page_title: Stumpfwald
section_title: Formal development
hierarchical_section_title: Stumpfwald / History / Formal development
caption_attribution_description: Stumpfwaldgericht bei Enkenbach-Alsenborn
context_page_description: The Stumpfwald is part of the northern Palatine Forest and is located in the south of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It covers an area of about 150 km², most of which is part of North Palatinate and runs from west to east on the territories of Enkenbach-Alsenborn and Ramsen. It has given its name to the Stumpfwaldgericht, an old thingstead, and the heritage line of the Stumpfwald Railway.
context_section_description: Timber rights in the forest were recorded as early as 1390 in the Stumpfwaldweistum. They not only survived the Late Middle Ages, but also major changes of lordship in the centuries that followed. For example, it survived the French Revolution of 1797, the transfer of the forest to the national territory of France, the final defeat of Napoleon and, in 1816, its transfer to the Kingdom of Bavaria. These rights continued even to the present day.
  In particular, the inhabitants of the "nine marches" (Neunmärker) - the nine settlements whose territories bordered on the Rhine in succession - were allowed to obtain building timber from the Stumpfwald. These were the village of Mertesheim, the town of Grünstadt, and the villages of Asselheim, Mülheim, Albsheim, Heidenheim, Colgenstein, Obrigheim and Obersülzen. Other holders of such rights were the inhabitants of Ramsen, Hettenleidelheim, Eisenberg and Stauf, because these communities belonged to Ramsen Abbey or the Barony of Stauf, who shared ownership of the Stumpfwald. The villagers of Wattenheim only had logging rights if they could claim ownership of an ox and cart.
  The French nation, the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany tried repeatedly, but in vain, to secure ownership of the Stumpfwald. Most recently, in 1989, the Association of Municipalities with Rights in the Stumpfwald (Nine Marches) (Zweckverband der am Stumpfwald berechtigten Gemeinden (Neunmärkerei)), which was founded after the Second World War, won a legal dispute against the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and was paid DM 420,000 in forestry income. When the municipality of Wattenheim demanded their share, the Nine Marches initially wanted a legal ruling as to whether logging using tractors instead of draught animals actually came under the old Weistum rights. In 1990 a settlement was reached that allowed Wattenheim to receive its dues, but left open the issue of draught animals versus motorized tractor units.
caption: The Stumpfwaldgericht near Alsenborn
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