Harxheim district boundaries
By Gerhard Krämer
The boundaries of the Harxheim district were already established at the time of the Frankish land names from the 5th century onwards. Originally, Harxheim and Gau-Bischofsheim formed one parish, the separation must have occurred very early, before the year 782.
The boundaries of our homeland were formed at the time of the Frankish land names from the 5th century. They were necessary to allocate clearly defined lands to the settlers and groups of settlers pushing in after the Romans had left. The demarcation of the borders was carried out by royal officials. 1) In doing so, those responsible chose a fairly equal measure, which ranged from 350 to 650 hectares, depending on the terrain and the number of settlers. 2)
Originally, the size of the Harxheim district was 635 ha, which was at the upper limit of this range. However, at a point in time that cannot be precisely quantified, a partial area of 284 ha was cut out of this “Urgemarkung”; this resulted in the Gau-Bischofsheim district. Since in a document from the year 782 3) there is already talk about a parish “Biscofesheim”, the separation must have taken place before. Since the separation, the district includes 351.47 ha = 1406 square meters. 4)
The use of the common land remained largely constant over the centuries. In 1905, there were approx. 272 hectares of arable land, 17 hectares of meadows and 51 hectares of vineyards, for a total of 340 hectares of agricultural land. In addition, there were 3 ha of farmsteads and 8 ha of other use. 5) In the Middle Ages, there was a forest area of about 5 ha adjacent to the old village to the west. 6)
Only in recent decades has the settlement area increased significantly and the agricultural area decreased accordingly. In 2016, the settlement area had grown to 55 ha, and the agricultural area had shrunk to 261 ha. 7)
The article was taken from the unpublished manuscript “Notizen zu Harxheim”, status 2021, by Gerhard Krämer, which the author kindly made available to the HVV.
References:
Contribution source: Krämer, Gerhard: “Notizen zu Harxheim”, unpublished manuscript, status 2021
Text sources:
1) Staab, Franz (1975): Untersuchungen zur Gesellschaft am Mittelrhein in der Karolingerzeit. Geschichtliche Landeskunde Volume XI. Stuttgart. p. 229 ff.
2) Ratz, Werner (1933): Landschaft und Siedlung im südlichen Rheinhessen. Works of the Institute for Hessian Regional Research. Issue 13. casting.
3) Minst, Karl Josef (1970): Lorsch Codex. Volume III. document no. 1168.
4) Rhineland-Palatinate State Statistical Office.
5) Brilmayer, Karl Johann (1905): Rheinhessen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Casting.
6) – Bernhard, Gerda (1931): Das nördliche Rheinhessen. Casting. p. 34 and p. 128.
– Ziehen, Wolfgang (1968): Wald und Steppe in Rheinhessen (Dissertation). Mainz.
– In many old property deeds the location designation “nach Wald” is given.
7) Rhineland-Palatinate State Statistical Office
