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It is really a hard choice which town at the Romantic Street
should be the place for vacation or only a visit. Perhaps you have looked to
Dinkelsbuehl , the towns Fuessen
or Landsberg, now we have a view on Tauberbischofsheim.
This nice town is not a real Bavarian town but very near
in the neighbourhood. It is located in the franconian part of the Federal State
Baden-Wuerttemberg and we will now jump in.
Tauberbischofsheim is a center in the region between the
rivers Main and Tauber. It is a town surrounded from hills, forests, vine yards
and farmland. To keep old houses and history alive the first pedestrian area
in Baden-Württemberg was founded here.
Big names like Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, General Tilly,
the excellent architect Balthasar Neumann, the woodcraft magician Tilman Riemenschneider
or the painter Matthias Gruenewald were guests in that town and they all leave
some documents of their being there.
Sportmen know that here is the location of Germany's Olympic
Fencing Training Base. Handycraft people perhaps know Tauberbischofsheim by
the world known branch leader in woodworking machines. So this town has an
excellent mixture between industry and culture. And it is also a center of
administration and school for the whole area of the Main-Tauber region.
The lovelyness of town location you can see on picture.
The valley of the river Tauber is marvellous for recreation, vacation or only
relaxing.
The people are very friendly, the food is a must to try
and the vines of that region are known all over the world. And if you are lucky
and find a person who speaks your language perhaps you will hear some of the
old legendary tales from that area they kept in memory for hundreds of years.
To give you just now the feeling to be in one of Tauberbischofheim's
nice guesthouses and hear talking the old guys - lay back in your chair and
hear (excuse me, read) the following tales.
In the district Distelhausen you can see the chapel of Saint
Wolfgang. Outside there is a gravestone with the name "Johann Klinger",
in the inside is a stone picture of the Holy Mary with a damage at the neck.
And people will tell you:
In the Middle Ages the farmer Johann Klinger was ploughin
his field near the river Tauber. His horse was sick and it was a hard work.
A bigger stone laying on his field he throw into the river. Next morning starting
again to plough there curiously the same stone was on the old place again.
He throw him a second time in the river. But as he came the third day to work
on that field and the stone was again on his location he get a strange feeling
before he could throw him a third time. He turned the stone and was very astonished
to find a picture on him showing Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph and Saint Wolfgang.
He sank on his knees, praised the Lord and requested health for his horse too.
As he had finished his horse was healed. He thank the Lord by building this
chapel for Saint Wolfgang and placed the stone in the inside.
About the damage of Mary's neck in the stone picture some
oldies told another version from that chapel:
In the 15th century the the plague has killed half of
the citizens from Distelhausen. The living ones swear to build a chapel for
Saint Wolfgang if he would save them. Short time after the promise the plague
was away. The people built that church and made every year a prozession in
honour to Saint Wolfgang on the 31th of october. This old use they still do
with the horse prozession on Pfingsten now. But back to the story. One day
a bad guy was coming to that chapel, everything else in mind but not to pray.
He saw the stone picture, cursed and beated the picture with his sword. Only
the damage, you can see today, was happened. So he tried to beat harder to
cut the head of Mary but he killed himself with that stroke. Since these days
sometimes appears in clear moon nights a rider on a white horse in the fields
carrying his head in the hands.
At last a story about the owner of that castle "Gamburg"
what you can see above.
In the near is an old mill, if you are on bike or by car
in the area, you should stop there, take a rest and have a nice view. The mill
was founded 1595 after documentation and from that first year you will see
a mark from a big flood disaster. The legend tells following about that flood
mark:
The knight of Gamburg restet someday after a hunt in
that mill. He saw a wonderful young lady and fell in love to her although he
was married. The mill man told him, that the girl is off duty always from thursday
evening til saturday morning. To that times not usual but she was so busy that
the mill man had agreed her conditions. The knight tried to met her on thursday
evening but Melusine, so her name, was suddenly disappeared. Next thursday
evening he was smarter, followed her and saw, she was bathing in the river.
In the clear moonlight he could see that she was a water-nymph. In these old
times people know the laws of the ghosts and so he picked up her cloth and
she was captured after her secret rules.
The knight built a small castle near the mill and from
thursday evening till saturday he lived there with her. The other days he lived
with his wife, nobody told she has made some trouble about. The mill man was
very religious or jealous and so he ran to the prior of the monastery in Bronnbach
telling him this "uncristian" behavior. The prior gave him an ordinated
paper with secret words and ordered him to put it on the steps before the water-nymph
climb up. The mill man has done so and than, the legend told, a big screaming
was to hear and a heavy fall into the water. The girl never appeared again.
The knight was so sorry about that he died. His wife gave the small castle
to some nuns and died a little later. A few days after her death the river
Tauber flow over, nobody knew why.
river Tauber
Perhaps it was the revenge of the water mights. The nuns
all ran away and gave the small castle, after the flood disaster was ended,
to a new mill man. He changed the castle to that mill you can see now.
Ok, that's enough for today and Tauberbischofsheim. The
best will be you plan a one-day-visit or a bigger vacation there, you will
appreciate that.
Script by J.W.Lohfink, for any mistakes in
spell or grammar I apologize as a precaution, corrections, questions or comments
please mail to me.
>> German version
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