Location

Abtweiler lies in the Naheland, a small part of the North Palatine Uplands between the rivers Nahe and Glan up a side valley of the Glan. It is a linear village (by some definitions, a “thorpe”) in the south of the district, and lies on the left side of the lower Glan valley. It lies between Meisenheim and Bad Sobernheim. The countryside is mainly characterized by cropfields and woodland, along with some meadow orchards.^[3]

Land use

As at 31 December 2012, the various uses of Abtweiler's 5.76 km² of land broke down thus:^[4]

Neighbouring municipalities

Abtweiler borders in the north on the town of Bad Sobernheim on the river Nahe, in the east on the municipality of Rehborn, in the south on the municipality of Raumbach and in the west on the municipality of Lauschied.

Constituent communities

Also belonging to Abtweiler are the outlying homesteads of Hühnerhof (also called “Hienerhof” or “Hingelshof”)^[5] and Sankt Antoniushof (also called “Danteshof”).^[6]

Geology

Abtweiler in the 12th century

In 1128, Abtweiler had its first documentary mention as Abwilre- in pago Nachgowe (Nahegau) in a document from Mainz for the monastery at the Disibodenberg. According to this, Archbishop of Mainz Ruthard (1089-1109) had donated to the monks an estate in Hene (now the outlying centre of Hühnerhof) and four Morgen of vineyards, which were rented. The other outlying centre, the Sankt Antoniushof, had already had its first documentary mention, in 1107.^[8]

Abtweiler in the 14th century

A record from 1333 stating that the Hühnerhof in Hene had to make a contribution to the building of a chapel in Apwilre. Also, the forest then belonged jointly to the villages of Abtweiler and Staudernheim. Thus, at this time, Abtweiler had its own chapel, which belonged to the greater parish on the Disibodenberg. The Late Gothic building that still stands today dates from the 15th century. In 1338, the people from Apwilre had to deliver wood to build a bridge across the Nahe near Staudernheim. Another record from 1342 tells the reader that “Hegene und Apwilre” were parochially united with Saint Nicholas’s Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus) “auf dem Berge” (“on the mountain”, that is to say, the Disibodenberg).^[9]

Abtweiler in the 15th to 18th centuries

After the Reformation, in 1560, authority over the church passed with the dissolution of the monastery on the Disibodenberg to Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. Abtweiler, however, remained a branch of Odernheim am Glan until at least 1575. Then, sometime between 1604 and 1612, it was bound with the parish of Boos. After 1585, there was a self-administering Lutheran parish in Abtweiler. In 1772, there were 20 families living in the village. They worked 444 Morgen of cropland and paid 561 Rhenish guilders in rent and other levies. After the House of Steinkallenfels died out in 1778, its share of the lordship went to the Lords of Hunolstein. This local lordship was swept away with the advance of French Revolutionary troops into the region.^[10]

Abtweiler after the 18th century

After 1815, the church community was parochially united with Staudernheim.^[11] From 1815 to 1866, the village belonged to the Oberamt of Meisenheim in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg, with which it passed to Prussia in 1866.

Hühnerhof

Archbishop of Mainz Ruthard (1089-1109) donated to the monks an estate in Hene (now the outlying centre of Hühnerhof) and four Morgen of vineyards, which were rented. By 1426, the Rhinegraves had granted the now forsaken village of Hene to Wilhelm of Kallenfels, who in turn gave it to the knight Sir Friedrich of Löwenstein. In 1507, it was an hereditary fief bequeathed to his issue, Johann of Löwenstein. In 1659, the place passed back to the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves of Dhaun, but as soon afterwards as 1662, it was once again a fief. A Weistum (cognate with English wisdom, this was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times) from 1576 laid out the village's limits with the Hühnerhof, which itself later belonged to Palatinate-Simmern.^[12]

Sankt Antoniushof

The “Danteshof”, as it is also called (but in either case, a definite article is used with the name, as also for the Hühnerhof), was in the Middle Ages a village with a chapel and a court of Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”), led by a Schultheiß. It was among the oldest settlements in the Nahe-Glan area, presumably having arisen soon after the Franks took over the land on the fertile soils of the extensive mountain heath. The impetus for the founding of this hamlet – the 1107 document mentioned above did describe it as such, using the German word Weiler – without a doubt came from the nearby Disibodenberg Benedictine Monastery, the great missionary hub and stronghold of the ecclesiastical cultural pioneers in the Nahegau. Important for and full of information about the Sankt Antoniushof's history is the 1375 Schönenberg Weistum, which is recorded in the Disibodenberg Cartulary, now kept in Darmstadt. Twenty years later, records were speaking of an estate called Anthisberg. In 1659, the Anthesberg got, in the person of Henrich Schappert, an hereditary tenant. Schappert – his wife's name was Magdalene – was the forefather of the family Schappert, whose current members still live at the “Danteshof” even today. In 1959, the Schapperts marked the 300th anniversary of their rise to prominence and their arrival at the Sankt Antoniushof, which occasioned a festival.^[13]

Population development

Abtweiler's population figures have not shown much growth since Napoleonic times, and indeed, since the middle of the 20th century, they have been shrinking. The figures in the table from 1871 to 1987 are based on censuses:^[14]

Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.^[17]

Mayor

Abtweiler’s mayor is Peter Michel.^[1]

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: Durch rot und silber geschachtete Balken schräggeteilt, oben in schwarz ein goldenes Patriarchenkreuz, unten in grün ein herschauender, rot gezungter, silberner Löwenkopf.

The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: A bend countercompony argent and gules between in chief sable a cross patriarchal Or and in base vert a lion’s head erased affronty of the first langued of the second.

The parish and village of Abtweiler belonged to the Disibodenberg Monastery, which was founded in 1108 by the Benedictines, representing whom is the charge on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side in chief (high up), the patriarchal cross. In 1259, the Benedictines were relieved of their monastery by the Cistercians, whose device is the bend (slanted stripe) with the countercompony (two-row chequered) pattern. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the village of Abtweiler belonged to the Barons (Freiherren) of and at Stein-Kallenfels. Their tombs are preserved in the church quire at Abtweiler. The lion’s head on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side in base is drawn from an heraldic device that they bore.^[18]

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:^[19]

• Hauptstraße 12 – Evangelical parish church; Late Gothic aisleless church, 15th century; vestry addition marked 1756 (see also below)
• Im Tal 1 – three-sided estate, quarrystone buildings, house marked 1874
• Im Tal 5 – former school with teacher’s dwelling; two-winged building with half-hipped roof, Heimatstil, about 1910
• Turmweg 3/5 – two-part house with stable underneath, partly timber-frame, early or mid 19th century

Church

A drive through Abtweiler will inevitably bring the visitor to the village’s Late Gothic church, built in the 15th century. Besides two important 15th-century wall paintings, there is also an outstanding ceiling painting in the quire. Also to be seen are six tombs of the baronial Family Steinkallenfels from the 17th and 18th centuries. The church itself has had an important and eventful history, which is detailed above under Religion. From weekly church services to weddings, christenings, Confirmations and burials, the church still plays a great role in the village’s everyday life.^[20]

Clubs

The following clubs are active in Abtweiler:^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

• Flötenkreis Abtweiler — flute club
• Förderer der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr Abtweiler — volunteer fire brigade promotional association
• Kulturverein Abtweiler — culture club
• Landfrauen Abtweiler e.V. — countrywomen’s club
• MGV 1872 Gemischter Chor Abtweiler / Raumbach e.V. — mixed choir

Mineral exploitation

The Permian-Carboniferous deposits described above under Geology have of course been important to mankind and its industry in the past, and still are now. In the Palatinate, mining has a long tradition, and there is evidence that in a few areas, it even stretches back to Celtic times. The most varied of mineral wealth has been brought to light in this region. They are products of volcanic activity, deposits from rivers and lakes, and even the sea (for the Saar–Nahe Basin has not always been on land), which once covered much of the Palatinate. Hundreds of locations of former mining operations are known today. Countless galleries, shafts, open pits, tailing heaps, prospecting diggings, building ruins and even smelter ruins bear witness to the almost two-thousand-year quest for mineral wealth.^[28]

Transport

Running to Abtweiler's south is Bundesstraße 420. Serving Staudernheim is a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken).