessart''.
Geology
![Hunnenstein](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Hunnenstein.jpg)
The lowest strata of the Spessart are made up of
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
and
mica schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...
, dating back around 1,200 million years. These rock types are most visible in the ''Vorspessart''. On top of this is the
Zechstein
The Zechstein (German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian (Guadalupian to Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of Englan ...
, dating to the
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
, found in a band stretching from
Sailauf
Sailauf is a municipality in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 3,600.
Geography Location
The community lies in the area of the Spessa ...
to
Eidengesäß and as an "island" in the area of the stream Bieber near
Biebergemünd
Biebergemünd is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of over 8,000 and lies in the wooded hills of the Spessart.
Etymology
The name derives from the River Bieber, which flows (''mündet'') into the K ...
, where it contained deposits of
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
and
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...
.
The top layer of most of the ''Hochspessart'' and southern Spessart is made up of a slab of ''Buntsandstein'' or red
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
, of up to 400 metres thickness. It dates back about 250 million years and is prevalent especially around
Miltenberg
Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000.
Geography
Location
The old town lies on the Mai ...
. This is the best-known stone of the area, as it has been used in the past for many public buildings including the cathedrals of the Rhine valley, like
Mainz Cathedral
, native_name_lang =
, image = Mainzer Dom nw.jpg
, imagesize =
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, imagealt =
, caption =
, pushpin map =
, pushpin label position =
, pushpin map alt =
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, iso regi ...
.
On the western edge of the range there is also
loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
, a wind-deposited sediment.
The area of the ''Würzburger Spessart'' is made up of
Muschelkalk
The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...
, which provides better conditions for agriculture than the sandstone predominating in most of the Spessart proper.
However, the north-south
rift
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics.
Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-grabe ...
that follows the river Main along the western leg of the ''Maindreieck'' does not match exactly the geological divide between the sandstone and the Muschelkalk. For around 60 kilometres the rift parallels the Main from Gemünden to
Triefenstein
Markt Triefenstein () is a market community in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It was created in 1978 out of the villages Homburg am Main, Lengfurt, Rettersheim and ...
. The hills east of the river thus resemble those of the Spessart geologically.
Climate and ecology
Climate
The climate of the area is
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
, featuring cool summers and relatively mild winters.
In the Main valley, the average yearly temperature is around 8 to 9 degrees Celsius. In the central massif (''Hochspessart'') it is 6 to 7 degrees.
The presence of extended woodlands results in high humidity and especially in the valleys there is often fog.
The largest amount of precipitation falls in the elevated region of the ''Hochspessart'', rising from the west to a maximum of 1,000 mm/year and then falling back on the lee side of the range (prevailing winds come from the west) to around 600 mm/year in the Main valley.
Depending on the elevation, about 15% to 20% of the annual precipitation falls as snow.
In the ''Hochspessart'' there are around 70 to 80 days of snow, in the ''Vorspessart'' and in the valleys of the Sinn and
Hafenlohr around 40 to 50 days and around 30 days in the Main valley.
A snow cover of 10 centimetres or more is relatively rare, prevailing on average on fewer than 10 days per year in the Main valley, 15 to 20 days in the ''Vorspessart'' and 30 to 35 days in the ''Hochspessart''.
Naturparks
![Naturpark Spessart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Naturpark_Spessart.svg)
A German
nature park
A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...
(''Naturpark'') is a protected area, a sort of
nature preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...
. The
Spessart Nature Park covers the most heavily wooded
Central Upland
The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...
range in Germany.
There are no cities or large towns inside the park; instead they lie around the forested region.
The larger Bavarian part of the park was established in 1961 as the very first one within that state, the Hessian one followed in 1962.
The
Bavarian Spessart Nature Park (''Naturpark Bayerischer Spessart'') measures 171,000 hectares in area and includes part of the southern
Rhön (north of Gemünden and east of the Sinn river) and extends to the southern side of the Main river between
Marktheidenfeld
Marktheidenfeld () is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat (but not a member) of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municipal association) of Markth ...
and
Karlstadt.
It features the largest continuous
mixed forest
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These fo ...
in Germany.
The
Hessian Spessart Nature Park
Spessart Nature Park (german: Naturpark Spessart) is a nature park in Germany, managed by ''Naturpark Spessart e. V.'' The park spans the states of Hesse and Bavaria, and covers an area of 2,440 km² within the German hill range known as the ...
(''Naturpark Hessischer Spessart'') covers 72,900 hectares and is bordered in the north by the valley of the Kinzig.
For the current national park controversy, see below.
Flora and fauna
In the ''Vorspessart''
evergreens
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
predominate, and meadows with scattered fruit trees (''Streuobstwiesen'') and
whitethorn are common.
In the ''Hochspessart'', around 85% of which is covered by forests,
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s and
beeches
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
are most numerous.
The oldest trees are found in the nature preserves of Rohrberg (near Rohrbrunn) and Metzgergraben.
Like the ''Vorspessart'', the ''Nordspessart'' also sports more evergreens, because the original tree cover there was largely gone by the 15th century as a result of the substantial fuel needs of the local glass foundry industry.
The Spessart provides a habitat for numerous species of animals.
Deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
,
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
s and
foxes
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
are quite common. There are also
badgers
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by the ...
,
raccoons
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of . ...
,
European wildcat
The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus. It inhabits forests from the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe to the Caucasus. Its fur i ...
s,
Eurasian lynx
The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...
and
marten.
The
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
, although hunted to extinction in the region, has been successfully re-established since the 1980s along several river valleys (Hafenlohr, Sinn).
Several species of woodpecker are found in the Spessart: black, great spotted, middle spotted, green and grey-faced.
History
Prehistoric
The region has been inhabited since at least the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, although settlement of the higher elevations was slow and initially the population was concentrated in the valleys. Bronze Age
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
have been found north of
Alzenau
Alzenau (; until 31 December 2006 officially ''Alzenau i.UFr.'') is a town in the north of the Aschaffenburg district in the '' Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. Until 1 July 1972, Alzenau was the dist ...
, near
Geiselbach
Geiselbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Location
Geiselbach lies on the Hesse-Bavaria boundary, 20 km north of Aschaffenburg ...
and
Mömbris
Mömbris is a community – since 31 January 1964 a market community – in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. With over 11,000 inhabitants, Mömbris is the district ...
as well as near Pflaumheim, southwest of Aschaffenburg.
Other tumuli were found near
Kleinwallstadt
Kleinwallstadt is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the like-named ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (Administrative Community).
Geograp ...
, between
Elsenfeld
Elsenfeld is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the river Main between the hills of the Spessart, east of the river, and Odenwal ...
and Eichelsbach, near
Klingenberg and on the Dürrenberg near
Heimbuchenthal.
The discovery of numerous prehistoric tools and weapons indicates that the Spessart was frequented by hunters, gatherers and fishers. These findings have been concentrated in the valley of the Kinzig, around Aschaffenburg, as well as in the valleys of the
Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter B ...
, the
Lohr and the
Sinn
In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an idea of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in 1892 (in his paper "On Sense and Reference"; German: "Über Sinn und Bedeutung"), reflecting the ...
rivers.
Near
Goldbach, early
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
artifacts have been found, attributed to the
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European Archaeological culture, culture of Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe ...
.
Hill forts
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-Rom ...
attributed inter alia to
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
of the
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defini ...
have been found on the
Schanzenkopf near Wasserlos, on the Schloßberg near Soden/
Sulzbach, on the Schanzkopf near Klingenberg and close to Miltenberg (Greinberg and Bürgstadter Berg, although the latter dates to the Urnfield period and/or even earlier Michelsberger culture). These fortified refuges or defended hill-top settlements were mostly built between 500 and 100 BC.
Since the Spessart proper was not part of the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
territory, the Romans left traces only in the northwest of the region. The
Limes
Limes may refer to:
* the plural form of lime (disambiguation)
* the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to:
** Limes (Roman Empire)
(Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting ...
met the Main river near
Großkrotzenburg
Großkrotzenburg is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of around 7,500.
The town is mainly known for its swimming lake and its coal-fired power station.
Geography Location
Großkrotzenburg is loca ...
and the border then followed the river south all the way to Miltenberg. Large
castra
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term.
In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...
were located at
Seligenstadt
Seligenstadt is a town in the Offenbach (district), Offenbach district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Seligenstadt is one of Germany's oldest towns and was already of great importance in Carolingian ...
,
Stockstadt am Main,
Niedernberg
Niedernberg is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Miltenberg (district), Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Location
Niedernberg is just under 1 ...
,
Obernburg
Obernburg am Main (officially ''Obernburg a.Main'', short version: ''Obernburg,'' ) is a town in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 8,500.
...
,
Wörth,
Trennfurt (near Klingenberg) and near Miltenberg.
The northern part of the ''Vorspessart'' was kept uninhabited by the Romans as a "no man's land" and buffer zone between their border and the local tribes.
As the Roman empire collapsed, the
Burgundians came to the Main valley from the northeast in the late 3rd century. In the 5th century they were in turn ousted by the
Allemanni, coming from the south.
Aschaffenburg, Lohr and Gemünden were likely founded by them.
The Alemanni were then absorbed by the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
moving into the region from the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
. Graves dating to the 6th to 8th century were found near Obernburg,
Mömlingen
Mömlingen is a municipality in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Location
Mömlingen, which styles itself “Gateway to the Odenwald”, lies framed by ...
, Obernau and Aschaffenburg.
Medieval
![Engelsstaffeln Kloster Engelberg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Engelsstaffeln_Kloster_Engelberg.jpg)
Under the Franks, the Spessart was used for hunting by
freemen. During the reign of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
, the forests of the Spessart were a royal hunting preserve and thus off-limits to others.
The uplands were only settled after abbeys/monasteries were established in the region. Besides the
Benedictinians at
Amorbach
Amorbach () is a town in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany, with some 4,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the small river Mud, in the northeastern part of the Odenwald ...
and Seligenstadt, the Benedictine abbey at Neustadt am Main was founded around 770. ''
Kloster Neustadt'' received gifts of substantial woodlands from Charlemagne and was tasked by him with
spreading Christianity in the region.
Around the year 800, Charlemagne had
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
settle in the ''Vorspessart''.
Subsequent efforts to settle the uplands were made by the inhabitants of villages around the periphery like Klingenberg, Miltenberg,
Kreuzwertheim
Kreuzwertheim () is a market town in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municipal association) of Kreuzwertheim. It ha ...
,
Lohr or Gemünden. From the valley of the Sinn, the
Counts of Rieneck
The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria (in the west of Lower Franconia). It bore the same name as its original ruling family, the Counts of Rieneck, from whom the count ...
and the Knights of the Thüngen family (at
Burgsinn
Burgsinn is a market community in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municipal association) of Burgsinn. It has a popu ...
) also attempted to expand into the Spessart. However, their efforts were hindered by their insular position, sandwiched between the substantial holdings of the great ecclesial powers of
Fulda
Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival.
History ...
,
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg is ...
and
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
. The latter acquired local influence not least via the ''
Kollegiatsstift Aschaffenburg'', which had been gifted much of the previous royal hunting preserve in 974 by
Emperor Otto II
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
. In 982,
Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria
Otto I (born 954, died 31 October or 1 November 982) was the Duke of Swabia from 973 and Duke of Bavaria from 976. He was a member of the Ottonian dynasty, the only son of Duke Liudolf of Swabia and his wife Ida, and thus a grandson of the Empero ...
died and left his regional territories to Mainz, which eventually turned Aschaffenburg into a second princely residence. Settlement efforts also originated from the Kinzig valley, in particular from the ''
Kaiserpfalz
The term ''Kaiserpfalz'' (, "imperial palace") or ''Königspfalz'' (, "royal palace", from Middle High German ''phal ne'' to Old High German ''phalanza'' from Middle Latin ''palatia'' luralto Latin ''palatium'' "palace") refers to a number of ...
'' at Gelnhausen (built under
Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in the 12th century).
Abbeys also continued to expand into the forest. Apart from ''Kloster Neustadt'', there was an
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
priory at
Triefenstein
Markt Triefenstein () is a market community in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It was created in 1978 out of the villages Homburg am Main, Lengfurt, Rettersheim and ...
(), founded in 1102.
Much of the medieval activity inside the Spessart centred on hunting by nobles, however, including notably the Prince-Electors/Archbishops of Mainz. Between the 12th and the 15th century several
hunting lodges
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
(Schöllkrippen, Wiesen,
Rothenbuch
Rothenbuch is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 1,700.
Geography Location
Rothenbuch lies in the region ''Bayerischer U ...
, Bartelstein, Rohrbrunn) and moated castles (Burgsinn, Sommerau,
Mespelbrunn) were constructed. To attract staff, the rulers provided land and cattle as well as forestry and fishing rights.
In the 13th and 14th century, the Archbishops of Mainz expanded their influence and territory in the region.
In the 14th century, they set up a system of local representatives (''Forst-'' and ''Bachhuben'') who were in charge of supervising hunting and forestry (''Forsthuben'') or fishing and organising the rafting of logs downriver (''Bachhuben''). These positions were mostly filled with lesser nobles who built fortified houses (e.g. at Oberaulenbach near
Eschau
Eschau is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 3,800.
Geography
Location
Eschau lies in the Bavarian Lower Mai ...
and at Sommerau).
In total there were 18 to 22 of these ''Huben'' (or ''Hufen'', so called after an area of land that could be circuited on horseback in a given amount of time), located inter alia in Hösbach, Goldbach, Krausenbach, Obernau, Kleinostheim, Sailauf, Waldaschaff, Wintersbach and Heimbuchenthal.
The commoners employed by the absentee feudal lords lived in villages that took the typical form of stretching along a single main street which followed the valleys of little streams (''Streifendörfer'', today still visible at Hessenthal, Mespelbrunn, Heimbuchenthal or Wintersbach).
Settlers were granted a plot of land of around 100 metres width stretching from the road or stream in the middle of the valley up to the top of the ridges on either side of the valley. However, since the territory ruled by Mainz used an inheritance law that required the property to be split between all the sons of the deceased, the size of the holdings soon began to dwindle and often became too small to support families.
The Counts of Rieneck, originally ''
vogt
During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...
s'' in the service of the Archbishops of Mainz, later became their rivals in the struggle for the Spessart's resources. Until the family died out in 1543, the rivalry between Mainz and Rieneck dominated the area's history.
Although sparsely populated in the Middle Ages, the Spessart at the time was crossed by two important trading routes. One, known as the ''
Eselsweg
The Eselsweg (English: "donkey trail") is a long-distance hiking trail that follows an ancient trade route through the ''Mittelgebirge'' Spessart, in the states of Hesse and Bavaria, Germany. It is 111 km long and leads from Schlüchtern in t ...
'' ("donkey path") was used to transport salt (on the back of donkeys) from what is today
Bad Orb to the Main near
Großheubach
Großheubach (or ''Grossheubach'') is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Location
Großheubach lies on the right bank of the Main. T ...
where it was loaded on ships.
The other, the ''
Birkenhainer Strasse'', connected Hanau in the west to Gemünden in the east, cutting across the wide loop of the Main known as ''Mainviereck''. This route seems to have been in use as early as
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
times and was heavily frequented. The name probably derived from a grove of
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
trees near Geiselbach.
A major regional industry in medieval and early modern times were glass foundries that made use of the abundant local supply of firewood (e.g. at Wiesthal, Weibersbrunn, Neuhütten, Heigenbrücken, Einsiedel and Heinrichsthal). Glass production then required an annual amount of wood roughly translating to 20 to 30 hectares of forest per foundry. By the early 15th century, the four foundries located in the territory controlled by Mainz produced around 230,000 pieces of blown glass and 3,000
zentner
The zentner (German ''Zentner'', from Latin ''centenarius'', derived from ''centum'' meaning "hundred") is a name for a unit of mass which was used predominantly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, although it was also sometimes used in the Unit ...
of flat glass each year. Most of these enterprises were discontinued by the 18th and 19th century, however, having become uneconomical.
Modern
![Hasenstab Kreuz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Hasenstab_Kreuz.jpg)
Low soil quality and decreasing plot size made life hard for farmers in the higher elevations of the Spessart. Conditions became worse with the destruction and diseases brought by wars like the ''
Bauernkrieg'' in 1525, the ''
Schmalkaldsche Krieg'' of 1546/47
and then 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 ...
in 1618-48. In the wake of the chaos of the Thirty Years' War, bands of brigands began to operate in the Spessart (''Spessarträuber''). Due to the area's low density of population, important trade routes passing through lonely forest territory and the Spessart's extremely fragmented political situation (there were at times 17 separate jurisdictions), banditry was a lucrative business. Although merchant "caravans" of up to 70 wagons banded together for mutual protection, bands of brigands repeatedly succeeded in spectacular raids that made them the terror of the region. Bandit activity again peaked in the early 19th century (1803–11), during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
and following the fall of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. It was only after the end of the political fragmentation in the region that law and order were restored. The last ''Spessarträuber'' were executed at Heidelberg in 1812.
After the 17th century, ("iron hammers") were set up, using water power to create
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
. These early industrial establishments were at Laufach, Waldaschaff, Schafsteg, Höllhammer, Lichtenau and Wintersbach. The last of these still in operation is in the Haslochtal.
The French invasion during the
War of the First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...
again brought war to the Spessart in 1796.
In 1803, the ecclesial princedoms were abolished in the
Secularization
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 ...
. The northern part of the Spessart, part of the ''Grafschaft Hanau'', became part of ''
Kurhessen
The Electorate of Hesse (german: Kurfürstentum Hessen), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was a landgraviate whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by Napoleon. When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its pri ...
'', with the exception of Alzenau. After the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
of 1814/15, the former territories of Mainz and Würzburg became part of the
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...
.
In 1866, the ''Kurfürstentum Hessen'' and with it the northern Spessart became
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n.
In 1854 the railway between Würzburg and Aschaffenburg was opened, replacing the post route in use since 1615 as the main thoroughfare through the hills.
In
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Aschaffenburg was severely hit by Allied air raids and further damaged by a siege.
In the 1950s the Spessart section of the ''
Bundesautobahn 3
is an autobahn in Germany running from the Germany-Netherlands border near Wesel in the northwest to the Germany-Austria border near Passau.
Major cities along its total length of 778 km (483 mi) include Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsse ...
'' (or A3) was built, linking Würzburg and Aschaffenburg.
Culture and tourism
Legends & Fairytales
The Spessart is widely known for its legends, ghost stories and fairytales. The most important historical account of the legendary
Johann Georg Faust
Johann Georg Faust (; c. 1480 or 1466 – c. 1541), also known in English as John Faustus , was a German itinerant alchemist, astrologer, and magician of the German Renaissance.
''Doctor Faust'' became the subject of folk legend in the ...
, namesake of the proverbial
Faustain Bargain, was when he came to the small Spessart town of
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one o ...
in 1506. The
Grimm brothers
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
spent their youth in the 1790s at nearby
Steinau on the river Kinzig. Although they compiled
Grimms' Fairy Tales
''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publi ...
, their world-famous collection of fairy tales, only in 1812 and after having moved to
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 ...
, regional legends from their childhood did feature in that collection. Thus, the tale of
Snow White
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...
may have originated in the Spessart heartlands, with the town of
Lohr pushing forward a substantial case for being the home and inspiration for the main characters and elements like the magic mirror. Along that line of interpretation, the seven dwarfs appearing in the story are actually based on stunted miners from the
Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter B ...
region. Also the use of children for mining in very tight crawlspaces and the unhealthy working conditions often caused medieval and early modern miners to be stunted or otherwise deformed. Local glass production could have been the inspiration for the glass coffin featured in the fairy tale.
Other popular characters from German folklore also appear prominently in legends from the region. In stark contrast to the Grimm brothers' version, the more rural, precarious lifes of Spessart folks made
Mother Hulda
"Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480.
Frau Holle (als ...
, generally a regular staple in middle German tales, a much more brutal and unfathomable figure, at times even resorting to killing people. A similar female appearance is the ''Aaleborgfraale'' (regional dialect for "Altenburg lady"), who is especially feared and revered by locals. The most popular story is about her guarding a buried treasure chest in legendary "Altenburg" castle, that can only be retrieved by being absolutely silent during the process. If one fails to do so, by opening the wooden crate, he or she will not find treasures, but will face the harrowing image of the ''Aaleborgfraale'' stepping out of the crate. As with Mother Hulda, the character is said to go back to pre-Christian times in the Bronze Age.
Many of the lesser-known Spessart tales that were passed down till today have been collected by local teacher and ethnologist Valentin Pfeiffer (1886–1964). His book ''Spessart-Sagen'' ("Spessart legends") has been reprinted 17 times.
Literature & Film
The Spessart is the point for departure for the protagonist of what is widely regarded as the first major German novel, ''
Simplicius Simplicissimus
''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in 1668 by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen and probably published the same year (althou ...
'', written in 1668 by
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (1621/22 – 17 August 1676) was a German author. He is best known for his 1669 picaresque novel ''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus) and the accompanyi ...
, and vividly depicting the social consequences of 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 ...
. Probably even more important in shaping public perceptions of the region has been
Wilhelm Hauff
Wilhelm Hauff (29 November 180218 November 1827) was a Württembergian poet and novelist.
Early life
Hauff was born in Stuttgart, the son of August Friedrich Hauff, a secretary in the Württemberg ministry of foreign affairs, and Hedwig Wilhelmi ...
's novella ''Das Wirtshaus im Spessart'' ("The Spessart Inn"). It features a
frame story involving a romantic tale of the ''Spessarträuber''. Director
Kurt Hoffmann
Kurt Hoffmann (12 November 1910 – 25 June 2001) was a German film director, the son of Carl Hoffmann. He directed 48 films between 1938 and 1971. He ran a production company Independent Film along with Heinz Angermeyer.
His 1958 film ' ...
turned Hauff's novella into a very successful film in 1957. It starred
Liselotte Pulver
Liselotte Pulver (born 11 October 1929), sometimes credited as Lilo Pulver, is a Swiss actress. Pulver was one of the biggest stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, where she often was cast as a tomboy. She is well known for her hearty a ...
and was shot on location at Mespelbrunn Castle and Miltenberg. The film ''
The Spessart Inn
''The Spessart Inn'' (german: Das Wirtshaus im Spessart) is a 1958 West German musical comedy film directed by Kurt Hoffmann. It starred Liselotte Pulver and Carlos Thompson.
Plot
In the late years of the 18th century, Felix and Peter, two jo ...
'' spawned two sequels ''
The Haunted Castle'' (1960) and ''
Glorious Times at the Spessart Inn'' (1967).
Spas
The Spessart features one officially recognised
spa town
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...
, Bad Orb, as well as a number of climatic spas (''Luftkurorte''), like Heigenbrücken, where visitors benefit from the high air quality.
Places of interest
![Wasserschloss Mespelbrunn, 6 edit01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Wasserschloss_Mespelbrunn%2C_6_edit01.jpg)
*
Mespelbrunn Castle
Mespelbrunn Castle is a late-medieval/early-Renaissance moated castle on the territory of the town of Mespelbrunn, between Frankfurt and Würzburg, built in a tributary valley of the Elsava valley, within the Spessart forest. It is a popular t ...
- emblematic Spessart castle
* ''
Franziskanerkloster Engelberg'' - Franciscan abbey overlooking Großheubach
*
Miltenberg
Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000.
Geography
Location
The old town lies on the Mai ...
- medieval town centre
*
Wertheim - medieval town centre and castle
Hiking
Hiking has long been a major tourist attraction in the Spessart.
Two notable long-distance trails follow the historic routes of the ''Birkenhainer Strasse'' and the ''Eselsweg'', but there are several others like the ''Schneewittchen-Wanderweg'' ("Snow White Trail") from Lohr to Bieber or the ''Fränkischer Rotwein-Wanderweg'' ("Franconian Red Wine Trail"). There is an extensive network of signposted hiking trails in the Spessart. In a recent update of the signposts, 4,300 kilometres of trails were upgraded in the Bavarian Spessart alone.
The ''Spessartbund'', in charge of most of the major trails, was founded back in 1913, although its roots go back to the 19th century. Local municipalities have also created shorter trails. More recently, Nordic walking and bike trails have been added.
''Nationalpark'' controversy
In July 2016, Bavarian minister president
Horst Seehofer
Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister of the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18 ...
announced his intention to create a third
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
in the state, after
Bavarian Forest National Park
The Bavarian Forest National Park (german: Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald) is a national park in the Eastern Bavarian Forest immediately on Germany's border with the Czech Republic. It was founded on 7 October 1970 as the first national park ...
and
Berchtesgaden National Park
Berchtesgaden National Park is in the south of Germany, on its border with Austria, in the municipalities of Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden and Schönau am Königsee, Berchtesgadener Land, Free State of Bavaria. The national park was established in 19 ...
. The potential candidates were the Bavarian Rhön, the Donau-Auen and the Spessart. According to the Bavarian minister for the environment, Ulrike Scharf, in the Spessart around 10,900 hectares of forest (or around 10% of the Bavarian Spessart's wooded area) would be turned into a national park, which would put strict limits on the commercial use of the area. The rest of the forest would be unaffected. All of the land area would be state-owned, no private land would be included.
However, a controversy soon erupted about the plan. Critics argued that they would lose the right to access water sources on public land, that the zones of strict environmental protection would result in the uncontrolled spread of pests such as the
Bark beetle
A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the ...
or of wild boars and wolves. In addition, many local property owners currently enjoy rights, sometimes dating back to the Middle Ages, to harvest wood in state-owned forests. This sideline in forestry business has long been a source of fuel, timber and income for many.
CSU Member of the ''Landtag'' founded the
association
Association may refer to:
*Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
*Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry
*Voluntary associatio ...
''Wir im Spessart'' to oppose the plan. In a short time he was able to collect over 7,000 signatures against the national park. Local farmer associations and hunting groups joined the cause. Residents have protested against the plan by posting signs, attending demonstrations and organizing local referendums.
Support for the plan came from environmentalists, as well as from many forestry workers, who argued that many of the concerns advanced by the critics were misplaced or exaggerated.
The protests by local property owners/residents against the plan were ultimately successful. In July 2017, the Bavarian state government officially announced that plans for a national park in the Spessart would not be pursued further. The reason given was that no private property rights should be infringed in creating a national park.
Economy
Transportation
The
Intercity-Express
The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...
(ICE) route from Frankfurt to Würzburg crosses the Spessart west to east from Aschaffenburg to
Lohr. This route is also known as the ''
Main-Spessart-Bahn''. There has been recent modernization on this route, with the old
Spessart ramp and the Schwarzkopf Tunnel being replaced with a series of new tunnels between
Laufach and
Heigenbrücken
Heigenbrücken is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany, and seat of the ''Municipal association (Ger ...
. The ICE route from Fulda to Würzburg runs down the Sinn valley and joins the Frankfurt track south of Gemünden. A lesser train route (''
Maintalbahn'') follows the Main river from Aschaffenburg to Wertheim via Miltenberg.
The ''
Bundesautobahn 3
is an autobahn in Germany running from the Germany-Netherlands border near Wesel in the northwest to the Germany-Austria border near Passau.
Major cities along its total length of 778 km (483 mi) include Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsse ...
'' (or A3), a major west-east route, crosses the Spessart between Aschaffenburg and a point to the northeast of Wertheim. The other major roads are the
Bundesstrassen 26 (Aschaffenburg-Lohr) and 276 (Wächtersbach-Lohr). In the Spessart, the
B8 today follows the route of the A3.
Agriculture/forestry
Sandstone provides poor conditions for cattle raising or farming. As a consequence, these activities are concentrated in the loess-covered areas in the west and around Marktheidenfeld. However, wine growing and fruit orchards have proved more successful in the west and northwest (Kahlgrund, Obernburg, Klingenberg, Großheubach) and on the southern edge of the ''Mainspessart''.
The vineyards around Kahl are Bavaria's most northerly wine growing region.
The Muschelkalk makes the ''Würzburger Spessart'' somewhat better suited for agriculture.
Wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
as well as wine thrive there and in the area around Homburg (now part of Triefenstein) grow some of the best-known
appellation
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...
s of the ''Mainfranken'' region.
The main asset of the Spessart region remain its forests.
Besides attracting tourists to the area, there are substantial forestry businesses, for example at Burgsinn and the ', a privately owned woodland. The forests of the Spessart are known for the quality of their wood. The brown "Spessart Oak", in particular, is renowned for its tight, straight grain; it is used for fine furniture,
millwork
Millwork is historically any wood mill produced decorative materials used in building construction. Stock profiled and patterned millwork building components fabricated by milling at a planing mill can usually be installed with minimal alter ...
, and flooring.
The forests also provide game/hunting, wild berries and mushrooms.
However, shipbuilding which used to be a major industry in some towns along the Main, lost its local importance with the advent of ships built from metal rather than wood.
One shipyard is still active at Erlenbach am Main.
Mining
Mining was never an important activity in the Spessart. Copper mining near Schöllkrippen (Sommerkahl) has long been discontinued as has the strip mining of
lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
in the ''Nordspessart'' near Kahl.
Mining used to be important in the area around Biebergemünd, but ceased in the 1920s.
Quarrying of sandstone, a major industry in medieval and early modern times concentrated on Miltenberg, Fechenbach and Reistenhausen, has largely been ended.
References
External links
*
Naturpark Hessischer Spessart (German)
Naturpark Bayerischer Spessart (German)Spessartbund e.V. (German, hiking)spessartbilder.eu/(mehr als 2000 hochwertige Bilder und Informationen)
{{Authority control
Forests and woodlands of Bavaria
Hill ranges of Bavaria
Regions of Hesse
Forests and woodlands of Hesse