Eichsfeld (district)
Eichsfeld is a district in
Thuringia,
Germany, and part of the historical region of Eichsfeld. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of
Nordhausen,
Kyffhäuserkreis and
Unstrut-Hainich, and by the states of
Hesse (district
Werra-Meißner) and
Lower Saxony (districts
Göttingen and
Osterode).
In medieval times the
Eichsfeld was property of the bishops of
Mainz, although anything but close to that city.
Eichsfeld was the only region of Thuringia not to accept the Protestant Reformation, largely due to the efforts of the Archbishop of Mainz.
In
1801 the clerical states were dissolved, and
Prussia gained the region, only to lose it again in the
Napoleonic Wars. In the
Congress of Vienna (
1815) Prussia as well as the kingdom of
Hanover raised claims for the Eichsfeld. The region was divided between both states. Although Hanover was annexed by Prussia in
1866, this border remained the boundary between two Prussian provinces, later between
East and
West Germany, and today between Thuringia and Lower Saxony.
The present district was established in
1994 by merging the former districts of Worbis and Heiligenstadt.
The district is named after the historical region of Eichsfeld, which covers the northern portions of the present district and parts of Lower Saxony, the area around
Duderstadt, called "Untereichsfeld" (lower Eichsfeld). It is a hilly countryside, that is attached to the
Harz Mountains in the north. Incidentally it is the geographical centre of Germany. The
Leine and
Unstrut rivers both originate in the Eichsfeld.
The name is believed to be derived from "Eichenfeld", which means "field of oaks". A less popular theory is the origin in the word "Eisfeld" ("field of ice").
Quod vide
Wanfried agreement.
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Coat of arms |
|The coat of arms displays the heraldic eagle of Prussia together with the wheel, which was a symbol of the bishops of Mainz. These arms were granted shortly after Prussia gained the Eichsfeld (1801). In 1816 the Eichsfeld was not a geographical unit anymore, and the arms became irrelevant. They were reintroduced in 1945 (used until 1952) and again in 1994.
