BATTENBERG, HESSE

'Battenberg' is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.

Contents

Geography

Location

Neighbouring communities

Constituent communities

History

Population development

Politics

Town council

Coat of arms

Town partnerships

Adoption

Reference

External links

Geography

Location

The middle centre (in terms of Walter Christaller's Central Place Theory) of Battenberg lies in the ''Ederbergland'', or Eder Highland, to which the Burgwald abutting the town to the east also belongs, on the southern edge of the Sauerland and the Rothaargebirge. Lying between 320 and 650 m above sea level, the town is also crossed by the river Eder.

Neighbouring communities

Battenberg borders in the north on the community of Bromskirchen, in the northeast on the community of Allendorf, in the southeast on the community of Burgwald (all three in Waldeck-Frankenberg), in the south on the community of Münchhausen am Christenberg (Marburg-Biedenkopf), and in the west on the towns of Hatzfeld (Waldeck-Frankenberg) and Bad Berleburg (Siegen-Wittgenstein in North Rhine-Westphalia).

Constituent communities

Battenberg includes the following centres:

★ Berghofen

★ Dodenau

★ Frohnhausen

★ Laisa

History

In 778 there was fighting near Laisa and Battenfeld as part of Charlemagne's Saxon Wars. A branch of the Wittgenstein noble family began calling themselves the "Counts of Battenberg" in 1214. In 1232, Battenberg had its first documentary mention, and two years later it was granted town rights. The early-Gothic church dates from 1249. In 1297, the town's ownership was transferred to the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1464, the ''Amt'' of Battenberg passed to Hesse. In 1932, Battenberg became part of the Frankenberg/Eder district. As part of municipal reform in 1974, the districts of Frankenberg (containing Battenberg) and Waldeck were united to form the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg.
Worth mentioning is the Battenberg family with its anglicized name of Mountbatten (''Berg'' means "mountain" in German), which comes directly from the line of the Counts of Battenberg.

Population development

31 December 1988	: 5,099 inhabitants
31 December 1991	: 5,602 inhabitants
31 December 1995	: 5,693 inhabitants
31 December 2000	: 5,752 inhabitants
31 December 2004	: 5,701 inhabitants

Politics

Town council

The town council's 31 seats are apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:

CDU	8 seats
SPD	7 seats
Bürgerliste Stadt Battenberg	5 seats
Bürgerliste der Stadtteile Laisa, Frohnhausen und Berghofen	5 seats
Bürgerliste Dodenau	4 seats
FDP	2 seats

Note: ''Bürgerlisten'' are "citizens' lists", not actual political parties.

Coat of arms

Battenberg's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: Party per pale sable and argent.
The colours are taken from the arms borne by the town's old overlords, the Counts of Battenberg, who were a branch of the Counts of Wittgenstein. Battenberg's arms have their roots in the 13th century, putting them among Hesse's oldest municipal coats of arms.
Various other charges have appeared in the arms over the centuries, however. Sometimes it was a tower, the Count of Battenberg and the Archbishop of Mainz, the Archbishop by himself, or the wheel of Mainz. One version even showed the same simple composition seen here, but with red instead of black. This would have made the arms identical to those currently borne by Buchloe in Bavaria.[1]

Town partnerships

★ Senonches, France

★ Romsey, United Kingdom

★ Litvínov, Czech Republic

★ Horní Jiřetín, Czech Republic

★ Loon op Zand, Netherlands

Adoption

★ In 1954, Battenberg "adopted" Sudeten Germans who had been driven out of the community of Obergeorgenthal (Horní Jiřetín) in the Brüx district.

Reference

External links

★ Battenberg

★ Laisa

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