Vienenburg is a borough of
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
, capital of the
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
district, in
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
,
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 ...
. The former independent municipality was incorporated in Goslar on 1 January 2014.
Geography
It is situated in the north of the
Harz
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
mountain range and east of the
Harly Forest
The Harly Forest (german: Harly-Wald, also ''Harlywald'' or just ''Harly'') is a hill range up to above NN in the district of Goslar in southeastern Lower Saxony, Germany.
Geography
The low ridge is situated in the northern foothills of the H ...
on the
Oker
The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction.
Origin and meaning of the name
The ...
River near its confluence with the
Radau
Radau is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is right tributary of the Oker. It rises in the Harz range, leaves the mountains at Bad Harzburg, and discharges into the Oker near Vienenburg.
Course
The river rises at around in the Upper Harz re ...
, about northeast of the Goslar town centre. Neighbouring municipalities are
Bad Harzburg
Bad Harzburg (; Eastphalian: ''Bad Harzborch'') is a spa town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa and climatic health resort.
Geogra ...
in the south and
Schladen-Werla
Schladen-Werla is a municipality in the district of Wolfenbüttel, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was formed on 1 November 2013, when the municipalities of the former ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Schladen: Gielde, the town of Hornb ...
in the north.
The former township consisted of Vienenburg proper and the surrounding villages Immenrode, Lengde, Weddingen, Lochtum and Wiedelah, all incorporated in 1972. Situated in a mainly agricultural area, it is known for the
Harzer cheese, although the production was transferred to
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
in 2004.
History
The
Harlyberg
The Harlyberg, at {{Höhe, 255.9, DE-NN, link=true, is the highest hill of the Harly Forest, and rises in the district of Goslar in southeastern Lower Saxony, central Germany.
Sometimes the term Harlyberg is used as a synonym for the entire Harl ...
hill (256m/840 ft) north of the town was the site of a castle built in 1203 by the
Welf Welf is a Germanic first name that may refer to:
*Welf (father of Judith), 9th century Frankish count, father-in-law of Louis the Pious
*Welf I, d. bef. 876, count of Alpgau and Linzgau
*Welf II, Count of Swabia, died 1030, supposed descendant of W ...
king
Otto IV of Germany to threaten the trade route to
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
, as its citizens supported his
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...
rival Duke
Philip of Swabia. After Otto's death in 1218 the castle became a property of the Welf
Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
and a thorn in the side of the
Bishops of Hildesheim, while the garrisons of the castle were notorious for permanently robbing bypassing merchants. Therefore, Prince-bishop
Siegfried II of Hildesheim declared war against Duke
Henry I of Brunswick
Henry may refer to:
People
* Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal ...
and in 1291 took and slighted the castle. Some moats are still visible today. A modern observation tower stands nearby.
A second castle ''up de Viene'' was first mentioned in a 1306 deed. It was erected by the
Counts of Wernigerode, then at the behest of the Hildesheim prince-bishops, who purchased it in 1367. After the
Hildesheim Diocesan Feud
The Hildesheim Diocesan Feud (german: Hildesheimer Stiftsfehde) or Great Diocesan Feud, sometimes referred to as a "chapter feud", was a conflict that broke out in 1519 between the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim (''Hochstift Hildesheim'') and the ...
, the castle was occupied by Duke
Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. During the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
, it was conquered by the Imperial troops of
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...
in 1626. The estates were restored to the Bishopric of Hildesheim in 1647.
The adjacent settlement remained part of the episcopal lands until the 1803
German mediatization and fell to the newly established
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Ha ...
in 1814. Vienenburg received
town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...
in 1935. Part of the Prussian
Province of Hanover
The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.
During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position ...
since 1866, it was incorporated into the
Free State of Brunswick
The Free State of Brunswick () was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic. It was formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–19. Its capital was Braunschweig (Bru ...
in 1941.
Wöltingerode Abbey
In 1174 the Counts of Wohldenberg established a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monastery at their ancestral seat west of Vienenburg, which converted into a
Cistercian nunnery a few years later, confirmed by Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa in 1188 and by
Pope Honorius III
Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of impor ...
in a 1216 deed. The abbey affiliated to the
Bishopric of Hildesheim generated several filial monasteries and left a collection of notable manuscripts, now kept at the
Herzog August Library
The Herzog August Library (german: link=no, Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as ''Bibliotheca Augusta'', is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and ear ...
in
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...
.
In 1523 the Prince-bishop of Hildesheim had to cede Wöltingerode to Duke
Henry the Younger of
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel as a result of the
Great Diocesan Feud. Henry's son Duke
Julius
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...
turned
Protestant
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 ...
in 1568 and in consequence a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
abbess was installed as head of the monastery.
During the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
the Hildesheim Prince-bishop
Ferdinand of Bavaria, backed by the
Catholic League and his
Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...
relatives, took the occasion to regain the lost territories. Referring to the 1629
Edict of Restitution
The Edict of Restitution was proclaimed by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna, on 6 March 1629, eleven years into the Thirty Years' War. Following Catholic League (German), Catholic military successes, Ferdinand hoped to restore control ...
issued by Emperor
Ferdinand II, he had the nuns expelled and put the abbey under
Jesuit rule. Nevertheless, in 1632 the Catholic canons again had to abscond from the approaching
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
army and Wöltingerode, though it finally fell back to the Hildesheim Bishopric in 1643, remained Lutheran until the 1803 secularisation.
Today Wöltingerode is known for its abbey church, a
Romanesque basilica of the late 12th century with an attached cloister and a crypt, which serves for storage of the Wöltingerode
Korn, distilled here since 1682.
Politics
Seats in the last municipal assembly ''(Stadtrat)'' as of 2011 elections:
*
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 10 (38.92%)
*
Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 8 (29.98%)
*''Bürger für Vienenburg'' (
Free Voters
Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...
): 5 (17.51%)
*Green Alternative Voters (GAW): 2 (8.69%)
*
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany.
The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Part ...
(NPD): 1 (3.00%)
In December 2012, the assembly voted for the amalgamation with Goslar.
Transport
Vienenburg's railway station, opened in 1840 on the
Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway
The Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway is a 47 km long German main line railway in the northern foothills of the Harz. It is one of the oldest lines in Germany and the first government-owned railway in Germany.
History
On 1 December 1838 t ...
of the
Duchy of Brunswick State Railway
The Duchy of Brunswick State Railway (''Herzoglich Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn'') was the first state railway in Germany. The first section of its Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line between Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel opened on 1 Decembe ...
, is the oldest preserved one in Germany and a regional railway hub. From Vienenburg, railway lines run in four directions: north
to Brunswick, southeast
to Halberstadt–Halle, south to Bad Harzburg and southwest
to Oker–Goslar.
The old
goods line to Langelsheim was a victim of the
division of Germany
Division or divider may refer to:
Mathematics
* Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
* Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division
Military
* Division (military), a formation typically consisti ...
and was never reactivated.
Vienenburg lies on the
B 82 (link to the
A 7 Hannover/Kassel) and
241
Year 241 ( CCXLI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gordianus and Pompeianus by the Romans (or, less frequently, year 9 ...
(Goslar) federal highways as well as the B 82 (link to the
A 2; Brunswick, Berlin/Dortmund) and the
B 6/
B 6n (links to the
A 14 Halle/
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
−
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
and to
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
and
Bad Harzburg
Bad Harzburg (; Eastphalian: ''Bad Harzborch'') is a spa town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa and climatic health resort.
Geogra ...
).
Notable people
*
Frederick Rese (1791–1871), bishop of Detroit
*
Christoph Gudermann
Christoph Gudermann (25 March 1798 – 25 September 1852) was a German mathematician noted for introducing the Gudermannian function and the concept of uniform convergence, and for being the teacher of Karl Weierstrass, who was greatly influen ...
(1798–1852), mathematician
*
Werner Willikens (1893–1961), Nazi politician
*
Fritz Deike (1913–1973), football player
Town twinning
*
Forres
Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There a ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
References
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures completed in 1203
Former municipalities in Lower Saxony