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Kintzheim Kínze | |
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 A general view of Kintzheim | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location of Kintzheim | |
  Kintzheim  Kintzheim | |
| Coordinates:48°15′18″N7°23′51″E / 48.255°N 7.3975°E /48.255; 7.3975 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Grand Est |
| Department | Bas-Rhin |
| Arrondissement | Sélestat-Erstein |
| Canton | Sélestat |
| Intercommunality | Sélestat |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Christian Schleifer[1] |
Area 1 | 18.79 km2 (7.25 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 1,691 |
| • Density | 89.99/km2 (233.1/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 67239 /67600 |
| Elevation | 176–521 m (577–1,709 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Kintzheim (French pronunciation:[kintsaim];German:Kinzheim) is acommune in theBas-Rhindepartment inAlsace in north-easternFrance.[3]
TheChâteau de Kintzheim is a well-known landmark in the commune.
The Kintzheim coat of arms is a black eagle on a white background. The bird's talons are highlighted in red, along with its tongue.
The coat of arms is identical to the former coat of arms of nearbySélestat, of which Kintzheim was a dependency between 1338 and 1791.
Kintzheim is positioned on theAlsatian Wine Route, not far from theChâteau du Haut-Kœnigsbourg. To the north it is dominated by the Hahnenberg Hill(Hill of the heath rooster), and to the south by the Praelatenberg(Prelates' Hill), the community profits fromviticulture and the associated commercial benefits of tourism.
The village is surrounded bySélestat on the east side,Orschwiller to the south andLièpvre to the west along withLa Vancelle andChâtenois to the north.The 13th centuryChâteau de Kintzheim overlooks the settlement and marks the edge of thegame rich forests of theVosges Mountains. Wines produced from the vineyards on the Hahnenberg and Praeletenberg hills enjoy the 'grand cru Praletenbourg' designation: of traditionalAlsatian style, these wines can be checked out at the local cooperative wine cellars ofOrschwiller-Kintzheim.
Tourism is also supported by local wild life, with astork park and aneagle flying centre (the village coat of arms featuring an eagle) in the commune along with a network of marked walking paths in the surrounding vineyards and forests together with a range of other recreational and leisure facilities.
"Kintzheim" may derive from a concatenation of theGermanic words "König"(King) and "Heim"(home/farmstead). Based on that, the name would signify a king's home, which would be consistent with the good defensive position of thecastle.
An alternative etymology attaches theGallic word "cuno" (cone) to theGermanic "Heim". "Cuno" indicates the top of a hill and may be related to a Latin word for the top of a helmet, coming from thePaleolithic root word "Kun"
Around 774 the name was written as "Quningishaim" and in 881 as "Chuniggesheim"
The origins of the village are not known. There may have been a settlement here in Neolithic times, but the earliest identified relics date back only to theRoman Empire period. Kintzheim is located on the route of the famousRoman Empire period road that traversedAlsace from north to south. Funerary relics from the 1st and 2nd centuries have been discovered.
In the 8th century it is recorded that the village was at the centre of a large royal estate. During the time ofKing Childeric II, the lands and forests of Kintzheim were subject to royal taxation: this was the time whenMayorWulfoald (or Vulfoald) exercised great power inAustrasia, even after the king came into his majority. Childeric was killed in 675 while hunting: Wulfoald then arranged for the return fromIreland to Austrasia ofDagobert II. Dagobert was king until he, too, was killed on December 23, 779: subsequently Dagobert became known as Saint Dagobert, his day being December 23.MayorWulfoald died soon afterwards, in 780.
With Dagobert's death, part of his property passed toPepin the Short including theAbbey of Saint Mihiel. Pepin was the father ofEmperor Charlemagne who would consolidate much of western Europe into a single empire. One of Charlemagne's palaces, known as "Villa Regia" (Quuningishaim), and translated into subsequentGermanic dialect as "Kunigesheim", was clearly positioned on the slopes of Kintzheim. The emperor was a frequent visitor to the region where as a young man he would hunt in the company of hispersonal chaplain, theAbbot Fulrad. Before he died in 784, Fulrad had founded monasteries atLièpvre and at Saint Hippolyte. Fulrad arranged that the abbot of Lièpvre receive a portion of the forest at "Quuningishaim" and several other properties included in the royal hunting forests in the region. A year later, in 775, it is recorded that Charlemagne, returning toAachen from his conquest ofLombardy, visited the "Palatium Selestatis", his autumn palace most likely on the slopes of the Kintzheim hills. In 781 the emperor bestowed further lands, including the Kintzheim forests, on thepriory at Lièpvre.
As part of a land exchange during a lull in a fratricidal war, Charlesmagne's grandson, the emperorLothar I, in February 843 offeredKunigesheim (Königsheim) to Erchanger de Souabe, Count ofNordgau. TheAbbey of Andlau held lands adjoiningLièpvre and positioned at the bottom of the village on land that was part of Kintzheim. These were close to the hospice at Sélestat, known at this time as Abtissinhurst or Graveloch, and which, it is claimed, was part of the court complex(la cour colongères) belonging to theAbbey of Andlau at Kintzheim. Erchangar's daughter,Richardis (Sainte Richarde d'Andlau after her canonisation in 1049), the (ultimately estranged) wife ofCharles the Fat, would inherit all these assets.
In turn the village passed to theHohenstaufens and then to theHoly Roman Empire, which is the origin of theimperial eagle on the coat of arms. During the 13th century the German emperors transferred the income of the village to the local noble families, including the Kagens, theRathsamhausens(then written Racenhuzen) and theAndlaus. From 1267 the castle at Kintzheim was in the possession of the Rathsamhausen family. In 1286 part of Kintzheim was let by theemperor to Hartmann and Egelophe de Rathsamhausen for 150 silver marks. The area was increased in 1299 by a farm at Kintzheim which theAbbey of Senones gave them in fief.
In 1298 the inhabitants of the nearby village ofChâtenois, at this time administered by the bellicoseBishop ofStrasbourg, torched and devastated the castle at Kintzheim. The Rathsamhausen and Kagen families rebuilt it, however, between 1300 and 1306.
During thecivil war of the early 15th century,Armagnac partisans of theDuke of Orleans torchedScherwiller,Châtenois, Kintzheim, andSaint-Hippolyte.
In 1338 the nearby town ofSélestat set about buying the lands of Kintzheim from its noble landlords, although the Abbey of Andlau would continue to exercise certain prerogatives including the appointment of theprovost until 1534.Louis of Bavaria transferred most of Kintzheim to Sélestat and the Rathsamhausen sold them the rest of the village, retaining only the castle.
From now on Sélestat exercised full control over Kintzheim until several decades after theFrench Revolution: in the meantime, as far as the records are concerned, Kintzheim tends to share its history with that of Sélestat.
The war of the Peasants which in this area broke out in 1525 touched the neighbourhood very directly. At Scherwiller theDuke of Lorraine crushed an 'army' of 5,000 peasants and saw to it that the village was (again) torched. The peasant uprising started in several centres includingSélestat, though in reality it had been brewing during a much longer period and over a wider area: the revolt raged across Germanic central Europe for three years. Economic hardship was a key cause of these armed insurrections. Since the previous century Alsace had been ravaged by a succession of military invasions involving the destruction of villages and crops: the burden of homes burned down and of harvests destroyed or stolen was always suffered most acutely by the peasants. In addition to economic shortage and loss must be added the exploitation of the small farmers by thenobility and themonasteries: the result was a growing antagonism towards landowners. In addition topoll taxes andtithes, peasants found themselves increasingly burdened by the additional taxes levied in order to fund international wars and other extravagances of the lords and nobles.
During theThirty Years War, theSwedes laid siege toSélestat. They occupied Kintzheim and left its castle in ruins.
In common with most ofAlsace, Kintzheim's experience of theFrench Revolution was relatively calm. The twopriests were exiled across theriver inBaden, from where they may have made clandestine returns visits to Kintzheim where they would have been successfully concealed by villagers. The village still has asmall closet with a chair inside it which was constructed to conceal two priests during searches by theNational Guard. Any 'trawl' for them was announced so that the priests could be alerted. During the revolution two nuns lived in retirement at Kintzheim. On the eighteenth ofPluviôse,Year II (Revolutionary Calendar) Kintzheim was obliged to provide 12,000silver pounds in return for valuelessAssignats with a face value of 12,000 pounds.
Following the French Revolution, most rural communes found themselves freed from any former owners. Kintzheim also gained its freedom from the town of Sélestat which had owned it since 1338. However, it was not until 1834, after a legal case that lasted forty years, that Sélestat agreed to give up its rights over the village.
The commune has a single preschool (école maternelle) and a single elementary school.[4]
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