Schleusingen is a town in the district of Hildburghausen, in

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 lar ...

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 situated 10 km north of

Hildburghausen Hildburghausen ( IPA adapted from: ) is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the district Hildburghausen. Geography It is situated in the Franconian part of Thuringia south of the Thuringian Forest, in the valley of the Werra riv ...

, and 12 km southeast of

Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella- ...

Geography

The town of Schleusingen in the Henneberger Land got its name from the river

Schleuse Schleuse is a river of Thuringia, Germany. It is a tributary of the Werra, which it joins in Kloster Veßra. The town Schleusingen lies on the Schleuse. See also *List of rivers of Thuringia A list of rivers of Thuringia, Germany: A * ...

, which passes through its town districts Ratscher and Rappelsdorf. The town itself is located on the river Nahe, a tributary of the Schleuse, which runs south of the core town area. From the north, from Erlau, the river Erle joins the Nahe in Schleusingen.

Subdivisions

The town of Schleusingen includes next to the core town another seventeen districts: Altendambach, Breitenbach, Erlau, Fischbach, Geisenhöhn, Gethles, Gottfriedsberg, Heckengereuth, Hirschbach, Hinternah, Oberrod, Rappelsdorf, Ratscher, Schleusingerneundorf, Silbach, Sankt Kilian and Waldau In addition, terms for residential areas such as' 'Upper-' 'and' 'Lower Town, Schmuckplatz, Weißer Berg, Hirtengrund, Kalkrangen, Sonneneck, Rubetal ' etc. are common in the population.

History

Schleusingen was first mentioned in documents in 1232 as 'Villa Slusungen'. Earl Poppo VII of Henneberg built as a residence and fortification in the period from 1226 to 1232 the Bertholdsburg. 1274 was the division of the Shire Henneberg into three lines. The Bertholdsburg then became the residence of the Schleusinger line of the Earls of Henneberg. Schleusingen experienced a first fire catastrophe in the year 1353. Further town fires in 1679, 1765, 1773 and 1876 destroyed whole districts of the town. In 1412 Schleusingen received the

Stadtrecht Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

(the right to be considered a town) but only in 1533 the Marktrecht (the right to, among other things, hold a folk festival or a weekly market). In 1502 Earl Wilhelm IV. founded a Barfüsserkloster (monastery) in the outskirts. During the riots in the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositi ...

in the spring of 1525, the inhabitants, documents and valuables of the neighboring monasteries Veßra and Trostadt were sent to Schleusingen to be brought to safety at the Bertholdsburg. In 1544 the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

was introduced. The Aegidienkapelle of the St. Johannis Church became the burial place of the Earls of Henneberg in 1566 and of Elisabeth of Brandenburg. The Barfüsserkloster was transferred into state ownership and from 1560 it was used as a school. On 7 June 1577 this school was inaugurated on as a Gymnasium (high school) and still exists today under the name Hennebergisches Gymnasium ‘Georg Ernst’]. Until 1583 Schleusingen was the seat of the Earls of Henneberg. After the death of Earl Georg Ernst (Henneberg-Schleusingen), Georg Ernst), with whose death the royal line was extinguished, Schleusingen was transferred to the Saxon dukes of the Ernestine and the Albertiner line, at first under joined administration. From 1500 to 1806 Schleusingen belonged to the Franconian Imperial Circle.

Incorporations

* Fischbach on 1 March 1970 * Geisenhöhn and Gottfriedsberg on 1 April 1974 * Gethles, Ratscher and Heckengereuth on 22 February 1994 * Rappelsdorf on 1 June 1996 *

Nahetal-Waldau Nahetal-Waldau is a former municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. Since July 2018, it is part of the town of Schleusingen.Sankt Kilian on 6 July 2018

Population Development

Population development '(from 1960 on 31 December respectively)' ':

Main sights

* Castle Bertholdsburg * Townchurch St. Johannis * Teutsche Schule * market place Bertholdsburg2008

References

{{Authority control Hildburghausen (district)