Rathsweiler is an – a municipality belonging to a , a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel-Altenglan, whose seat is in Kusel.
Geography
Location The municipality lies near the river Glan in the Western Palatinate. Rathsweiler lies in the Glan valley near where the Steinalb empties into the Glan at an elevation of 187 m above sea level and at the foot of the Hohlbusch (403 m) and the Nollkopf (402 m). Within the village itself, elevations range from 195 to 220 m above sea level. The municipal area measures 425 ha, of which 116 ha is wooded and roughly 10 ha is settled. In 1987, 160 ha of land was sold to the Federal Republic and it now belongs to the Baumholder troop drilling ground.Location
Neighbouring municipalities Rathsweiler borders in the west and north on the Baumholder troop drilling ground, in the east on the municipality of Niederalben and in the south on the municipality of Ulmet.
Constituent communities Also belonging to Rathsweiler is the outlying homestead of Christoffelsmühle.
Municipality’s layout Originally, the village lay along the Zweibrücken–Meisenheim cross-country road as a linear village (by some definitions, a “thorpe”). Rathsweiler's original characterization as a thorpe, however, was later lost in the expansion that the village underwent in the 19th and 20th centuries. These expansions lie on the road known today as Bundesstraße 420 and in a new building zone in the village's southwest. A row of old Einfirsthäuser (“houses with a single roof ridge”) or Quereinhäuser (combination residential and commercial houses divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street) along the former village street is said to be a special cultural monument featuring preserved farmhouses that were typical of the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. The Christoffelsmühle, an old watermill, lies roughly 1 km from the village core in the village's north end on the Steinalb, and can be reached only along a farm lane and forest path, or an indirect road from the neighbouring village of Niederalben. The waterwheel is still running even today.Municipality’s layout
History
Antiquity The area around what is now Rathsweiler was already settled in prehistoric times, bearing witness to which are archaeological finds from the neighbouring villages of Ulmet and Niederalben. Beneath the Hohlbusch, many bricks have been unearthed, a clue that there might once have been a Gallo-Roman villa rustica here. A Roman road also once ran right by this place.Antiquity
Middle Ages Just when Rathsweiler was founded is something that cannot be pinpointed now, but the village is surely rather older than its 1364 first documentary mention. From the beginning, it lay within the Remigiusland, over which the Counts of Veldenz held the Vogtei beginning in 1246. According to Michael Frey, the name cropped up as early as 1362 in connection with disagreements between the Counts of Veldenz and the Rhinegraves. It goes without saying that the original documents outlining these details have been lost, for according to Dolch and Greule (writing more than a century later), Rathsweiler's first documentary mention came in 1364. According to this document, which Count Heinrich II of Veldenz issued for his son Heinrich III and his wife Loretta of Sponheim – who lived at Castle Lichtenberg – the inhabitants of the Unteramt of Altenglan-Brücken had to contribute to this couple's needs. Heinrich III later became Count of Veldenz, ruling the county from 1371 to 1389. Loretta – also called Lauretta – came from the comital House of Sponheim-Starkenburg. In 1444, the County of Veldenz met its end when Count Friedrich III of Veldenz died without a male heir. His daughter Anna wed King Ruprecht's son Count Palatine Stephan. By uniting his own Palatine holdings with the now otherwise heirless County of Veldenz – his wife had inherited the county, but not her father's title – and by redeeming the hitherto pledged County of Zweibrücken, Stephan founded a new County Palatine, as whose comital residence he chose the town of Zweibrücken: the County Palatine – later Duchy – of Palatinate-Zweibrücken.Middle Ages
Modern times In 1526, the County Palatine of Zweibrücken introduced the Reformation. During the Thirty Years' War, the municipal area became known for the Battle of Brücken (Schlacht von Brücken), Brücken being a now vanished village (not the like-named place elsewhere in the district). The scene was set for this event when a Spanish campaign coming from Rockenhausen into the Glan valley invaded and was pursued by Swedish troops under Rhinegrave Otto's command. The Spaniards camped near Brücken, and on the morning of 25 May 1632, a heavy storm struck. After the storm, the Swedes surprised the Spaniards with a sudden attack on their camp, and set all 1,500 of them to flight. All the Spaniards’ supplies fell into the Swedes’ hands. There came more campaigns in the years that followed. All villages on the Middle Glan were destroyed, as was the town of Kusel. Only a very few people survived the onslaught, and Rathsweiler was no exception. Until the French Revolution, there was no change in the local lordships.Modern times
Recent times After Revolutionary France had annexed the German lands on the Rhine’s left bank, Rathsweiler lay in the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Ulmet, the Canton of Kusel, the Arrondissement of Birkenfeld and the Department of Sarre. The village also remained tightly bound with Ulmet after it was united with the Kingdom of Bavaria after Napoleon’s defeat and the new political order laid down by the Congress of Vienna. It now belonged to the Landkommissariat (later Bezirksamt, then Landkreis or “district”) and Canton of Kusel and the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Ulmet in the bayerischer Rheinkreis, later known as Rheinpfalz (“Rhenish Palatinate”), a Bavarian exclave. In the early 1930s, the Nazi Party (NSDAP) became quite popular in Rathsweiler. In the 1930 Reichstag elections, 18.3% of the local votes went to Adolf Hitler’s party, but by the time of the 1933 Reichstag elections, after Hitler had already seized power, local support for the Nazis had swollen to 62.8%. Hitler’s success in these elections paved the way for his Enabling Act of 1933 (Ermächtigungsgesetz), thus starting the Third Reich in earnest. Only after the Second World War was there yet another meaningful change in the territorial arrangement. In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate that began in 1968, Rathsweiler became an within the Verbandsgemeinde of Altenglan in 1972.Recent times
Population development In days gone by, Rathsweiler was mainly characterized by its farming population, although there were day labourers, miners and quarrymen. There were hardly any craftsmen, though. Today, on the other hand, there are only a very few farmers who actually work the land as their main livelihood, and most people in the workforce must commute to jobs outside the village. Thus, the population is a heterogenous group, some of whom are elderly. Empty houses are, however, usually occupied before long. In the 19th century, a few Jews lived in Rathsweiler, but they had left the village before the Nazis came to power in 1933.
The following table shows population development over the centuries for Rathsweiler, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:Rathsweiler’s population development Year 1802 1825 1837 1871 1905 1939 1961 1970 1974 1996 2005 Total 102 153 198 207 187 189 193 163 167 193 176 Catholic 8 4 Evangelical 138 189 Jewish 7 –
Municipality’s name The village's name, Rathsweiler, has the common German placename ending —weiler, which as a standalone word means “hamlet” (originally “homestead”), to which is prefixed a syllable Raths—, believed to have arisen from a personal name, Rado, suggesting that the village arose from a homestead founded by an early Frankish settler named Rado. The village's first documentary mention came in 1364 and rendered the name Raitzwijlre; the vanished village of Brücken also had its first documentary mention in this same document. Over the ages, the village has borne, among other names, Ratzwilre (1377), Raytzßwilre (1416), Raitzwilre (1454) and Ratzwillr (1456 and 1588). Now and then, the names Nieder-Ratsweiler and Ober-Ratsweiler crop up (“Nether” and “Upper”). The name in its current spelling first appeared in 1824. The name Christoffelsmühle for the outlying mill goes back to a milling family named Christoffel, who owned the mill in the 19th century. Indeed, the mill had already been mentioned as far back as the 16th century, in 1568, as the mill before the Reisenfels, meaning before the “riven” or “broken” crag, which throughout the area was taken to refer to this mill.Municipality’s name
Vanished villages The village of Brücken – not the same place as the Brücken in the same district, just north of Schönenberg-Kübelberg – lay between Rathsweiler and Ulmet on the Glan's left bank, near the so-called Kappeler Brücke (bridge). In the Middle Ages, this place was for a time the seat of a Zweibrücken Unteramt. It became well known during the Thirty Years' War for the Battle of Brücken, fought in 1632. The village itself was utterly destroyed, and nobody ever came to settle it again. Brücken had its first documentary mention in 1364 as Brucken undir deme Fluseberge (Modern High German: Brücken unter dem Flussberg, meaning “Brücken under the River Mountain”). Later, vineyards near Brücken were also mentioned. Later documentary mentions rendered the name Brucken, Bruchen or Bricken. This former village's name, derived from the German Brücke (“bridge”), refers to a Glan crossing near the Ulmet country chapel, and thus bears witness to a bridge spanning this river at a very early time.Vanished villages
Religion From days of yore, Rathsweiler belonged to the parish of Flurskappeln, now known as Ulmet. When the Reformation was introduced by the Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken, the population converted to the Lutheran faith. However, beginning in 1588, Count Palatine Johannes I forced all his subjects to convert to Reformed belief as espoused by John Calvin. The difference between Luther's and Calvin's teachings should be briefly explained. An example of Lutheran teaching is the concept that man does not find his way to God simply by doing good works, but only through belief (sola fide). Calvinist teaching, on the other hand, holds that man's fate is predetermined by God, and that the faithful can fulfil this predetermination and must submit themselves to strict church discipline through obedience and diligence, and by forgoing worldly pleasures. Disobedience to God, however, is the way to hell (double predestination). After the Thirty Years' War, when other denominations were once again allowed, the populace remained overwhelmingly Reformed, or after the 1818 Protestant Union, Evangelical. Until after the Second World War, the Catholic share of the population was roughly 2%. Only very recently has this risen to roughly 10% with the arrival of more Catholics from elsewhere. In the 19th century, a few Jews lived in Rathsweiler. In 1996, the population breakdown by religious affiliation was 126 Evangelicals, 19 Catholics, 15 who had no affiliation and 33 who belonged to other faiths.Religion
Politics
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.Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat
Mayor Rathsweiler's mayor is Siegmund Steiner.
Coat of arms