Freigericht is a municipality in the

Main-Kinzig Main-Kinzig-Kreis is a Kreis (district) in the east of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Wetteraukreis, Vogelsbergkreis, Fulda, Bad Kissingen, Main-Spessart, Aschaffenburg, Offenbach and the district-free cities of Offenbach and Fra ...

district, in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

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 betwee ...

. It is situated 15 km east of

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its station is a major railway junction and it has a port on the ri ...

, close to the

Frankfurt Rhein-Main region The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'' or ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'', abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest metropolitan re ...

at the foothills of the

Spessart Spessart is a '' Mittelgebirge'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level. Ety ...

, directly at the Hesse-Bavaria border. More than 40% of the area is forested.

Geography

Geographic position

Freigericht has an elevation of 140 to 371 m in a side valley of the Kinzig river.

Geology

In the southern parts of the town several pre-historical cairns have been found. On 19 June 1930 a tooth of a 40,000-year-old mammoth was discovered during building works in Somborn. It was transferred to the county seat

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 ...

. Since the opening of Freigericht's local museum several attempts have been made to get the tooth back, none of which was successful.

Neighbouring towns

Freigericht borders the municipalities of

Hasselroth Hasselroth is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hessen, Germany. Geography Neighbouring places The municipality of Gründau and the city of Gelnhausen is located in the north of Hasselroth. The municipality of Linsengericht is ...

to the north,

Linsengericht Linsengericht is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies in the Main-Kinzig district of Hesse. It is located in the valley of the Kinzig, south and southeast of the town of Gelnhaus ...

to the east and

Rodenbach Rodenbach may refer to: * Rodenbach Brewery, a brewery from Roeselare, Belgium Places * Rodenbach, Hesse, in the Main-Kinzig district, Hesse, Germany * Rodenbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, G ...

to the west. South of Freigericht (already belonging to the Bavarian district of

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the Aschaffenburg (district), district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative sea ...

are the town 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 ...

, the municipalities of

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 distric ...

and

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 ...

, as well as the unincorporated area of Geiselbach Forest.

Town divisions

Freigericht is divided into five villages, which have been independent villages until 1970. *Altenmittlau *Bernbach *Horbach (since 1968 styled a climatic spa) *Neuses *Somborn On 1 January 1970 the five villages voluntarily incorporated into a new municipality named Freigericht. The name ''Freigericht'' (lit. Free Court) had been unofficially used for the villages for several centuries. According to legend, it states that farmers from the areas between the rivers Main and Kinzig stood and defended their Emperor

Frederick I (Barbarossa) Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

, during a surprise ambush. As a reward, the Kaiser granted them with "free jurisdiction", hence the name "Freigericht".

Politics

Freigericht (Hessen) Somborn Rathaus (01)

The town council consists of 37 members, all of which are elected for a five-year term. The CDU has been the leading party in Freigericht, although it has suffered severe losses in the recent elections. Independent groups, which have been strong prior to the incorporation of Freigericht, get a higher share. Elections in 2016: *CDU = 9 *SPD = 7 *Greens = 4 *UWG = 13 *Die Unbestechlichen (incorruptibles)= 4

References

Municipalities in Hesse Main-Kinzig-Kreis {{Hesse-geo-stub