Zeil am Main is a town in the Haßberge district in

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally ...

, an area in the federal state of

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 ...

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 situated on the right bank of the

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

, 7 km east of Haßfurt, 24 km northwest of Bamberg, and 25 km east of

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban ag ...

. Zeil is a historic Franconian town known for its old churches, romantic houses, medieval walls and towers, the hill church of "Zeiler Käpelle", and the castle ruins of the Schmachtenburg.

History

Zeil am Main is located in an area of the River Main valley where, since the 11th century, the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

s of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

and Bamberg overlapped and vied for domain of the region. Zeil's strategic location between the dioceses, situated on the River Main trade route and military road between

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and

, ensured that Zeil was worthy of possession by regional powers. The earliest evidence of Zeil am Main as a city is in a 1018 AD deed of donation signed by Henry II, King of the Romans.

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Lamprecht of Prun granted municipal law to the city in 1379 and allowed citizens of Zeil to build protective fortifications. As a result, the city wall was constructed with numerous towers, and Schmachtenberg castle was built. King Wenceslaus of Bohemia entitled the community with special laws to use the river Main commercially in 1397. The prince bishops of Bamberg used Zeil's strategic location as a northern enclave to provide a buffer against their Würzburg rivals, and 1695 saw the construction of a hunting lodge for the prince bishop. In the early 19th century, church lands were secularized, and Zeil am Main became a municipality within Bavaria by edict in 1818. Bella Katz Oberbrunner, the mother of Goldman Sachs's founder

Marcus Goldman Marcus Goldman (born Marcus Goldmann; December 9, 1821 – July 20, 1904) was a Jewish American investment banker, businessman, and financier. He was the founder of Goldman Sachs, which has since become one of the world's largest investment b ...

, was born in Zeil Am Main.

Culture

Viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

is still practised in Zeil. Vines are grown on mountain slopes around the city. The summer wine celebration in the old part of town is the high point of the year. In addition, the Göller brewery's Zeiler

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

bears the name of the city.

Sons and daughters of the town

* Alberich Degen (1625-1686), 42nd abbot of the Cistercian monastery Ebrach * Franz Burger (1836-1920), a Catholic farmer functionary, mayor and member of Landtag and member of Reichstag * Heinrich Schneier (born 1925), politician, (SPD), member of Landtag

Gallery

image:Krum.jpg, District Krum image:Bischofsheim Zeil W.jpg, District Bischofsheim image:Zeiler Käpelle.JPG , The hill church "Zeiler Käpelle", image:Zeil am Main Unterfranken Stadtmauer.png , Medieval walls and in the background the Propstenhof

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeil Am Main Haßberge (district)