Schöntal is a municipality in the

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 county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Hohenlohe The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous tim ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

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 principally known as the location of Schöntal Abbey.

Subdivisions

The munisipality consists of the following districts. * Aschhausen * Berlichingen * Bieringen * Schöntal Abbey * Marlach * Oberkessach * Sindeldorf * Westernhausen * Winzenhofen

History

Following the dissolution of Schöntal Abbey in 1802, its constituent towns were governed by the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which existe ...

as they had existed under the monastery. In 1810–11, this district was dissolved and its area given to the , , and . In 1938, these were all given to the Künzelsau district of the

Free People's State of Württemberg The Free People's State of Württemberg (german: Freier Volksstaat Württemberg) was a state in Württemberg, Germany, during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. 1918 revolution With the German revolution near the end of World War I, the Kin ...

. With the , Schöntal and its old ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

e'' have been assigned to the Hohenlohe district. The

Bundesautobahn 81 is a motorway in Germany. It branches off the A 3 at the Würzburg-West triangle and ends near the border with Switzerland. The oldest part of the A 81 between the Weinsberg Weinsberg (South Franconian: ''Weischberg'') is a town in ...

, running through Schöntal, began operation in 1974.

Geography

The municipality ('' Gemeinde'') of Schöntal comprises of the Hohenlohe district, within the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and the

Federal Republic of 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 between ...

. Schöntal is physically located on the and . It is bisected by the

Jagst The Jagst () is a right tributary of the Neckar in northern Baden-Württemberg. It is 190 km long. Its source is in the hills east of Ellwangen, close to the Bavarian border. It winds through the towns Ellwangen, Crailsheim, Kirchberg an der ...

river, which also marks the lowest elevation in the municipality at above sea level NN. The highest elevation, , is found in the east of the municipal area.

Coat of arms

The municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

for Schöntal displays an armored fist in

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

and a

crosier A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Cathol ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

crossed diagonally over a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

field but behind the ''Zisterzienserbalken'', a checkerboard-pattern

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

-and-white bar associated with the Cistercian Order. This pattern was issued by the Hohenlohe district government on 19 September 1978, but evolved from renditions of a pattern in 1972 that omitted the armored hand, a reference to

Götz von Berlichingen Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen (1480 – 23 July 1562), also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (''Reichsritter''), mercenary, and poet. He was born around 1480 into the noble family of Berliching ...

, who is buried in Schöntal. The crosier and the bar references the Cistercians, whose iconography, most prominently Schöntal Abbey's church, had been used to identify Schöntal in postage stamps in the past.

References

External links

Official website
(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schontal Towns in Baden-Württemberg Hohenlohe (district)