Briedel | |
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Location of Briedel within Cochem-Zell district ![]() | |
Coordinates:50°1′26.55″N7°8′56.72″E / 50.0240417°N 7.1490889°E /50.0240417; 7.1490889 | |
Country | Germany |
State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
District | Cochem-Zell |
Municipal assoc. | Zell (Mosel) |
Government | |
• Mayor(2019–24) | Thomas Steinbach[1] |
Area | |
• Total | 26.61 km2 (10.27 sq mi) |
Elevation | 118 m (387 ft) |
Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 897 |
• Density | 34/km2 (87/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Postal codes | 56867 |
Dialling codes | 06542 |
Vehicle registration | COC |
Website | www |
Briedel is anOrtsgemeinde – amunicipality belonging to aVerbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in theCochem-Zelldistrict inRhineland-Palatinate,Germany. It belongs to theVerbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality ofZell an der Mosel. Briedel is an oldwinegrowing centre on theMiddle Moselle.
The municipality lies on the riverMoselle's right bank at the mouth of the Briedeler Bach, which rises in theHunsrück. Briedel is in the middle of theBriedeler Schweiz ("Briedel Switzerland"), a nature conservation area comprising a woodland area with craggy outcrops, impressive lookout points and well marked hiking trails.[3] ToBernkastel-Kues it is some 42 km, and to Cochem, roughly 41 km.[4]
Belonging to theOrtsgemeinde are the centres of Maiermund, Briedeler Heck, Bummkopf and Hohestein, as well as the formerly state-owned domain of Margaretenhof.
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Digs undertaken in 1870 on the Briedeler Heck showed that the area was settled as early as theNew Stone Age. Other digs in 1936-1937 and 1953-1954 unearthed great burying grounds which were rich ingrave goods. This established that settlers were here from lateHallstatt times to the end ofRoman times, thus over more than a thousand years. In 293,Constantius Chlorus, the Roman proconsul in Trier, apparently took some wine from Briedel with him back toRome that EmperorDiocletian supposedly greatly enjoyed.[5] About 475, Briedel and the Moselle province passed unequivocally into theFranks’ hands. The Romance-speaking and Romanized inhabitants remained in great numbers along theMoselle valley, living alongside the Frankish conquerors, some in their own settlements, and some in the same settlements as the Franks. The two peoples melded together only gradually. Until theHigh Middle Ages, the inhabitants had their own "Germano-Romance" language. Linguists assume that Germanization was completed only in the 12th century.
About 600, the first church was established with Saint Martin as its patron saint. The first documentary mention came some 150 years later on 20 May 748 when BishopChrodegang of Metz, with the laterCarolingian King (751–768) but meanwhileMayor of the PalacePepin's consent, donated to the newly foundedGorze Abbey nearMetz, among many other holdings, the wine tithes at Briedel, which was named in this document asBredaculo. This also makes the document one of the oldest pieces of evidence forwinegrowing in theMoselle valley. On 17 February 893 Bishop Rodbert of Metz furnished the Collegiate Foundation of Neumünster with a wine benefit from the estates now known asvilla bredallio. This tithe was reconfirmed in 936, 944 and 1138.
Many further references confirm a church and the namesBredal,Bridal andBridell as well as various estate and vineyard holders. On 5 February 1264, theSt. TrondBenedictine Abbey sold its holdings in Briedel toHimmerod Abbey along with the tithes and patronage rights to the parish church at Briedel for 1,150 marks sterling. With this acquisition, Himmerod Abbey's hold on Briedel became quite fast and the village's fate was in the Abbey's hands for more than 500 years. In 1343, Briedel had a girding wall with a tower (theEulenturm, or "Owl’s Tower") and four gates. On 31 May 1376 it was granted town rights, making Briedel a firm component of theTrier Electoral State. The townsmen celebrated the attendant end ofserfdom, although they quickly realized that this would not change their lives in any way. Drudgery, tithes and servitude were as much life's everyday realities as they always had been. The Briedel court was made up of theSchultheiß and sevenSchöffen (roughly "lay jurists"). In 1377, Briedel became part of theAmt of Zell.
In 1518, Briedel acquired its own court seal, which later provided the model for the municipalcoat of arms borne today. In 1595, the village, which was said to be well off, was attacked by bands ofmercenaries led by Captain Langhans at the time of the church consecration festival. The Briedel villagers, supported by their neighbours, scattered them and sent them home with "bloody heads". In 1632 and 1635,Swedish troops plundered Briedel and killed some of the inhabitants; the survivors were then reduced in number by a third with the coming of thePlague in 1636. The already concludedPeace of Westphalia, which was supposed to have ended theThirty Years' War, did not spare the village further plundering byFrench troops, who sacked the church and set the village ablaze.
In 1674, Briedel, and also some of the neighbouring places, denied French occupational troops inTrier any contributions. In an act of revenge, the troops set out from Trier to punish the wayward villages, but on the way met withImperial troops who beat them back. The village's fortifications were destroyed by the French in 1689. The villagers then had to do compulsory labour, building the fort, Mont Royal.
In 1719, the municipal area and vineyard ownership were newly surveyed. It was determined that 15.5% belonged in ecclesiastical ownership, 39.7% in knightly ownership, 9.7% in other noblemen's hands and in private ownership a mere 28.6%. From 1772 to 1774, Saint Martin's Church, the one that still stands now, was built, and in 1780 anorgan was built in. In 1784, Briedel had 732 inhabitants, namely 144 fathers, 160 mothers, 210 sons, 197 daughters, 6 menservants and 15 maidservants. Moreover, the village had 142 buildings with a worth of 37,900Reichstaler.
Beginning in 1794, Briedel lay underFrench rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom ofPrussia at theCongress of Vienna.
From 1902 to 1905, the Moselle ValleyRailway (Moseltalbahn) was built, known in the local speech as theSaufbähnchen ("Little Guzzling Railway"). In 1939, 1,887 people lived in Briedel.
Since 1946, Briedel has been part of the then newly foundedstate ofRhineland-Palatinate. The Maiermund housing development sprang up on cleared swathes of the Briedeler Hecke after theSecond World War in the course of the housing development movement. In 1969, administrative restructuring inRhineland-Palatinate put Briedel in the newCochem-Zelldistrict.
In 1991, a lady from Briedel named Bettina Fischer became the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Regional "Wine Queen"; the following year she also became "German Wine Princess".
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected byproportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[6]
Year | CDU | FWG | Total |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | 6 | 10 | 16 seats |
2004 | 6 | 10 | 16 seats |
Briedel's mayor is Thomas Steinbach.[1]
The German blazon reads:In Silber ein rotes Kreuz, bewinkelt im ersten und vierten Felde von grünen Rankenornamenten, im zweiten durch die Buchstaben BR und im dritten Feld eine grüne Weintraube.
The municipality'sarms might in Englishheraldic language be described thus: Argent a cross gules, in dexter chief and sinister base tendril patterns, in sinister chief the letters BR, and in dexter base abunch of grapes on a vine palewise reversed, leafed of two and slipped, all vert.
The old 1518 seal used by the court ofSchöffen (roughly "lay jurists") served as the model for today's coat of arms. The cross refers to the former landholder, the Prince-Archbishop-Elector of Trier. "BR" simply stands for the first two letters in the municipality's name. The grapevine and the grapes refer to the municipality as one of the oldest winegrowing centres in the Moselle valley, and the winegrowing itself, which is still a part of local life today.
The arms have been borne since 1 February 1957, and they were designed by Dr. Bruno Hirschfeld ofKoblenz, after the old seal.[7]
There are manytimber-frame houses, aBaroque church with a Stumm organ and ceiling paintings, and a fountain in the village centre. Nearby is the wooded areaBriedeler Schweiz ("Briedel Switzerland").
The following are listed buildings or sites inRhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
Each year on the first weekend in August, theGroßes Weinfest ("Great Wine Festival") is held. On the first weekend in September comes theWeinstraßenfest ("Wine Street Festival").
Briedel is an old wine village. Its vineyard operators are Briedeler Herzchen, Nonnengarten, Schäferlay, Schelm and Weißerberg. The tourism resort has at its disposalhotels,inns and private pensions.