Schleitheim is 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 ...

in 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 ente ...

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, located directly at the border to

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 known as the location where the seven articles of the Schleitheim Confession were written.

Geography

Schleitheim has an area, , of . Of this area, 58.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 34.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.3%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

History

The area of today's Schleitheim was already settled in Roman times. A

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

at that time bore the name . In In 995 the German name is attested for the first time as . This name stems from

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...

(English: 'gently sloping, inclined') and Old High German (English: 'house, residence'), meaning "settlement on a gentle slope on the inclined plain." Schleitheim gained historical significance as the birthplace of the Schleitheim Confession of 1527, the oldest creed of

Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

, written under the direction of

Michael Sattler Michael Sattler (1490 – 20 May 1527) was a monk who left the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation to become one of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement. He was particularly influential for his role in developing ...

. In 1530 the villages Schleitheim and Beggingen became part of the territory of the city of

, in exchange for

Grafenhausen Grafenhausen is a town in the district of Waldshut in 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 wes ...

and Birkendorf which became part of the landgraviate Stühlingen.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The ...

of 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 ...

is ''Gules, an ox head sable lined white.''

Demographics

Schleitheim has a population () of 1,663, of which 12.0% are foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 45.3% are from

, 10.3% are from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, 2% are from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

, 25.6% are from

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

, 1.5% are from Macedonia, and 15.3% are from another country.Statistical Office of the Canton of Schaffhausen
accessed 2 December 2009 Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -4.4%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.9%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.5%) and Italian being third ( 1.1%).
accessed 22-December-2009 The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 21.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 55.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 22.9%. In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 50.9% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the FDP (25.3%), and the SP (23.8%) . In Schleitheim about 74.9% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied art ...

''). In Schleitheim, , 1.66% of the population attend

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

or another pre-school, 8.26% attend a

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, 4.22% attend a lower level Secondary School, and 6.96% attend a higher level Secondary School. , 69.4% of the population belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

and 13.3% belonged to the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The historical population between 1850 and 2008 is given in the following table: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:back value:rgb(1,1,1) id:bars value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:550 height:400 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:back BarData= bar:1850 text:1850 bar:1860 text:1860 bar:1870 text:1870 bar:1880 text:1880 bar:1890 text:1890 bar:1900 text:1900 bar:1910 text:1910 bar:1920 text:1920 bar:1930 text:1930 bar:1940 text:1940 bar:1950 text:1950 bar:1960 text:1960 bar:1970 text:1970 bar:1980 text:1980 bar:1990 text:1990 bar:2000 text:2000 bar:2008 text:2008 PlotData= color:bars width:25 align:left bar:1850 from:0 till:2476 bar:1860 from:0 till:2450 bar:1870 from:0 till:2331 bar:1880 from:0 till:2363 bar:1890 from:0 till:2258 bar:1900 from:0 till:1893 bar:1910 from:0 till:1755 bar:1920 from:0 till:1773 bar:1930 from:0 till:1585 bar:1940 from:0 till:1480 bar:1950 from:0 till:1529 bar:1960 from:0 till:1494 bar:1970 from:0 till:1544 bar:1980 from:0 till:1570 bar:1990 from:0 till:1689 bar:2000 from:0 till:1779 bar:2008 from:0 till:1719 PlotData= bar:1850 at:2476 fontsize:S text:2476 shift:(-12,5) bar:1860 at:2450 fontsize:S text:2450 shift:(-12,5) bar:1870 at:2331 fontsize:S text:2331 shift:(-12,5) bar:1880 at:2363 fontsize:S text:2363 shift:(-12,5) bar:1890 at:2258 fontsize:S text:2258 shift:(-12,5) bar:1900 at:1893 fontsize:S text:1893 shift:(-12,5) bar:1910 at:1755 fontsize:S text:1755 shift:(-12,5) bar:1920 at:1773 fontsize:S text:1773 shift:(-12,5) bar:1930 at:1585 fontsize:S text:1585 shift:(-12,5) bar:1940 at:1480 fontsize:S text:1480 shift:(-12,5) bar:1950 at:1529 fontsize:S text:1529 shift:(-12,5) bar:1960 at:1494 fontsize:S text:1494 shift:(-12,5) bar:1970 at:1544 fontsize:S text:1544 shift:(-12,5) bar:1980 at:1570 fontsize:S text:1570 shift:(-12,5) bar:1990 at:1689 fontsize:S text:1689 shift:(-12,5) bar:2000 at:1779 fontsize:S text:1779 shift:(-12,5) bar:2008 at:1719 fontsize:S text:1719 shift:(-12,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(19,32) text:Development of the population of Schleitheim since 1850. fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Source OFS

Economy

Schleitheim has an unemployment rate, , of 0.88%. , there were 117 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 46 businesses involved in this sector. 221 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construc ...

and there are 20 businesses in this sector. 373 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 65 businesses in this sector. the mid year average unemployment rate was 1.1%. There were 85 non-agrarian businesses in the municipality and 44.1% of the (non-agrarian) population was involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 55.9% were involved in the third. At the same time, 69.5% of the working population was employed full-time, and 30.5% was employed part-time. There were 630 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 38.3% of the workforce. there were 395 residents who worked in the municipality, while 394 residents worked outside Schleitheim and 188 people commuted into the municipality for work. , there are seven restaurants, and two hotels with 28 beds. The hospitality industry in Schleitheim employs 23 people.

Transport

A border crossing into Germany is located at the village of Oberwiesen. The town over the border is Stühlingen in

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 ...

. Schleitheim has a regular Postbus service to and from Schaffhausen railway station.

Heritage sites of national significance

The

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

graveyard at Hebsack, the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

of Juliomagus and the Roman estate at Vorholz are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance.Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance
21.11.2008 version, accessed 22-Dec-2009

Climate

Schleitheim has an average of 121.6 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

. The wettest month is August during which time Schleitheim receives an average of of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 11 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 11.6, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is September with an average of of precipitation over 11 days., the weather station elevation is 499 meters above sea level.

References

External links

Official website of Schleitheim

Tourist Information
{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Schaffhausen Germany–Switzerland border crossings Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Schaffhausen