Spessart () is a Mittelgebirge, a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level.
Etymology
The name is derived from "Spechtshardt". Specht is the German word for woodpecker and Hardt is an outdated word meaning "hilly forest".
Geography
Location The Spessart is a Mittelgebirge, part of the German Central Uplands, located in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria and in Hesse, Germany. It is bordered by other ranges of hills: the Vogelsberg in the north, Rhön in the northeast and Odenwald in the southwest. Another way of describing the extent of the range is by naming the rivers that border it: the Main in the south and west, the Kinzig in the north and the Sinn in the northeast. The area of the Spessart totals around 2,440 square kilometres, of which 1,710 square kilometres are part of Bavaria.
The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level. The highest elevation in the Hessian part of the Spessart is Hermannskoppe at 567 metres.
Since the admission of Croatia to the European Union (EU), the geographical centre of the EU is located in the village of Westerngrund, near Schöllkrippen, according to the Institut de Géographie in Paris. Previously, the centre was located west of Gelnhausen.
Divisions There are a number of ways of dividing the Spessart into sub-regions. A popular approach is to divide it into Mainspessart, Vorspessart, Hochspessart and Nordspessart (or Kinzigtal). The western edge of the range between Aschaffenburg and Miltenberg is generally referred to as Vorspessart. However, some use that name also for the more northerly area between Aschaffenburg, Alzenau and Gelnhausen. It extends east to around Schöllkrippen and Mespelbrunn. The highest elevation here is the Hahnenkamm (460 metres). The Nordspessart is the stretch of hills to the south of the valley of the Kinzig, flowing from Schlüchtern to its mouth in the Main at Hanau. It also includes the valleys of small streams feeding the Kinzig from the south like the Bieber or Orb. There is some overlap with the northwestern part of the Vorspessart. The name Hochspessart is generally used for the central uplands of the range, stretching around 50 kilometres west to east and almost 100 kilometres north to south. The area contains around 70,000 hectares of forest, which was protected from logging during the Middle Ages due to its use as a hunting preserve. Finally, the region between Gemünden, Wertheim, Miltenberg and Klingenberg is known as Mainspessart.
The major natural regions making up the Spessart are known as Sandstein-Spessart and Vorspessart.
Parts of the Spessart lie within the Main-Kinzig district (Hesse) and the Bavarian districts Main-Spessart, Aschaffenburg (city), Landkreis Aschaffenburg and Miltenberg.
According to a strictly geological definition, a small region south of the Main near Wertheim and another south of Gemünden can be considered part of the Spessart. That definition would mean that part of the Spessart lies in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
The area within the triangle Würzburg-Wertheim-Gemünden is sometimes referred to as Würzburger Spessart.
Geology
The lowest strata of the Spessart are made up of gneiss and mica schist, dating back around 1,200 million years. These rock types are most visible in the Vorspessart. On top of this is the Zechstein, dating to the Permian, found in a band stretching from Sailauf to Eidengesäß and as an "island" in the area of the stream Bieber near Biebergemünd, where it contained deposits of silver, copper, iron and cobalt.
The top layer of most of the Hochspessart and southern Spessart is made up of a slab of Buntsandstein or red sandstone, of up to 400 metres thickness. It dates back about 250 million years and is prevalent especially around Miltenberg. This is the best-known stone of the area, as it has been used in the past for many public buildings including the cathedrals of the Rhine valley, like Mainz Cathedral. On the western edge of the range there is also loess, a wind-deposited sediment.
The area of the Würzburger Spessart is made up of Muschelkalk, which provides better conditions for agriculture than the sandstone predominating in most of the Spessart proper. However, the north-south rift that follows the river Main along the western leg of the Maindreieck does not match exactly the geological divide between the sandstone and the Muschelkalk. For around 60 kilometres the rift parallels the Main from Gemünden to Triefenstein. The hills east of the river thus resemble those of the Spessart geologically.
Climate and ecology
Climate The climate of the area is temperate oceanic, featuring cool summers and relatively mild winters. In the Main valley, the average yearly temperature is around 8 to 9 degrees Celsius. In the central massif (Hochspessart) it is 6 to 7 degrees. The presence of extended woodlands results in high humidity and especially in the valleys there is often fog. The largest amount of precipitation falls in the elevated region of the Hochspessart, rising from the west to a maximum of 1,000 mm/year and then falling back on the lee side of the range (prevailing winds come from the west) to around 600 mm/year in the Main valley. Depending on the elevation, about 15% to 20% of the annual precipitation falls as snow. In the Hochspessart there are around 70 to 80 days of snow, in the Vorspessart and in the valleys of the Sinn and Hafenlohr around 40 to 50 days and around 30 days in the Main valley. A snow cover of 10 centimetres or more is relatively rare, prevailing on average on fewer than 10 days per year in the Main valley, 15 to 20 days in the Vorspessart and 30 to 35 days in the Hochspessart.
Naturparks
A German nature park (Naturpark) is a protected area, a sort of nature preserve. The Spessart Nature Park covers the most heavily wooded Central Upland range in Germany. There are no cities or large towns inside the park; instead they lie around the forested region. The larger Bavarian part of the park was established in 1961 as the very first one within that state, the Hessian one followed in 1962.
The Bavarian Spessart Nature Park (Naturpark Bayerischer Spessart) measures 171,000 hectares in area and includes part of the southern Rhön (north of Gemünden and east of the Sinn river) and extends to the southern side of the Main river between Marktheidenfeld and Karlstadt. It features the largest continuous mixed forest in Germany. The Hessian Spessart Nature Park (Naturpark Hessischer Spessart) covers 72,900 hectares and is bordered in the north by the valley of the Kinzig.
For the current national park controversy, see below.
Flora and fauna In the Vorspessart evergreens predominate, and meadows with scattered fruit trees (Streuobstwiesen) and whitethorn are common.
In the Hochspessart, around 85% of which is covered by forests, oaks and beeches are most numerous. The oldest trees are found in the nature preserves of Rohrberg (near Rohrbrunn) and Metzgergraben.
Like the Vorspessart, the Nordspessart also sports more evergreens, because the original tree cover there was largely gone by the 15th century as a result of the substantial fuel needs of the local glass foundry industry.
The Spessart provides a habitat for numerous species of animals. Deer, wild boars and foxes are quite common. There are also badgers, raccoons, European wildcats, Eurasian lynx and marten. The beaver, although hunted to extinction in the region, has been successfully re-established since the 1980s along several river valleys (Hafenlohr, Sinn).
Several species of woodpecker are found in the Spessart: black, great spotted, middle spotted, green and grey-faced.
History
Prehistoric The region has been inhabited since at least the Bronze Age, although settlement of the higher elevations was slow and initially the population was concentrated in the valleys. Bronze Age tumuli have been found north of Alzenau, near Geiselbach and Mömbris as well as near Pflaumheim, southwest of Aschaffenburg. Other tumuli were found near Kleinwallstadt, between Elsenfeld and Eichelsbach, near Klingenberg and on the Dürrenberg near Heimbuchenthal. The discovery of numerous prehistoric tools and weapons indicates that the Spessart was frequented by hunters, gatherers and fishers. These findings have been concentrated in the valley of the Kinzig, around Aschaffenburg, as well as in the valleys of the Bieber, the Lohr and the Sinn rivers. Near Goldbach, early Iron Age artifacts have been found, attributed to the Hallstatt culture. Hill forts attributed inter alia to Celts of the La Tène culture have been found on the Schanzenkopf near Wasserlos, on the Schloßberg near Soden/Sulzbach, on the Schanzkopf near Klingenberg and close to Miltenberg (Greinberg and Bürgstadter Berg, although the latter dates to the Urnfield period and/or even earlier Michelsberger culture). These fortified refuges or defended hill-top settlements were mostly built between 500 and 100 BC.
Since the Spessart proper was not part of the Roman territory, the Romans left traces only in the northwest of the region. The Limes met the Main river near Großkrotzenburg and the border then followed the river south all the way to Miltenberg. Large castra were located at Seligenstadt, Stockstadt am Main, Niedernberg, Obernburg, Wörth, Trennfurt (near Klingenberg) and near Miltenberg. The northern part of the Vorspessart was kept uninhabited by the Romans as a "no man's land" and buffer zone between their border and the local tribes.
As the Roman empire collapsed, the Burgundians came to the Main valley from the northeast in the late 3rd century. In the 5th century they were in turn ousted by the Allemanni, coming from the south. Aschaffenburg, Lohr and Gemünden were likely founded by them. The Alemanni were then absorbed by the Franks moving into the region from the Rhine. Graves dating to the 6th to 8th century were found near Obernburg, Mömlingen, Obernau and Aschaffenburg.
Medieval
Under the Franks, the Spessart was used for hunting by freemen. During the reign of Charlemagne, the forests of the Spessart were a royal hunting preserve and thus off-limits to others. The uplands were only settled after abbeys/monasteries were established in the region. Besides the Benedictinians at Amorbach and Seligenstadt, the Benedictine abbey at Neustadt am Main was founded around 770. Kloster Neustadt received gifts of substantial woodlands from Charlemagne and was tasked by him with spreading Christianity in the region. Around the year 800, Charlemagne had Saxons settle in the Vorspessart.
Subsequent efforts to settle the uplands were made by the inhabitants of villages around the periphery like Klingenberg, Miltenberg, Kreuzwertheim, Lohr or Gemünden. From the valley of the Sinn, the Counts of Rieneck and the Knights of the Thüngen family (at Burgsinn) also attempted to expand into the Spessart. However, their efforts were hindered by their insular position, sandwiched between the substantial holdings of the great ecclesial powers of Fulda, Würzburg and Mainz. The latter acquired local influence not least via the Kollegiatsstift Aschaffenburg, which had been gifted much of the previous royal hunting preserve in 974 by Emperor Otto II. In 982, Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria died and left his regional territories to Mainz, which eventually turned Aschaffenburg into a second princely residence. Settlement efforts also originated from the Kinzig valley, in particular from the Kaiserpfalz at Gelnhausen (built under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in the 12th century). Abbeys also continued to expand into the forest. Apart from Kloster Neustadt, there was an Augustinian priory at Triefenstein (), founded in 1102.