Gundersweiler is a village and a

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 ''Verbandsgemeinde''

Nordpfälzer Land Nordpfälzer Land is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Rockenhausen. It was formed on 1 January 2020 by the merger of the former ''Ve ...

and the Donnersbergkreis district, in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

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 located in the valley of Moschelbach in the

North Palatine Uplands The North Palatine Uplands (german: Nordpfälzer Bergland), sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands (''Pfälzer Bergland''), is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palat ...

, southwest of

Donnersberg The Donnersberg ("thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate (german: Pfalz) region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the m ...

and between

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

and

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

History

The first known mention of Gundersweiler is from the year 891, as 'Novale Guntharii'. The name is believed to have originated from one of the first settlers, 'Gunthari'. In 1290, the village was documented as 'Guntzwilre' and in 1355 it became part of the Electoral Palatinate. In 1515 it joined the ''Unteramt'' of Rockenhausen. During the 17th century, robber barons struck the area and the community struggled until armed knights were appointed to guard the road through the Moschelbach valley. The village and surrounding villages suffered greatly during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

and the majority of the area was destroyed. In 1798, during the French Revolution, French forces annexed the west bank of the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and the village became part of the

Mont-Tonnerre Mont-Tonnerre was a department of the First French Republic and later the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the highest point in the Palatinate, the ''Donnersberg'' ("Thunder Mountain", possibly referring to Donar, ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, which stretched East-to-West from what is now the French border to the Rhine and North-to-South from Mainz to the French border. Within the department, it was part of the Kaiserslautern

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

and the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Rockenhausen. Once Napoleon was defeated, 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 ...

allocated Gundersweiler and the surrounding area to

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 ...

, where it remained between 1816 and 1945. After the Second World War, it was once again incorporated into France in the form of the French occupation zone and to the newly formed state of

Population

As of 2014, the population stands at 510, the majority of whom are Protestant who are served by a Protestant church and a Protestant parsonage. The local council consists of twelve councilors.

Sport

Gundersweiler has its own football team in the form of 'SV Gundersweiler', who play in the 'B-Klasse Kaiserslautern-Donnersberg Nord', on the ninth level of the

German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for Football in Germany, association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 Season (sports), season consisted of 2,235 Sports_leag ...

. The village is surrounded by walking and cycling paths.

References

Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Donnersbergkreis {{Donnersbergkreis-geo-stub