Metzels is a village and a former

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

Schmalkalden-Meiningen Schmalkalden-Meiningen is a ''Landkreis'' in the southwest of Thuringia, Germany. Its neighboring districts are (from the northwest clockwise) the districts Wartburgkreis, Gotha, Ilm-Kreis, the district-free city Suhl, the district Hildburghausen, ...

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 ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

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 ...

. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town

Wasungen Wasungen () is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 11 km north of Meiningen. The former municipalities Hümpfershausen, Metzels, Oepfershausen, Unterkatz and Wahns Wahns i ...

.Gebietsänderungen von Januar bis Dezember 2019

Statistisches Bundesamt The Federal Statistical Office (german: Statistisches Bundesamt, shortened ''Destatis'') is a federal authority of Germany. It reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Office is responsible for collecting, processing, presenting and ...

It is located on the north-western edge of the

Dolmar Makita Engineering Germany GmbH (Dolmar) is one of the oldest manufacturers of portable gasoline chainsaws and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company founder, Emil Lerp, developed in 1927 the "type A" saw, which weighed and required ...

on a high plateau.

History

The village is first found mentioned in 1228. It originally belonged to the

Princely Abbey of Fulda The Abbey of Fulda (German ''Kloster Fulda'', Latin ''Abbatia Fuldensis''), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda (''Fürstabtei Fulda'') and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (''Fürstbistum Fulda''), was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastic ...

. In the first half of the 15th Century, it was owned by the Henneberg District of Wasungen, which was located in the

Franconian Circle The Franconian Circle (german: Fränkischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle established in 1500 in the centre of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the eastern part of the former Franconian stem duchy—roughly corresponding with the pre ...

. Then from 1680 it belonged to the

Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernestin ...

. According to 16th Century folklore, a battle was fought at Metzel in 1228 during the war between the

Counts of Henneberg The House of Henneberg was a medieval German comital family (''Grafen'') which from the 11th century onwards held large territories in the Duchy of Franconia. Their county was raised to a princely county (''Gefürstete Grafschaft'') in 1310. Upo ...

and the High Abbey of Würzburg, in which Count Heinrich von Beichlingen and Heinrich II von Sternberg were defeated as allies of the Bishop. Metzels was home to a case of witch-hunting a man in 1673. In February 1945, a

Halifax bomber The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its or ...

of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

was shot down by a German night fighter. Parts of the machine were brought down on the territory of the municipality. In January 2019, the municipality of Metzels was incorporated into the City of Wasungen.

References

Former municipalities in Thuringia Schmalkalden-Meiningen Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen {{SchmalkaldenMeiningen-geo-stub