Steinbach am Glan () is an Ortsgemeinde–a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Oberes Glantal.
Geography
Location The municipality lies about 35 km west of Kaiserslautern on both sides of the Steinbach, which rises in the village's western end and then flows about one kilometre down to the Hodenbach, where the two streams together become the Henschbach. The constituent community of Steinbach lies on the brook's right bank, and the constituent community of Frutzweiler on the left. Steinbach therefore does not lie directly on the Glan, which makes its name suffix “am Glan”, a bit misleading. It actually lies some 7 km upstream from where the local river empties into the Glan. The name suffix simply serves to distinguish Steinbach am Glan from other places named Steinbach. From the bottom of the dale at roughly 260 m above sea level, the land rises steeply on the right bank up to the Schnepfenrech (417 m) and the Steinberg (406 m), while on the left side, an elevation of 367 m above sea level is reached. Other peaks are the Marbacher Berg, with its sporting ground (353 m), and the Neumühler Berg (343 m). Once lying within municipal limits were two coal pits, Steinbach and Maria. Much of the Hodenbachtal (Hodenbach Valley), laid out as a recreational area, lies within Steinbach's municipal limits. The municipal area measures 686 ha, of which 123 ha is wooded.Steinbach am Glan’s location
Neighbouring municipalities Steinbach am Glan borders to the north on the municipality of Wahnwegen, to the northeast on the municipality of Henschtal, to the southeast on the municipality of Börsborn, to the south on the municipality of Brücken, to the west on the municipality of Ohmbach and to the northwest on the municipality of Herschweiler-Pettersheim.
Constituent communities Steinbach am Glan's Ortsteile are Steinbach and Frutzweiler. Also belonging to Steinbach am Glan is the outlying homestead of Naturfreundehaus, actually the “Friends of Nature” House.Steinbach am Glan’s Constituent communities
Municipality’s layout The centre now known as Steinbach am Glan was originally made up of two linear villages (by some definitions, “thorpes”), one on each side of the brook, that eventually met and grew together. The way the built-up area is laid out and the way the houses are built, much of it from the 19th century, still reflect this original configuration to some extent, along Bundesstraße 423 in Steinbach's case, and along the old village street (Dorfstraße) in Frutzweiler's. As Steinbach began spreading out to the south towards Börsborn as far back as the early 19th century, the two villages now have the outward appearance of one great clump village, and everywhere side-streets have been springing up down to the present day. Where the two villages have run up against each other, especially on the Steinbach side, a village centre of sorts has arisen. This is where the old belltower stands, built in 1788 and endowed by the then rulers, the Counts of Leyen, represented in this case by Countess Marianne von der Leyen. Also, standing here is the old schoolhouse from 1825, which today houses a kindergarten and the municipal centre. The great limetree standing before the belltower was planted in 1849 as a “Freedom Tree” in the wake of the Revolutions of 1848. Steinbach once had a synagogue from 1725 that stood in this village centre. In 2000, the municipality built the Jewish Museum in this area. The Jewish graveyard from 1825 lies outside the village on the mountain slope towards Henschtal. The general building pattern in the village is characterized by farmhouses, mostly for small holdings. In the village's west lies the closed Frutzweiler graveyard. The older Steinbach graveyard with its warriors’ memorial lies on Bundesstraße 423. A new graveyard west of the village at the Jungenwald (forest) was opened in 1970 for both villages. At the way out of the village to the south going towards Börsborn is the Catholic church, which was converted in 1936 from what had been a mine hoist house.Municipality’s layout
History While the two former municipalities may have had many commonalities, their territorial histories on the other hand went two quite different ways. Both centres can look back on a more than 650-year-long history. Indeed, the first documentary mention came in 1355. The village's foremost landmark is the belltower mentioned above.Steinbach am Glan’s history
Antiquity As far back as prehistoric times there were people in the area that is now Steinbach am Glan, as clearly witnessed by archaeological finds made within municipal limits. As early as the 19th century, stone axes were being found, which have now all gone missing. Also dating from the Stone Age is a barrow in what was once Frutzweiler's municipal area. A row of six untouched barrows from the late Hallstatt culture stretches along the ridge of the Steinberg as far as the municipal limit with Henschtal. Three further barrows stand on the Schnepfenrech in the south of the municipal area, of which one lies within Börsborn's limits. It is unknown to what epoch these barrows belong. The area was also inhabited in Gallo-Roman times. In 1904, a grave within Steinbach's limits was opened, bringing to light grave goods such as four clay vessels containing ashes, four rings and two needles. These finds might have been from Gallo-Roman times. A stone lion found within Steinbach's limits is now kept at the Historisches Museum der Pfalz (Historic Museum of the Palatinate) in Speyer. From the Altenwald (forest) once led a Roman road over to somewhere near Wahnwegen; it supposedly had a breadth of six metres.Steinbach am Glan’s ancient history
Middle Ages Because the Steinbach and the Henschbach formed the border between the Remigiusland and the Hornbach Monastery's holdings in the Münchweiler valley, Steinbach's and Frutzweiler's paths through history were utterly unalike. From the Imperial Domain (Reichsland) around Castle Lautern, kings split certain parcels off to donate them to various ecclesiastical and secular lordships. Great parts passed into Salian hands. Count Werner I of this dynasty endowed the Hornbach Monastery in 737, whose first abbot was Saint Pirmin. The Count bestowed a great many estates and landholds upon the monastery, including the Münchweiler valley, where Steinbach lay. As a fief from the Hornbach Monastery with its centre at Glan-Münchweiler, all this area's villages passed first in 1323 to the Raugraves in the Nahegau, and thereafter, in 1344, to the Archbishop of Trier and the Breidenborns in 1388. In connection with the Münchweiler valley, the village of Steinbach and the now vanished village of Frensweiler were both mentioned repeatedly, although the latter was mentioned earlier. A man named Conradus de Vrodenswilre was mentioned as far back as 1313 in the family Mauchenheim's cartulary, while a village named Frinßwiller was named in 1419 in the family Breidenborn's cartulary. In the Weistum from 1456, a one Clais von Frynswillr crops up as a witness, and in a further 1461 Weistum from Glan-Münchweiler, someone who is likely the same man crops up again as Claz von Frinßwiller (a Weistum – cognate with English wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times). The Lords of Frenzweiler may have been considered lower nobility in their own time. In 1355, Steinbach had its first documentary mention in a border description of the Remigiusland; it was mentioned again in the 1419 document mentioned above, and then again in a 1541 Weistum (also a border description). The modern spelling was used, although much of the text used spellings that would now be considered archaic; the spelling used for Frensweiler, on the other hand, was Frntzweiler. Through Georg I von der Leyen's marriage to Eva von Mauchenheim in 1456, the House of Leyen came into possession of the Bliesgau and also, by hereditary accession in 1486, of a share in the Blieskastel castle. At the same time, Abbot Ulrich of the Hornbach Monastery granted Jörge von der Leyen, a Burgmann of Castle Lautern, the Münchweiler valley. The Lords of Leyen had their roots in the lower Moselle area, and by the High Middle Ages, they already resided at their castle near Gondorf on the Moselle. They were mostly in the service of the Archbishop of Trier, and Johann von der Leyen-Saffig was even chosen to fill that office in 1556. Alongside the Leyens, their kin, the Mauchenheims took turns being enfeoffed with parts of the monastery's holdings in the Münchweiler valley, but as of 1533, only the Barons – later Counts – of Leyen were fiefholders there. While Steinbach and Frensweiler eventually lay within the landholds granted the Leyens by the monastery, Frutzweiler lay in the Remigiusland, which was held by the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims, and which was also given in 1112 to the Counts of Veldenz as a Vogtei. This put the village in the County of Veldenz. Frutzweiler coincidentally had its first documentary mention in the same 1355 border description as Steinbach (see above), and was mentioned again in a 1387 document from the Counts of Sponheim. A man named Baldewin von Frutzweiler stood in the late 15th century as the Burgmann at Lichtenberg Castle. According to a 1391 document, Count Friedrich III of Veldenz enfeoffed this Baldewin with a rental income of 8 pounds in Lichtenberg currency. In 1397, Baldewin still appeared among the Burgmannen at Lichtenberg Castle. In 1402, Count Friedrich confirmed for him that this rental income could be bequeathed to his offspring. Baldewin had two sons, who were likewise mentioned in documents in the years still to come. One was named Tilman and the other Baldwin after his father. Tilman, too, was in the castle's service as a Junker. In 1414, he confirmed that he was entitled to the same rental income of eight Gulden as his now late father. The younger Baldwin, Tilman's brother, now appeared in the record under the name Baldewin von Zweibrücken. He, too, lived as a Junker at Lichtenberg Castle, and according to a 1441 document, received a rental income of 8 pounds in Heller. This younger Baldewin was married to Jutta von Wadenau, whom he granted his Lichtenberg Castle fief in 1441, a deed confirmed by Count Friedrich III. 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. From 1444 on, Frutzweiler thus lay in this state.Steinbach am Glan’s mediaeval history
Modern times