Hemsbach

Sister cities

• Bray-sur-Seine
• Mücheln
• Wareham

History

In 795 the town was first mentioned in a document as Hemmingisbach in the Lorsch Codex. It was about a border settlement to the property of the Lorsch Abbey in the "Mark Heppenheim", including Hemsbach. After the dissolution of the abbey in 1232, the village was a bone of contention between the Electoral Palatinate and the Archbishops of Mainz for a century, until the Palatinate was adjudicated the villages of Hemsbach, Laudenbach and Sulzbach in 1344 by arbitration. The town was assigned to Palatinate-Mosbach in 1410. Count Otto of Mosbach pledged a large part of the rights to the Prince-Bishopric of Worms in 1449. After the Palatinate-Mosbach line died out in 1499, however, customs privileges were returned to the Electoral Palatinate, which also claimed regional sovereignty. The dispute remained unresolved until Hemsbach finally fell to the Electorate Palatinate in 1705 under an exchange agreement with the Bishop of Worms. At the dissolution of the Electoral Palatinate Hemsbach was taken by Baden in 1803 and annexed to the Weinheim administration. On the night of May 1, 1811, a stagecoach with two Swiss merchants was attacked by Hölzerlips and his gang on the Bergstraße just short of Hemsbach. Hans Jacob Rieter from Winterthur died of his injuries. In 1812, the Sulzbach settlement in the south of Hemsbach was separated and became independent. During the "Baden Revolution" in 1849, Hessian troops and Baden rebels met near Hemsbach and engaged in heavy fighting. A cannon ball in the outer wall of the Hemsbach train station still commemorates this today. Politically, the national liberals dominated since the foundation of the Reich in 1871 until they were ousted by the Social Democrats in 1907, who were usually the strongest party also during the Weimar Republic. In…

Geography

Hemsbach's district extends 85 to 340 metres above sea level along Bergstraße, that is, in the transition area between the Odenwald and the Upper Rhine Plain, along the same named stream. The municipality borders Laudenbach in the north, the Hessian Heppenheim, Mörlenbach and Birkenau in the east, the town of Weinheim in the south and Viernheim, Lampertheim and Lorsch in the west. The Hemsbach district has a strong west–east extension and extends over . Of this, 25.7 percent is settlement and traffic area, 48.5 percent is used for agriculture and 22.8 percent is wooded. The hamlets Balzenbach and Weschnitz-Siedlung, Am Mühlweg (Jewish cemetery), the palace and the Schafhof (Waldnerhof) and Watzenhof farmsteads belong to the town of Hemsbach.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,247
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,972
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,574
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,499
• Zoropsid spider

  Zoropsis spinimana (Dufour, 1820) · Arachnida
  3,979
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,606
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,915
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  2,735

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2014-05-17
  2 km ESE of Pfungstadt, Germany
• M 3.4 — 2010-12-23
  4 km WNW of Mainz, Germany
• M 3.4 — 2010-06-29
  3 km NW of Hochheim am Main, Germany
• M 2.8 — 2008-11-25
  1 km S of Steinmauern, Germany
• M 2.8 — 2008-04-16
  5 km NNE of Bornich, Germany
• M 3.2 — 2008-02-16
  0 km ESE of Rheinau, Germany