Bechtolsheim

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Bechtolsheim (Literally Bechtol's Home) is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey Worms district in Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey Land, whose seat is in Alzey.

The municipality lies on the Selz, which here snakes along the Petersberg (mountain), at whose foot the municipality is found. The nearest towns are Alzey, with its dual administrative functions of district and Verbandsgemeinde seat, and Wörrstadt, roughly 10 km away. The state capital of Mainz, 30 km away, can be reached most quickly on Autobahn A 63. As a winegrowing centre, Bechtolsheim lies in Germany's biggest winegrowing district and in the middle of the Rheinhessen wine region. The municipal area covers 1 065 ha, of which 300 ha is planted with grapevines.

The municipality's nearest neighbours are Biebelnheim (1 km) and Gau Odernheim (1.5 km). After these come Gabsheim and Undenheim. With Weinolsheim there is a common municipal limit, but aside from paths across the countryside, there is no road link.

In the early 20th century, at what are now Bechtolsheim's limits with Biebelnheim and Gabsheim, a stone axehead from the New Stone Age was found. On 7 February 1962, a skeleton was discovered in the form of a seated burial.

Four Roman villas have been unearthed. Coins from Marcus Aurelius’s and Constantine the Great’s time with Emperor Licinius’s effigy, a coin of Roman Empress Faustina, a little clay lamp with the potter's mark Attus a and a waterpipe, which could be Roman, have been found. It is hence plain to see that settlements had arisen here by the time between AD 260 and 400.

Bechtolsheim had its first documentary mention in 766 on the occasion of the donation of a vineyard to Lorsch Abbey. At that time, the village was variously named Bertolfsheim, Bertolvesheim and Bertolfesheim. In 793, it was called Beralfesheim, in 798 Beratwolfesheim and in 800 Badolfesheim. On 25 December 1250, King William II of Holland moved into Bechtolsheim “with great magnificence” and took up positions with his troops against Conrad IV, whose armies lay near Oppenheim. At the time, the place belonged to Werner IV of Bolanden, who had taken William's side. He was, however, vanquished by Conrad, and could only avert the sacking of his villages by ceding Bechtolsheim and Mommenheim to the Hohenfels sideline.

The Lords of Bolanden ceded their economic estate to their Hohenfels sideline. A further mention of Bechtolsheim is to be found in the Bechtolsheimer Freiheitsbrief (“Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter”) from Philip of Hohenfels the Elder in the foundation certificate of the joint holding, or Ganerbschaft, from 15 November 1270. Joint landholders in this arrangement, besides the Barons of Dalberg and the Chamberlains of Worms, were the Barons Knebel von Katzenelnbogen, Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim, the Barons of Dienheim, the Counts of Hallberg, the Barons Sturmfeder von Oppenheim, the Barons of Wallbrunn and Count Beckers von Westerstetten. Appearing for the first time about 1407 was a Wilhelmum de Mauchenheim d[ictum] Bechtolsheim, that is to say a “Wilhelm from Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim”. Up to 17 knightly families were resident in the village. In the end it was ruled by fewer noble families, namely von Dalberg, Nebel, Knebel, Beckers, Dienheim, Nordeck, Wallbrunn, Partenheim and Quernheim. For the building of the Muttergotteskirche (“Mother of God Church”, the one mentioned earlier, used as a “simultaneous” church), Popes Nicholas IV in 1292, Boniface VIII in 1313 and Benedict XII in 1341 published letters of indulgence, which can still be found in the church archives, and which show that half a century was spent building the church. It was given the name of the great Mother of God Church, Ecclesia Major, B. M. V. (for Beatae Mariae Virginis, or “of the Blessed Virgin Mary”). It had many endowed altars at which the nobles exercised the right of presentation. The resident and regional nobles chose it as their burial site.

Between 1792 and 1814 Bechtolsheim belonged to the Department of Mont Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German). Thereafter it was briefly ruled by the “Imperial Royal Austrian and Royal Bavarian Civil Administration of Kreuznach”, and then from 1815 by the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the newly created province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen). On 28 September 1896 the railway station on the Alzey–Bodenheim line was opened. On the night of 1 August 1904, the village's belltower next to the simultaneous church burnt down after a lightning strike. The permanent water supply through watermains was ensured in 1906 with the Wasserzweckverband Rhein Selz Gebiet (“Rhine Selz Area Water Purpose Association”), founded with neighbouring municipalities. After the First World War, Bechtolsheim belonged to the People's State of Hesse beginning in 1918. In 1937, the Province of Rhenish Hesse was abolished, and until the end of the Second World War, the municipality belonged to the district of Oppenheim or Alzey. On 20 March 1945, towards 16:00, United States troops occupied the village.

At first Bechtolsheim belonged to the French Zone of Occupation and there became, as part of the Regierungsbezirk of Rheinhessen (Rhenish Hesse), part of the new state of Rhineland Palatinate in Alzey Worms district. With the creation of Verbandsgemeinden in Rhineland Palatinate in 1969 and 1970, some of the administration was yielded to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey Land.

Blazon (German): Gespalten von Silber und Schwarz, belegt mit einem roten Balken. In English heraldic language, this might be rendered: Per pale argent and sable, a fess gules. This escutcheon was handed down from a village court seal from 1590, two armorial reliefs at the town hall and a hand drawn, official armorial page that came into being between 1790 and 1797. Argent and sable (silver and black) were also the tinctures seen in the arms borne by the joint landholders, from 1270 the Barons of Dalberg, who built the church, the Barons of Sickingen and the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, and they thereby show the municipality's link with the old Ganerbenschaft quite clearly. The fess gules (red horizontal stripe) might clearly and vividly express, among other things, the link with the Ganerbschaft, and also the villagers’ oneness. This coat of arms was, however, unapproved, and logos of varying shapes were used in the decades that were to come. A coat of arms was published in 1905 by Karl Johann Brilmayer. This was recorded thus: The village bore two coats of arms, the Rhenish Knighthood's and its own. This latter coat was party per pale (parted vertically down the middle) with the von Dalberg arms on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side and the von Knebel arms on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side. The Rhenish Knighthood's arms, charged with an eagle, a dragonslayer, a castle and a lion surmounted by a bend (with a diagonal stripe superimposed on him) on a quarterly escutcheon, was never Bechtolsheim's municipal coat of arms. The second coat of arms contains in simplified form on the dexter side the lilies of the Barons of Dalberg or Chaimberlains Knebel von Katzenelnbogen. Both families belonged to the Bechtolsheim Ganerbschaft, and along with the Barons of Mauchenheim, were the most important of the families belonging to it. The divided shield with the Dalberg lilies and the Knebel von Katzenelnbogen insignia was commonly regarded in Bechtolsheim as the municipality's arms.

On 31 January 1984, the municipality was granted a coat of arms, whose German blazon reads as follows: Von Blau, darin je eine silberne Lilie, und Silber, darin je ein schwarzer Ring, geviert, belegt mit einem schwarzen Balken. In English heraldic language, this might be rendered: Quarterly surmounted by a fess sable, first and fourth azure a fleur de lis argent, second and third argent an annulet of the first.

Theater und Carnevalverein Bechtolsheim e. V. (theatre and carnival club), since 1892

The municipality's economy is based mainly on winegrowing and agriculture. There are at least 13 wineries as well as a winemaking cooperative. Furthermore, the municipality is home to the kitchens of a medium sized bakery business that supplies its own two shops in Bechtolsheim and Gau Odernheim and also the travelling sales booths. The shop in Bechtolsheim is also a small supermarket, café and Toto Lotto centre. Through the café and the bakery, the Landmarkt (“country market”) is open the whole week. Further businesses in town are three automotive workshops, a discount filling station, an agricultural supply dealership, a carpentry shop, a fruitgrowing operation, a beekeeper, three hairdresser's shops, a dentistry practice and other, smaller service businesses. Until the turn of the century, the Volksbank Wörrstadt e. G. (now known as the Volksbank Alzey e. G.) and the Kreissparkasse Alzey (district savings bank) each had a branch in Bechtolsheim. After they both closed, the savings bank's premises were converted into a self service kiosk with a transfer terminal for both banks including an account statement printer, and automated teller machines. In the Volksbank’s building, flats are now to be found. Only the entrance door gives any hint that it was once a bank. Even the postal centre (Poststelle – not a full post office, but run by postal employees), in existence in 1995 and 1996 was first converted into a postal agency (Postagentur – an operation not run by postal employees) with two agents, and then a few years later it was dissolved altogether. The nearest postal agency can now be found in Gau Odernheim.

Through the municipality runs a Kreisstraße (district road). The nearest Autobahn is the A 63 about 5 km away, accessible through the Biebelnheim interchange. Local public transport is provided by bus links to Alzey and Mainz run by Omnibusverkehr Rhein Nahe (ORN). Between 1896 and 31 May 1985, there was a railway station in the municipality on the line running between Bodenheim and Alzey. Thereafter, the line was used only for goods transport, mainly for the sugar beet harvest. In 1995 came permanent closure, and work was begun to tear the tracks up.

Since 1986, a small group has been publishing a newspaper, the so called Bechtolsheimer Ortsschelle. The paper appears monthly and contains mainly the protocols of past municipal council meetings, as well as club news and information on events. It is financed by advertising by local businesses. The circulation in 2008 was 350, and the price was €1.

The municipality has one primary school, which also takes school age children from the neighbouring municipality of Biebelnheim. Secondary schools are to be found in Gau Odernheim, Alzey and Wörrstadt. The Evangelical church maintains a library at its youth centre.