Stamsried is a village and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the district of Cham in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...

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 ...

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 ...

, near the Czech border. It is also located in the

Roman Catholic 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 lette ...

diocese of Regensburg The Diocese of Regensburg ( la, Dioecesis Ratisbonensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory seated in Regensburg, Germany. Its district covers parts of northeastern Bavaria; it is subordinate to the archbishop of Munich and Freising. , ...

. Stamsried has a population of 2,319 as of June 2004 and an area of which includes surrounding countryside outside the built up area of the village itself, the population density is . Stamsried is located above sea level and contains rolling hills as high as . Stamsried is located near the ''Upper Bavarian Forest Nature Park'' and therefore tourism makes up a portion of its economy as shown by the number of small hotels and "pensions" or bed and breakfasts. Sites of interest within Stamsried itself include the Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist built in 1719. Near the church there is a square with the ''Mariensäule'' or Marian column erected in 1729 and four other statues of saints erected in 1735 (St. Florian, St. Sebastian, John the Baptist and John of Nepomuk).

History

In the 9th century the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people * * * that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian. Origin ...

were the first settlers in the region. The earliest historical mention of Stamsried dates back to the year 1140, due to a tournament of 63 knights. 1346 Dietrich II of Kürn is mentioned as owner of Stamsried. He built the Kürnburg castle in 1354 and for most of its history it has maintained a low-key rural Bavarian culture relatively isolated from political situations in the larger world. The Bavarian statesman

Karl von Abel Karl von Abel (September 17, 1788 – September 3, 1859) was a Bavarian statesman. Born in Wetzlar, Abel was the son of a procurator at the superior Court of Justice. He studied law in Gießen from 1806-1809, and became a civil servant of Bavari ...

retired and lived until his death in 1859 on his tenure manor in Stamsried. After the death of Ludwig von Abel the village became property of the kingdom of Bavaria. In the two world wars Stamsried was taken over by allied powers without a single shot being fired or any major resistance, in particular at the end of World War II American tanks entered the village square and were welcomed peaceably with a white flag. In recent times Stamsried and the entire surrounding areas has been a stronghold of the conservative Bavarian political party, the Christian Social Union, of which the current mayor Alfred Long is a member.

Kürnburg

The ruin is located on a hill above sea level near Stamsried. With the allowance of count palatine Ruprecht II, Dietrich II of Kürn built a castle on the top of the Heitberg in 1354. Due to heritage the castle changed ownership in 1406 to Hermann the Hertenberger; in 1425 to Gabein the Freudenberger; then the Wartenberger family in 1429; and finally to the Füchse of Winklarn in 1590. In 1561 the castle and the village became separated properties. During 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 ...

, on 11 January 1634, Swedish troops under duke

Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (german: Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar; 16 August 160418 July 1639) was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War. Biography Born in Weimar within the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Joha ...

destroyed the castle. In the 1970s the ruin was restored.

References

External links

*http://www.stamsried.de/
Burgruine Stamsried
— Pictures, Sights and more *http://www.burgenseite.de/html/kuernb.html *http://www.burgenwelt.de/kurnburg/gekurn.htm {{Authority control Cham (district)