Katzenelnbogen

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Castle of Katzenelnbogen (Nov. 2004)

Katzenelnbogen is the name of a medieval German county as well as, today, of a castle and small city in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Postal code: 56368
Location:
- 50.3667/50°17' N
- 7.95/7°57' E
Elevation: 319 m
Car marking: EMS

1 County
2 City
3 Jewish Family Name
4 History of Wine
5 External links

[edit] County

Katzenelnbogen originated as a castle built on a promontory over the river Lahn around 1095. The lords of the castle became important local magnates, acquiring during the centuries some key and highly lucrative customs rights on the Rhine. The Counts of Katzenelnbogen also built Burg Neukatzenelnbogen and Burg Rheinfels on the Rhine. The family died out in 1479, and the county became disputed between Hesse and Nassau. In 1557, the former finally won, but when Hesse was split due to the testament of Philipp the Magnanimous, Katzenelnbogen was split as well, between Hesse-Darmstadt and the small new secondary principality of Hesse-Rheinfels. When the latter line expired in 1583, its property went to Hesse-Kassel, which added the inherited part of Katzenelnbogen to its side-line principality of Hesse-Rotenburg. After the Congress of Vienna, this part of Katzenelnbogen was given to Nassau in exchange for property that had been taken away from it; after the War of 1866, with all Nassau, it became part of Prussia.

In 1945, Hesse-Darmstadt was united with most of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, which included the former Hesse-Kassel along with Nassau and the formerly Free City of Frankfurt, to form the federal state of Hesse. Thus, Hesse now includes the larger part of former county of Katzenelnbogen. A smaller part of Nassau, including the old castle and village bearing the name of Katzenelnbogen, ended up as part of Rhineland-Palatinate (part of the Rhein-Lahn and Westerwaldkreis districts).

[edit] City

Katzenelnbogen is today the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Katzenelnbogen, which consists of the following Ortsgemeinden ("local municipalities"):


Allendorf Berghausen Berndroth Biebrich Bremberg Dörsdorf Ebertshausen Eisighofen Ergeshausen Gutenacker Herold	Katzenelnbogen Klingelbach Kördorf Mittelfischbach Niedertiefenbach Oberfischbach Reckenroth Rettert Roth Schönborn

[edit] Jewish Family Name

Outside of Germany, Katzen-elnbogen (old:Cattimelibocus) is primarily known because the name Katzenellenbogen ("cat's elbow"; this is folk etymology and probably not the genuine origin of the place name) was adopted by a rabbinical family descended from twelve Jews, who settled in Katzenelnbogen in 1312, with thousands of descendants and huge family connections throughout Europe and the Americas. The name was first used after the family moved to Padua, Italy (then belonging to the Republic of Venice, which did not allow the Inquisition and was comparatively non-anti-semitic) by Meir Katzenellenbogen (1482-1565).

See also Katzenellenbogen (pedigree)

Katz (Kohen Tzedeq), Kater (Yiddish: koter), originally, did't have any relation.
- Katzauer, Katzenstein (cf.Kastein), Katzman

Katzenellenbogen, Katzenellenbogensohn
Cattimeibochi (Ialkim, Italianised form of Cattimelibocus)
Katzenelson, Katznelson, Kacnelson
Katzin
Elbogen, Ellbogen, Ellenbogen
- Ellenberger, Eller
- Ellenson, Ellen
Bogen

[edit] History of Wine

In the history of wine, Katzenelnbogen is famous for being the first place in the world in which the Riesling grape was documented. In 1435, the storage inventory of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen lists the purchase of six barrels of Riesling from a Rüsselsheim vintner.