Grebenhain is a municipality in the

Vogelsbergkreis The Vogelsbergkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Schwalm-Eder, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Fulda, Main-Kinzig, Wetteraukreis, Gießen and Marburg-Biedenkopf. History The district was created 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 ...

Geography

Location

The municipality of Grebenhain lies from 400 to 733 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

in the southeastern Vogelsberg Mountains, about 30 km west 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. Histor ...

Neighbouring communities

Grebenhain borders in the north on the town of Herbstein, in the east on the community of Hosenfeld (

district), in the south on the communities of

Freiensteinau Freiensteinau is a municipality in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Freiensteinau lies on the southern slopes of the Vogelsberg Mountains. Neighbouring communities Freiensteinau borders in the north on the community of ...

and

Birstein Birstein is a municipality on the northeastern edge of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse, Germany with approximately 6,600 inhabitants. It was the home of the former principality of Isenburg-Birstein. Geography Location The town lies at the southe ...

(

Main-Kinzig-Kreis 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 Frankfur ...

), in the southwest on the town of

Gedern Gedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, one of the largest inactive volcanoes in Europe. Neighboring towns Gedern ...

( Wetteraukreis), and in the west on the town of

Schotten Schotten is a town in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Larger towns nearby include Alsfeld in the north, Fulda in the east, Friedberg in the south and Gießen in the west. Geography Location The officially recognised climatic spa lies between 168 m ...

Constituent communities

The municipality consists of 15 centres named Bannerod, Bermuthshain, Crainfeld, Grebenhain (administrative seat), Hartmannshain, Heisters, Herchenhain, Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen, Metzlos, Metzlos-Gehaag, Nösberts-Weidmoos, Vaitshain, Volkartshain, Wünschen-Moos und Zahmen.

History

The area nowadays occupied by the greater community of Grebenhain in the Vogelsberg was likely settled by waves of settlers from the

Wetterau The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains. Bettina von Arnim writes of ...

between the eighth and eleventh centuries as part of the expansion carried out in the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

by the Abbots of

. The oldest place in today's municipal area is Crainfeld, which was alluded to as early as the ninth century in a Fulda donation announcement. The first definite and verifiable mention of Crainfeld, however, is in a king's document from 1012, which also mentions Bermuthshain and Ilbeshausen in a document for the first time. Crainfeld advantageously lay at the crossroads of two important mediaeval trade roads, and was moreover until 1821 the seat of a court district, witnessed even today by the ''Edelhof'', the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' building used by the ''Ober

schultheiß In medieval Germany, the ''Schultheiß'' () was the head of a municipality (akin to today's office of mayor), a ''Vogt'' or an executive official of the ruler. As official (''villicus'') it was his duty to order his assigned village or county (' ...

en'' (roughly "sheriffs") when the

Landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave") ...

s held sway in Hesse. The stately

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

house was built in 1685 by carpenter Hans Muth from Ilbeshausen. Hans Muth also built the ''Hansenmühle'' (or ''"Teufelsmühle"'' – "Devil's Mill") in Ilbeshausen in 1691, one of the loveliest half-timbered buildings in Upper Hesse. Crainfeld is furthermore still the seat of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

even today. Until the State Highway (''Staatsstraße''), today's ''Bundesstraße'' 275, was built in 1834-1857, and the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

line in 1901-1906 through the neighbouring community of Grebenhain, Crainfeld was the region's main town. The communities of Crainfeld, Grebenhain, Bermuthshain and Ilbeshausen have been Hessian since 1437 and formed until 1821 the court district of Crainfeld, which belonged to the Hessian ''Amt'' of Nidda. From 1852, they belonged to the Lauterbach district. The communities of Hartmannshain and Herchenhain have likewise been Hessian since 1437 and belonged to the court district of Burkhards. Until 1938, they were part of the Schotten district. The communities of Bannerod, Heisters, Zahmen, Wünschenmoos, Vaitshain, Nösberts, Weidmoos, Metzlos-Gehaag and Metzlos belonged until 1806 to the court districts of Altenschlirf and Moos, held by the

Riedesel Riedesel is a German noble family that began to appear in legal documents in the early 13th century. They were of the knightly class, though not all had the official status of ''Ritter'' or knight. Its exact geographical and temporal origins are ...

family. When the Riedesel state was mediatized, they became Hessian. The community of Volkartshain was until 1806 owned by the Counts of Stolberg-Gedern. The main community of Grebenhain had its first documentary mention in a Riedesel document in 1338. Until the fifteenth century, iron ore was mined there, which is recalled today in the names ''Am Eisenberg'' (a hall) and ''Eisenbergsweg'' (a street), ''Eisen'' being

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

for "

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 ...

". In the west of the village, there was until 1789 a large manorial pond. As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the 13 formerly independent municipalities of Bannerod, Bermuthshain, Crainfeld, Grebenhain, Hartmannshain, Herchenhain, Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen, Metzlos, Metzlos-Gehaag, Nösberts-Weidmoos, Steigertal (Heisters, Wünschenmoos, Zahmen), Vaitshain and Volkartshain had to merge on 1 January and 1 August 1972 into the greater community of Grebenhain.

Economy

*''Oberwaldklinik'' in Grebenhain *''Vogelsbergklinik'' in Ilbeshausen-Hochwaldhausen *'' Robbe Modellsport'' in Metzlos-Gehaag

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Vogelsbergkreis Grand Duchy of Hesse