Walbeck is a village and a former municipality in the

Börde A ''börde'' (; plural: ''börden'') is a region of highly fertile lowland in North Germany, a "fertile plain". These landscapes often cover great areas and are particularly important for arable farming on account of their rich soils. These reg ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

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 the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town

Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts of Germany, district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was formed on 1 January 2010 by the merger of the former municipalities Bösdorf, Saxony-Anhalt, Bösdorf, Döhren, Eick ...

. Its population is 688 (2022).

Geography

Walbeck is situated in the west of the

Magdeburg Börde The Magdeburg Börde () is the central landscape unit of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and lies to the west and south of the eponymous state capital Magdeburg. Part of a loess belt stretching along the southeastern rim of the North German Plain, it ...

on the Aller River at the northeastern rim of the

Lappwald The Lappwald is a heavily wooded range of hills, 20 km long and up to 5 km wide, in central Germany. It stretches northwards from the town of Helmstedt. The border between Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt runs through the woods, of which ...

hill range. It is located about south of

Weferlingen Weferlingen is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it has been part of the town of Oebisfelde-Weferlingen. Weferlingen was featured in thGlobal Mobilization Creator DLCfor ...

, near the border with

Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...

in the state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. A nearby crack of

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ic (

Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; ) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 m ...

) galleries is the site of a significant

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

deposit with numerous traces of

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

mammals (

Arctocyonidae Arctocyonidae (from Greek ''arktos'' and ''kyôn'', "bear/dog-like") is an extinct, possibly polyphyletic family of placental mammals which lived from the late Cretaceous to the early Eocene. They were initially regarded as creodonts, though ha ...

) and birds. With effect from 1 January 2010, Walbeck and the neighbouring municipalities of

Oebisfelde Oebisfelde () is a town and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen. It is accessed by Bundesstraße (German federal highway) 188. Geography ...

, Bösdorf, Eickendorf,

Etingen Etingen is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts of ...

Kathendorf Kathendorf is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts ...

, Rätzlingen, Eschenrode,

Döhren Döhren is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen. Geography Döhren is located about two km north of Helmstedt, on the border ...

, Hödingen,

Hörsingen Hörsingen is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts ...

Schwanefeld Schwanefeld is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts ...

Seggerde Seggerde is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts of ...

Siestedt Siestedt is a village and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen Oebisfelde-Weferlingen is a town in the Börde (district), Börde Districts of ...

, and

merged to form the new town of Oebisfelde-Weferlingen.

Walbeck Abbey

Walbeck was first mentioned in 929, when the local

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

count Lothair I was killed in a battle against the

Polabian Slavs Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites, Lechitic (West Slavs, West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The ...

near

Lenzen Lenzen (Elbe) is a small town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, northern Germany. The town lies to the north of the Löcknitz River, not far from where the Löcknitz flows into the Elbe. It is part of the '' Amt'' Lenzen-Elbtalaue. Ov ...

. In 942 his son Count Lothair II of Walbeck dedicated a

house monastery A house monastery, family monastery or dynastic monastery () is a Christianity, Christian monastery that has a particular relationship with a noble family. Often, but not always, what subsequently became the house monastery was founded by the nob ...

at his residence, part of a reparation after he had been involved in a failed assassination attempt instigated by the

Ottonian The Ottonian dynasty () was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman emperors, especially Otto the Great. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German stem du ...

duke

Henry I of Bavaria Henry I (919/921 – 1 November 955), a member of the German royal Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Bavaria from 948 until his death. Life He was the second son of the German king Henry the Fowler and his wife Matilda of Ringelheim. After the dea ...

against his brother King

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

. Lothair reached his pardon; his son Count Lothair III of Walbeck and his descendants served as margrave of the

Northern March The Northern March or North March (, ) was created out of the division of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the ''Marca'' (roughly corresponding to the modern state of Brandenburg) and was part of the ...

from about 983. The most notable member of the

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

-convent was the medieval chronicler

Thietmar of Merseburg Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynas ...

, a relative of the Walbeck counts and provost from 1002. Thietmar consecrated the abbey church in 1015, a church bell from these times (the Walbeck Bell), one of the earliest extant in Germany, is today part of the collections of the

Bode Museum The Bode Museum (), formerly called the Emperor Frederick Museum (), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of German Emperor William II according to plans by Ernst ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. After the Counts Walbeck had become extinct, their residence was slighted and the convent came under control of the

Halberstadt Halberstadt (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany, the capital of Harz (district), Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town ...

cathedral chapter in 1229. The monastery turned

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 ...

in 1591. The premises decayed and in 1810 Walbeck Abbey was finally abolished. Today the ruins of the Ottonian monastery church are a stop on the

Romanesque Road The Romanesque Road () is a scenic route in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in central-east Germany. It is part of the Transromanica network, a major European Cultural Route since 2006. Route The route takes the form of a figure-of-eight, ...

Notable people

Counts of Walbeck The Counts of Walbeck ruled a medieval territory with its capital Walbeck, Börde, Walbeck northeast of Helmstedt in the present town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen in Saxony-Anhalt. The foundation of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg established the region ...

Ulrich Mühe Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe (; 20 June 1953 – 22 July 2007) was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann (Captain) Gerd Wiesler in the Academy Awards, Oscar-winning film ''Das Leben der Anderen'' (''The Live ...

(1953–2007), actor, died in Walbeck

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walbeck, Borde Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Oebisfelde-Weferlingen