Alteckendorf
Alteckendorf is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France.
Geography
Alteckendorf is about 30 km north-west of Strasbourg and 20 km east of Saverne. Covering an area of 572 hectares, the commune is located on the plain of Alsace and more specifically in the area of some loess hills behind Kochersberg and between the Vosges Mountains and Germany. The town is located 177 metres above sea level and is watered by the Landgraben stream, a tributary of the Zorn. It is surrounded by the Koppenberg, Englischberg, and Schyrberg hills. To the north of the town is the Alteckendorf forest.The Sarreguemines-Strasbourg railway runs through the commune with a station on the south-east edge of the village.
Neighbouring localities within a radius of 5 kilometres include Minversheim, Ettendorf, Huttendorf, Ringendorf, Lixhausen, Bossendorf, Hochfelden and Schwindratzheim.
Alteckendorf is approximately an hour by car from Strasbourg and is near the famous militarily historical town of Haguenau.
Neighbouring communes and villages
Communications
Road network
The entire road network occupy 9 hectares out of the 572 hectares of the commune. The town is crossed from west to east by the D69 which connects Kirrwiller to Mommenheim. This road crosses the D25 at Altdorf linking Ettendorf to Hochfelden. This latter approach road is extended by several county roads. The nearest entrance to the Autoroute de L'Est is via the D32 through the toll-gate at Schwindratzheim. There is parking there for car-pooling.Public transport
The Sarreguemines–Strasbourg railway line has passed through the commune since 1895 and occupies a total of ten hectares. The railway station located at Eckendorf is now disused. This building was purchased by the municipality in 1982 and transformed in 1984 into a multipurpose hall. Now the nearest SNCF station is at Mommenheim accessible from Alteckendorf by a bus connection on the TER Grand Est service from Buswiller to Mommenheim.School buses to the College at Hochfelden and to the Bouxwiller High School are available during school terms.
Climate
The type of climate prevailing in Alteckendorf is a degraded oceanic climate with a relatively large amplitude of temperature. Thus snowfall is fairly common in winter while some summer days can be hot and stuffy. Situated between two mountain ranges the village has little exposure to wind. Similarly, rainfall is relatively scarce and irregular compared to other French regions, with natural protection against the prevailing westerly winds from the Vosges. The town is often subject to violent storms in spring and summer. The most devastating occurred on 18 and 30 May 2008 when floods and mudslides invaded homes.Hydrology
The communal territory of Alteckendorf is not crossed by streams of significant importance. There however two streams: the Minversheimerbach and Schweingraben. The Minversheimerbach has its source in the north in the commune of Buswiller. It flows south through Ettendorf then through Alteckendorf and Minversheim. At Mommenheim, this modest stream empties into the river Zorn.The Schweingraben or Schweinbachgraben is a river that marks part of the eastern border of Alteckendorf. This stream has its source north of the village in the territory of Grassendorf. It flows south to join the Minversheimerbach southwest of Minversheim.
Vegetation
The entire commune has been dedicated to agriculture for many centuries. The first written references date back to the 8th century when the abbey of Wissembourg declared themselves the owners of Alteckendorf. The landscape is entirely shaped by the hand of man and there is little room for wilderness. The oldest map describing the territory dates back to the year 1760. Of a total of 1051.06 arpents, 635.70 arpents are devoted to arable land, 125.72 arpents of meadows, 118.78 arpents of pastures, 84.40 arpents of vineyards, 48.20 arpents of forest, and 38.26 arpents of orchards and houses.Urbanism, a merger of two village communities
Toponymy
The present village of Alteckendorf is the result of the merger of two distinct communities. The village of Eckendorf is mentioned in the year 742 under the name Echanhaime.Subsequently, the name was again mentioned in 744 with various spellings such as: Ecchenheim, Ecchenheimomarca, and Ecchenthorf, Ekkendorf, Ekindorf. The Abbey of Wissembourg was listed as the landowner from 752 to 787. In 1120, the monastery at Mauermünster-Sindelsberg was named as the landowner. In 1146 it was recorded that the knight Simon de Frundsberg ceded his possessions at Ekindork for "16½ lötig Silberstücke" to the Abbey of Stürzelbronn. In 1194, the monastery at Neuburg was the landowner of Eckendorf.
Altdorf does not appear until later in history with a completely different name: perhaps Mazonivilare, because it is recorded in a document of 752 that Sigfrid, son of Sigismund gave up his property of "Villa Ecchenheimo et Mazonivilare". No mention of the village occurs later; it was undoubtedly destroyed during a war and when the inhabitants returned they named the place Altdorf. The name Altdorf does not appear until 1331.
The name Oberaltdorf was also used to distinguish this village from the nearby hamlet of Niederaltdorf.
The name Eckendorf is formed from Eck meaning "corner" or "locality" followed by the appellative Dorf meaning "village" that is to say "local village" according to Ernest Negro. The name of the hamlet of Oberaltdorf can be translated as "high old village". The two villages were united in 1777 and called Alt und Eckendorf then throughout the 19th century Alt-Eckendorf and finally since the beginning of the 20th century Alteckendorf.
Even today two localities on the cadastral map located one kilometre north of Eckendorf bear the names Weilerhöltzel and Weilerberg. Weiler is the German word for "hamlet" and comes from the Latin word villare meaning "farm" derived from villa rustica. It must be assumed that these places once existed although now deserted and forgotten.
The year 1777 is generally advanced as that of the union of the two villages. The parish chronicle reports that, to mark the event, a celebration was held midway between the two locations. This merger however was part of a broader movement both before and after that date so rather than a union it was more a gradual process of fusion.
History of the fusion process
Alteckendorf was once part of the Bailiwick of Pfaffenhoffen which reported to the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg. It was created in 1777 by the merger of the Eckendorf village community with that of the neighbouring hamlet of Oberaltdorf. The two villages became French in 1680, when their lord, the Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg, submitted to the authority of Louis XIV at the expense of the Holy Roman Empire. Like the rest of Alsace, the village again became German between 1871 and 1918 and between 1940 and 1944.Originally affiliated to the Parish of Minversheim, in 1474 Eckendorf and Altdorf formed an independent parish, first Catholic then Lutheran from 1545. In 1577 both villages were assigned a common seal. This seal showed Saint Martin, patron saint of the chapel of Altdorf. This unique seal shows that Eckendorf and Altdorf were already linked administratively and the Lord of Hanau-Lichtenberg was represented in the two villages with a single Schultheiß, the custodian of the seal of the two communities. The Schultheiß exercised judicial authority in the Gericht, a village court consisting of seven Schoeffen. The sentences and fines were imposed based on the Dorfordnung, village regulations which were at first an oral then a written codification of customs and usage from the Middle Ages.
In 1662 a unique terrier was written which listed all the landowners of the two villages. This was the Oberalt und Eckendorffer Generalbannerneuerungsprotocoll established by the Schultheiß Dieboldthansen Dieboldt with five aldermen of the village court. This paper demonstrates that both villages had only one communal territory at least a century before the union of 1777.
After the annexation of Alsace to France by Louis XIV a Protestant could not be the Schultheiß. Also within the Lutheran county of Hanau-Lichtenberg, the Schultheißs were replaced by Stabhalter which was simply a name change. From 19 March 1769 to 31 March 1790 this post was held by Johann Richert at Alteckendorf. This Stabhalter was in charge eight years before the celebration of the union of 1777 and for the next thirteen years.
As an aside it can be argued that the Napoleonic prefectural authority did continue the local political career of Stabhalter Johann Richert by naming him Mayor of Alteckendorf from 1800 to 1813.
What then is the significance of the year 1777? Before the Revolution the rural population of Alsace was divided roughly into two categories: Schirmer and Bürger. Each year, the citizens of Eckendorf elected a Bürgermeister responsible for financing the bourgeois community and for taxes that the latter had to pay. The citizens of Altdorf did the same. It was this function that was merged in 1777. Before that date and since time immemorial the two village communities each had their own Bürgermeister even though they had a single village court headed by a Schultheiß from one of these two bourgeois communities appointed by the Lord of the manor.