Klingenberg Am Main - History

History

A Roman worship stone, an early mediaeval ringwall and the Grubinger Kirchhof (churchyard) on the road to Großheubach, likely going back to Alamannic times, are the oldest witnesses to Klingenberg’s history. In the 2nd century, the Romans built the border fortifications of the Limes Germanicus through Germany, which ran along the Trennfurt side of the Main. The palisades were strengthened in Trennfurt with a castrum.

In 1100, a nobleman named Heinrich named himself after the old Clingenburg (castle). He belonged to the noble family of Reginbodo. The Staufen Clingenburg was built in 1177 by Conradus Colbo, who belonged as an Imperial cup-bearer to Barbarossa’s tight circle of confidants. About 1250, the Bickenbach noble family moved into the castle; the Bickenbachs later held many influential offices in the Holy Roman Empire and many a time turned up in Imperial politics as brokers. In Bickenbach times, the town of Klingenberg beneath the castle had its first documentary mention, namely in 1276.

After the Bickenbachs died out in 1500, the town, castle and lordly domain passed to Electoral Mainz, which spread across most of the areas in the Bavarian Lower Main – today’s greater centre of Aschaffenburg was already by the 10th century a Mainz holding and the Elector’s second seat. In 1552, Klingenberg’s old town, like many other towns, was almost utterly destroyed by the Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in the Second Margrave War. In the years that followed there was reconstruction.

After the dissolution of the Archbishopric of Mainz in the course of the 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, Klingenberg at first belonged to Prince Primate von Dalberg’s newly formed Principality of Aschaffenburg, which was swallowed in 1810 by the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt along with its capital, Aschaffenburg. After the 1814 Congress of Vienna, Klingenberg, along with the whole Aschaffenburg-Miltenberg region and the Grand Duchy of Würzburg (the successor state to the old Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg) passed to the Kingdom of Bavaria.

In the 19th and early 20th century, the clay mine (first mentioned in 1567) brought the town great wealth. The citizens were therefore exempt from taxes in the late 19th century and indeed were paid Bürgergeld (literally “citizens’ money”), a dividend from the town’s earnings. Furthermore, among other things, a lookout tower, a bridge across the Main, a school, a new town hall and many elegant middle-class houses (Bürgerhäuser), such as those on Wilhelmstraße and Ludwigstraße. Also, Klingenberg was one of the first municipalities in the region to get an underground electrical supply network with its own power station in 1897. The population figure rose sharply.

In 1945, late in the Second World War, there was fighting in Klingenberg between German troops and advancing Americans. The Germans eventually withdrew, but not before blowing up the Main bridge between Klingenberg and Trennfurt, which could only be replaced in 1950. The town’s historic building structure was hardly affected by the fighting.

In the framework of municipal reform, Klingenberg was united in 1976 with Trennfurt and Röllfeld to form the new greater town of Klingenberg.