Editing Odenwald (section)

== History ==
About 2500 BC, there is evidence that the [[Linear Pottery culture]] settled along the northern (Gersprenz) and southern (Neckar valley) edges of the Odenwald. About 400 BC, [[Celts]] (Gauls) settled throughout southern Germany. Almost all of the Odenwald was covered then with [[Old growth forest|virgin forest]], and the outer edges were not settled. [[Germanic peoples]] drove the Celts westwards across the Rhine to what is now [[France]].
[[File:Haselburg Wohntrakt.jpg|thumb|Roman manor house ''Villa Haselburg'' near Höchst (Mümling)]]
About AD 100, the older Odenwald line of the [[Neckar-Odenwald Limes]] was built under [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] Emperor [[Trajan]] (98-117). This stretch of the Empire's border ran from Fort Wimpfen in the Valley (''Kastell Wimpfen im Tal'') northwards by way of the Forts of Neckarburken, the lesser forts of Trienz and Robern near [[Fahrenbach]], Fort Oberscheidental, Fort Schloßau, [[Hesselbach Roman Fort|Fort Hesselbach]], Fort Würzberg, Fort Eulbach, Fort Hainhaus and Fort Hesselbach<!--Yes, I know! But the de:WP article says that.--> to Fort Wörth on the [[Main (river)|Main]]. Parts of the Odenwald now lay in Roman-ruled [[Germania Superior]].

About 159, the Limes was shifted about {{convert|30|km|0|abbr=off}} eastwards to the [[Miltenberg]]–[[Walldürn]]–[[Buchen]]-[[Osterburken]] line. In 260, Roman hegemony fell. The [[Alamanni]] were also thrusting into the Odenwald and settling the land between the Main and Neckar, after whom came the [[Franks]]. In the 5th century, the Franks, under [[Clovis I]], divided the land up into districts.

In the 7th and 8th centuries came [[Christianization]] by [[Ireland|Irish]]-[[Scotland|Scottish]] and [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] monks ([[Saint Pirmin|Pirmin]], [[Saint Boniface|Boniface]]). On the muschelkalk lands of today's Bauland, which favoured [[agriculture]], a broad mesh of settlements arose. The parts of the Odenwald farther in from the rivers, though, with their scant [[New Red Sandstone]] soils remained uninhabited. Four [[Benedictine]] monasteries were assigned the job of opening the empty woods up by the central Frankish power ([[Carolingian]]), [[Lorsch Abbey]] from the west, Fulda Monastery from the east and Mosbach Monastery from the south. Amorbach Monastery had the greatest importance for ecclesiastical, cultural and economic development in the eastern Odenwald.

In the 9th century in the southeastern Odenwald near the now more thickly settled Bauland, settlements were established. The muschelkalk-new red sandstone mineral boundary was crossed.

=== Name ===
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2024}}
The following are some theories about the origin of the name ''Odenwald'':

#Some have claimed that the toponym comes from ''Odins Wald'' (''Odin’s Woods''). The main problem here is that the god ''Wodanaz'' (known in Norse as ''[[Odin]]'') was worshipped in southern Germany under the name ''Wotan'' (in [[Old High German]] ''Uuodan''; compare [[Merseburg Incantations]]).
#A further theory holds that there is a link between the name Odenwald and the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] administrative unit Civitas Auderiensium, which among other things included the range's northern reaches and might have been named after a tribe called the ''Auderienses''.
#There could be some kinship with the word ''öde'', not in the currently understood meaning in German of ''desert'', but rather in the meaning ''thinly settled''.
#''[[Einhard]]'', the biographer of ''[[Charlemagne]]'' used the term ''Odanwald''. Therefore, the renowned historian Karl Christ establishes a connection to the Old High German (ahd.) expression ''odan'' (=to [[Feoffment|enfeoff]]) and presumes, that the ''Odenwald'' was a hunting ground, which the King of the Franks Dagobert I. enfeoffed in 628 the Bishopric of Worms.<ref name=Morneweg>Morneweg, Karl: Offizieller Führer des Odenwald-Klubs durch den Odenwald und die Bergstrasse. Ravenstein Frankfurt a.M. 1926, S.33.</ref>
#An eminent geographer of the 16th century, Sebastian Münster, proposed a tribal chief as the name giver (''Odtonwald'', 821, = ''Odo's Woods''). However, it is not proven whether there actually was a count or duke called ''Odo'' (Otto). Finally, Münster's researches do not lead to any result.<ref name=Morneweg/>

Linguists who research phonetic changes and the sound shifts reject theories no. 1 to 3 and prefer 4 or 5; some historians favor no. 2.

=== Legends and mythology ===
The numerous Odenwald folk legends are mostly connected with historic geographic sites (castle, town, rock, road and so on) They relate:
* mysterious actions and appearances of ghosts in a castle (for example the two ''Bergstraße''-ruins ''Auerbach - castle'' and ''Windeck'') or in a nightscape respectively in a cottage: The ''Höhmann'' near Bensheim, the ''White Lady'' of Mossau, the ''Schlurcher'' close by Erbach, the ''Man without head'' near Heppenheim, the ''Goast-nuns'' of monastery ''Steinbach''.
* the stories of knights and their ladies: Konrad and Ann-Els von Tannenberg, Edelmut von Ehrenberg and Minna von Horneck at the ''Minneburg'', Georg von Frankenstein and Annemariechen, Hans von Rodenstein and Maria von Hochberg.
* the apparitions of the devil: ''Teufelspfad'' (pathway of the devil) to the ''Felsberg'', ''Teufelsstein'' (rock of the devil) in Gorxheimertal, ''Opferstein'' (altar stone) on the top of the ''Juhöhe''.
* or the apparitions of a witch: for example in the shape of a pig in Bensheim

In some stories the local aspect firstly is connected with monsters (knight Georg fights against the man-eating ''[[lindworm]]'' near ''Frankenstein-castle'') and creatures of nature with magic potency (a ''water spirit'' changed into a fox near Niedernhausen, the ''merwoman'' in the ''Meerwiese'' of Waldürn).

Secondly the local legend is connected with the genre of the historic saga: a historic person or an original is portrayed anecdotally (the count of Erbach and Luther, resp. the  ''Raubacher Joggel'', landgrave Ludwig VIII: of Hesse-Darmstadt, robber ''Hölzerlips'').
[[File:Wildweibchen mit Einhorn.jpg|thumb|upright|''Wild Woman'' (''Wildweibchen'') with a unicorn (Straßburg around 1500)]]

Thirdly a local tale explains an [[Etiology|etiological]] or original myth (aetiological saga). For example, there is explained:
* why a name is given: many ''Wildweibchensteine'' (''Wild Woman''-Rocks) in the Odenwald, ''Teufelsstein'' (stone of the devil), ''Teufelspfad'' (path of the devil), ''Opfersteine'' (altar stone) and  ''Hundsköpfe'' (dogheads) on top of the ''Juhöhe'', ''Hölzerlips''-stone, ''Schimmeldewoog'' for the village Schönmattenwag (→[[Folk etymology]]) or the phrase “{{lang|de|hinnerum wie die Fraa vun Bensem}}”,
* why a natural phenomena, for example a typical landscape, was formed: the saga creates a mythic history for the places of  the ''felsenmeer'' and the ''Hohenstein'' near Reichenbach (because giants stoned each other) or the ''Herrgottsfelsen'' (Godrock) near Darmstadt (act of revenge by the devil for finessing),
* why a castle (''Minneburg'') was built at a special place (''Minneberg'' at the Neckar) and was so named hereafter,
* why a mysterious stone carving was inset in a castle-wall: figure of a dog at the portal of the  ''Minneburg'' near Neckargerach, the ''Blecker'' at the town gate of Buchen, the ''Breilecker'' above the door of Breuberg-castle.

Beside these legends there are two famous and well-known Odenwaldsagas:

In the [[Nibelungenlied]] (see also [[Nibelung]]) the dragon slayer [[Sigurd|Siegfried]], on a hunting trip (instead of a failed campaign) leading from the [[Burgundians|Burgundian]] city of [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] into the Odenwald, is murdered by [[Hagen (legend)|Hagen of Tronje]]. Since no exact spot for this deed has been handed down, countless communities, especially in the Hessian Odenwald are squabbling over the right to call themselves “Siegfried’s Murder Site”, for example a spring near Gras-Ellenbach (''Siegfriedsbrunnen''), Mossautal-Hüttenthal ''Lindelbrunnen'') or Heppenheim (''Siegfriedbrunnen'').

The ruins of ''Rodenstein'' (below-mentioned) and ''Schnellerts'' near [[Fränkisch-Crumbach]] are the setting of an Odenwald ghost story: during the night the knight ''Rodenstein'' (the ''Rodensteiner'') flies with a berserker-cornet through the air to prophesy the beginning of a war ([[Wild Hunt]] motif).

<gallery class="center">
File:Siegfrieds Tod.jpg|"Siegfried's Death" ([[Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld]], 1847): Hagen murdered Siegfried by a spring in the Odenwald.
File:Nibelungenlied manuscript-k.jpg|Picture of Siegfrieds assassination in the Nibelungenlied-manuscript k (1480–90)
File:Siegfriedbrunnen.png|''Siegfriedbrunnen'' by Wilhelm Trübner. In the legend there is no exact description in respect of the hunting trip.
File:Ritter von Rodenstein und Schnellart.jpg|''Rodenstein Castle'' is the scene of the ''Rodensteiner'' ghost legend (19th-century picture).
</gallery>