Orsoy �ɔʁzaʊ̯ from approximately 1273 to 1974 an independent town, most recently within the

Kreis Moers Kreis is the German word for circle. Kreis may also refer to: Places * , or Circle (administrative division), various subdivisions roughly equivalent to counties, districts or municipalities ** Districts of Germany (including and ) ** Former ...

district, is today a district (officially a residential area) and one of four

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of the North Rhine-Westphalian town of

Rheinberg Rheinberg () is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. north of Moers and south of Wesel. It comprises the municipal districts of Rheinberg, Borth, Budberg, an ...

on the left bank of the

Lower Rhine Lower Rhine (, ; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bonn in Germany and the North Sea at Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, including the '' Nederrijn'' () within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta; alternat ...

in the Kreis Wesel district. The word Orsoy, pronounced ''Oschau'' or ''Orsau'' means "horse pasture" (Rossaue). Orsoy itself was in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

a powerful fortified town with high walls and four gates. Although much of the fortifications were destroyed by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in 1672 and some remains later in the

Second World War 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 ...

, a tower, circa 50 percent of the walls and part of the moat remain today giving some indication of the scale of the fortifications. The borough of Orsoy includes the Orsoyerberg district, as well as the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Drießen, Plank, Hasenfeld and Milchplatz.

History

Teuton The Teutons (, ; ) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with the Roman Republic in the late seco ...

s supplanted the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

inhabitants around Orsoy in 750 BC and

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

invaded the area establishing Roman Rule in the 1st century BC. Orsoy was first founded as a

Roman Villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

on what was the frontier of the

empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. By the 4th century a

Roman Road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

and

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

crossing had been established at Orsoy. In 401AD the

Romans 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

withdraw from the area in the face of the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

s and the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

followed close behind. In 1938

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

s uncovered 9 royal tombs from 500 to 630 AD showing strong

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n cultural input. The town became

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

and was

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

ised about 700 AD. The earliest mention of the town is in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

for nearby

Hamborn Abbey Hamborn Abbey () is a Premonstratensian monastery in the Alt-Hamborn district of Duisburg, Germany. The abbey is physically located in the diocese of Essen, although not formally part of it. History The present abbey church originates in a smal ...

in 1139.

It is then mentioned in a deed of Count Dietrich IV of Kleve of 1233. From 1238 to 1240, Orsoy was used as a River Toll Station for the count of Kleve. His heir Dietrich V of Cleves,(1260-1275)) granted it town status in 1263 or 1270. There was a fire in 1347 that left the city in ruins, so it was refounded on September 1, 1347, by

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Louis IV. Count Johann von Kleve remained the local lord, and the town was governed by 7 aldermen, although it was never granted market rights. A baliff was granted in 1364 and a grant of a mayor followed soon after. In 1438 Duke Adolf of Cleves had built a second

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

and in 1452 records show a teacher (schoolmaster) hired by the town. The town moat was completed in 1461. Orsoy 1650-4

The modern fortress was built 1565-1581 by

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Johann Pasqualini Elder (Responsible for the construction of the second ring ) and funded by Duke William the Rich of Cleves. In 1586 the town was conquered by the Spaniards and destroyed. From 1632 to 1640 the city was under Dutch occupation and the rebuilt fortress was built in the old Dutch style and expanded by the third fixing ring. In 1666 Orsoy once again came under Brandenburg management, until 1672 when there was a period of

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

rule, when Louis XIV ordered demolition of large parts of the existing fortifications. In 1685 the first Rhine harbor in Orsoy is established. Rebuilding of the fort took place again in 1750. In the 18th century Orsoy was a site of a significant textile industry. But a fire in 1818 and the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

(1756-1763) and the relocation of the Rhine customs duty office to Homberg in 1805 caused the economy to crash. Schwarzplan1819

A recovery began in 1851 with the production of

cigars A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binde ...

, which remained a staple industry until the

. In 1935/36 the harbor basin was filled in to facilitate extension to the primary school and extend the river dike. In 1938 also Orsoyer Jews were expelled from the town and later deported. Towards the end of World War II, in March 1945, Orsoy was occupied by troops of the US Army. During the hostilities the steeple of the Catholic Church was shelled by German troops. The shelling was carried out from the opposite (right) bank of the Rhine. A destruction of the tower a possible use by enemy reconnaissance should be suppressed. Starting in 1956, missile engineer Berthold Seliger lived in Orsoy. He built a workshop and built here the rocket, which he launched from 1962 to 1964 in the Wadden area of Cuxhaven. The once thriving tobacco is no longer existent. A large former tobacco factory on Südwall was converted in the 1990s to housing. The most important local supply facilities have been preserved over the years in Orsoy. There is a primary school, two

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 ...

s, several doctors, a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

, two bakeries, a pastry shop, a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and several smaller shops. On January 1, 1972, the municipality of Orsoy-Land was incorporated into the town of

. The town of Orsoy was added on 1 January 1975.Historisches Gemeindeverzeichnis für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Namens-, Grenz- u. Schlüsselnummernänderungen bei Gemeinden, Kreisen u. Reg.-Bez. vom 27.5.1970 bis 31.12.1982. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart/Mainz 1983, , p.296 File:Orsoy Festungsentwicklung.jpg, development of the walls at Orsoy File:Festung.Orsoy.jpg, Historische Festungsanlagen: Befestigungsring 1 und 2 (Aktuelle Situation) File:Rheintor Winter.jpg, the 1937 gate File:Orsoy01.jpg, Hochwasserschutztor (Rheinansicht) File:Stadtmauer am Pulverturm.jpg, remains of the old town wall File:Pulverturm.Orsoy.jpg, Power tower File:Pulverturm.Orsoy.2006.jpg, Powder Tower (Ostansicht) File:Orsoy Stadtmauer.jpg, Remains of inner wall File:Orsoy.Kirchenschiff.jpg, Protestant church File:Kirchvorplatz.jpg,

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

File:Orsoy.Kirchenportal.jpg,

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

File:Synagoge.Orsoy.jpg,

Synagoge A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

File:Orsoy.katholische.Kirche.jpg, St. Nikolaus catholic

File:Blick.Bastion.Kuhpforte.jpg, Orsoy moat File:Rathaus Orsoy.jpg, Orsoy

Rathaus In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

. File:HafenOrsoy01.JPG, Orsoy River Port File:Schiffsanleger Orsoy.jpg, Peirs on the Rhine File:Rheinpromenade.jpg, river bank Orsoy File:Orsoy Kuhstrasse.jpg, main street Orsoy

References

{{Authority control Populated places in North Rhine-Westphalia Wesel (district)