Nassau ( , also , , ) is a town located in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. It lies on the lower course of the

Lahn The Lahn () is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the States of Germany, federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). ...

River, on the mouth of the Mühlbach, between

Limburg an der Lahn Limburg an der Lahn (, ; officially abbreviated ''Limburg a. d. Lahn'') is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn. The t ...

and the spa town of

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems was the seat of Bad Ems collective municipality, which has been merged i ...

, and is located in the

Nassau Nature Park The Nassau Nature Park is a 561.71 km2 nature park in the southwestern Westerwald and northwestern Taunus in Rhineland-Palatinate. It was designated in November 1963 and expanded in 1979. Geography The Nassau Nature Park lies in the Rheni ...

, surrounded by the

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the States of Germany, German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Ma ...

to the north and the

Taunus The Taunus () is a mountain range in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located north west of Frankfurt and north of Wiesbaden. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg' ...

to the south. The town is on the German-Dutch holiday road, the

Orange Route The Orange Route (, ) is a holiday route, that runs from Amsterdam in the Netherlands through North and Central Germany and returns to Amsterdam. It is 2,400 kilometres long and crosses the Netherlands and nine of German federated states. The Orange ...

. As of 2021, it had a population of 4,592. As location of

Nassau Castle Nassau Castle, located in Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and named after it, was a castle the ancestrial seat of the House of Nassau and also its namesake, also it is the namesake of the historical Nassau realms of the County and Duchy of ...

and the former Stein and Heidenpütz castles, Nassau gave its name to the wider region surrounding it as well as to a prominent aristocratic dynasty, and through it, directly or indirectly to numerous other things worldwide, including: a

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

; a Prussian province; the

Dutch royal house In the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional office and is controlled by the Constitution of the Netherlands. A distinction is made between members of the royal family and members of the royal house. The ...

; the Luxembourgish ducal house; the capital of the Bahamas; one of the Cook Islands; and in the US, a county in Florida and a county in New York.

Etymology

In German, ''nass'' means "wet" and '' die Au'' (female gender)—more often written as ''die Aue''—can be a short form of either '' Flussaue'' (

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

) or '' Auwald'' (

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

). It can also be used as a synonym for '' Feuchtwiese'' (

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

). ''Au(e)'' derives from

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

''ouwe'', which is related to the Latin ''aqua'' ("water"). In the grammatically correct form, "wet floodplain/wet riparian forest" would be ''nasse Au'' or ''nasse Aue'', but as a place name, it exists as ''Nassau''. Several places in the German-speaking area are named Nassau, but globally, most places and things named ''Nassau'' are ultimately and indirectly named after Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, because the region of Nassau and the

House of Nassau The House of Nassau is the name of a European aristocratic dynasty. The name originated with a lordship associated with Nassau Castle, which is located in what is now Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Nassau in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With t ...

derive their names from it.

Geography

Nassau is located on the lower course of the

river, between the cities of

and

. Within Nassau's city limits, the Mühlbach (de: ''Mühlbach (Lahn)'') flows into the Lahn. The Lahn joins the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

Lahnstein Lahnstein () is a ''verband''-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz. Lahnstein was created in 1969 by the merger of the previ ...

. The closest city with more than 100,000 inhabitants is

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

. Other close by cities are

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Most of the city (the districts north of the Lahn including the city center) lie in the

mountain range—the precise part of the Westerwald around Nassau is called ''Montabaurer Westerwald'' (

Montabaur Montabaur () is a town and the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. At the same time, it is also the administrative centre of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Montabaur – a kind of collective municipality – to wh ...

Westerwald), the southernmost foothills of the mountain range. The Nassauian districts south of the Lahn including

on the other hand, are located in the northernmost foothills of the

mountain range—more precisely in the ''Westlicher Hintertaunus'' (Western Rear Taunus). The Lahn is the natural boundary between Westerwald and Taunus. Administratively, Nassau is located in the Rhine-Lahn district (''Rhein-Lahn-Kreis''; seat:

) in

(capital:

). The city consists of two quarters: Nassau (with Elisenhütte, Obergutenau, Scheuern, Schützenhaus and Untergutenau) and Bergnassau (with Burg Nassau, Hühnerfarm, Koppelheck and Langau).

Traffic

Nassau has a station called ''Nassau (Lahn)'' on the Lahn Valley Railway (''Lahntalbahn''), which follows the meandering

from

up to

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

—via Niederlahnstein,

, Nassau,

Balduinstein Balduinstein () is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North ...

, Diez,

and

Weilburg Weilburg () is, with just under 13,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg. Geography Location The community lies in the Lahn valley between the Wes ...

, and crosses the

between Koblenz-Oberwerth and Koblenz-Horchheim. Close to Nassau are two stations of the

Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line The Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line () is a high-speed line in Germany, connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt. Its route follows the Bundesautobahn 3 for the greater part, and currently the travel time is about 62 minutes. Th ...

connecting

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

. The closer station is

in Rhineland-Palatinate. The second station is Limburg Süd (Limburg South) in Hesse. The latter is the only station in Germany where only long-distance trains stop, with no connections to regional trains. In Montabaur it is possible to change trains to Limburg an der Lahn.

History

The earliest known surviving mention of Nassau refers to the ''Villa Nassova'' estate of the

Bishopric of Worms The Prince-Bishopric of Worms was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Located on both banks of the Rhine around Worms just north of the union of that river with the Neckar, it was largely surrounded by the Electorate of the ...

in a 915 deed. In 1348 the

Emperor Charles IV Charles IV (; ; ; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charles of Luxembourg, born Wenceslaus (, ), was H ...

granted Nassau town-privileges rights together with nearby

Dausenau Dausenau is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. It belongs to the association community of Bad Ems-Nassau. Dausenau was one of the oldest possessions of the counts of Nassau and the arms t ...

and Scheuern. Count Dudo-Heinrich of

Laurenburg Laurenburg is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn district of Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. The town, a health resort situated in the lower Lahn River valley, belongs to the Diez Municipal Association. History Laurenburg Castle is fir ...

had the

built about 1100 and his descendants began to call themselves the

Counts of Nassau Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

. Count Adolf of Nassau served as the elected

King of the Romans King of the Romans (; ) was the title used by the king of East Francia following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward. The title originally referred to any German king between his election and coronatio ...

from 1292 until his death on 2 July 1298. The Counts of Nassau married into the line of the neighbouring Counts of

Arnstein Arnstein () is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. Geography Location The town lies on the banks of the river Wern and is roughly 20 km from Schwe ...

(

Obernhof Obernhof is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to ...

Attenhausen Attenhausen is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea ...

), founders of the monastery at Arnstein. After the dissolution of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

in 1806, the town became part of the

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German language, German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what became the Germany, German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a States of the Confederation of th ...

Nassau suffered heavily from bombings by American

B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, all three hospitals and almost all of the inner city were completely destroyed. Despite the ancient and eventful history of this town, it had a population of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants . The town of Nassau became the namesake of the

, the royal

and its branch named the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

, and the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n province of

Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of ...

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

obtained a title Nassau. The Grand Duke of Luxembourg still uses Nassau as a title and it is also part of the Dutch royal family (called Orange-Nassau). Its name has also spawned a multitude of other namings in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, such as Nassau, the capital city of

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

, and

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a suburban County (United States), county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City, bordering the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean to the south. As of the 2020 United St ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The name also occurs in the titles of

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

s, and even a type of

bet Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

used in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

Main sights

Located in Nassau, south of the river

, is

. It is the eponymous ancestral seat of the counts of Nassau and thus the joint ancestral castle of the

—the Dutch royal house (German: ''Haus Oranien-Nassau'')—and of the

House of Luxembourg-Nassau The grand ducal family of Luxembourg constitutes the House of Luxembourg-Nassau, headed by the sovereign grand duke, and in which the throne of the grand duchy is hereditary. It consists of heirs and descendants of the House of Nassau-Weilburg, wh ...

House of Nassau-Weilburg The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806. On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...

—the Luxembourgish grand ducal house. Also located in Nassau above the Lahn valley is the castle ruin Stein (de: ''Steinsche Burg''), and in Nassau-Scheuern exists Castle Heidenpütz (de: ''Burg Heidenpütz''), which is a

burgstall A ''burgstall'' is a German term referring to a castle of which so little is left that its appearance cannot effectively be reconstructed.

(a castle of which less than a ruin is left). The town is also home to the Stein city castle (de: ''Steinsches Schloss''), the seat of the ''Reichsfreiherren'' (

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

s) vom und zum Stein, and birthplace of the Prussian reformer and Minister

Heinrich Friedrich Karl, Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein (25 October 1757 – 29 June 1831), commonly known as Baron vom Stein, was a Prussian statesman who introduced the Prussian reforms, which paved the way for the unification of Germany. He promoted the a ...

People

The Imperial Baron

Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein (25 October 1757 – 29 June 1831), commonly known as Baron vom Stein, was a Prussian statesman who introduced the Prussian reforms, which paved the way for the unification of Germany. He promoted the ...

, Prussian statesman and reformer, was born in Nassau on October 25, 1757. Here he wrote his famous ''Nassauer Memorandum'' of 1807. Stein descended from an ancient aristocratic dynasty, who had been residents of Nassau since the 12th century. The family estate lies in the centre of the town, called the ''Steinische Hof'', which today is still in the possession of the descendants of the reformer, the Counts von Kanitz. He died in Cappenberg, district of

Selm Selm () is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 kilometers north of Dortmund and 25 kilometers west of Hamm. Geography The town belongs to the southern part of the Münsterland ...

in the year 1831.

Sons and daughters of the city

* Johann Philipp Bethmann (1715–1793), banker, founder of the banking firm Bethmann brothers in Frankfurt *

Johann Jakob Bethmann Johann Jakob Bethmann (from 1776: ''von'' Bethmann; also known as ''Jean-Jacob de Bethmann''; 20 June 1717 – 2 September 1792) was a German merchant and shipowner. Life Johann Jakob was born in Bergnassau, one of three sons of the administra ...

(1717–1792), merchant and shipowner, imperial consul in Bordeaux * Simon Moritz Bethmann, (1721–1782), banker and patron, co-founder of the Bethmann brothers' bank in Frankfurt * Arnold Rönnebeck (1885–1947), German-American sculptor, lithograph and museum director of the Denver Art Museum * Wolfgang Franz (born 1944), economist, 1997–2013 President of the ZEW

Personalities who are associated with Nassau

Constantin Fahlberg Constantin Fahlberg (; 22 December 1850 in Tambov – 15 August 1910 in Nassau) was a Russian chemist who discovered the sweet taste of anhydroorthosulphaminebenzoic acid in 1877–78 when analysing the chemical compounds in coal tar at John ...

(

Tambov Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...

1850 – Nassau 1910), chemist and science researcher *

Alexander von Falkenhausen Alexander Ernst Alfred Hermann Freiherr von Falkenhausen (29 October 187831 July 1966) was a German general and military advisor to Chiang Kai-shek. He was an important figure during the Sino-German cooperation to reform the Chinese army. In ...

( Gut Blumenthal 1878 – Nassau 1966), general; military advisor to Chiang Kai-shek; head of the military government of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

during

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

1940–1944.

References

External links

Nassau Homepage
*
Nassau on Google Earth
{{Authority control Towns in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhein-Lahn-Kreis