Banzendorf

Banzendorf
component locality of Lindow in the March
House #9, Banzendorfer Straße
Banzendorf
Coordinates: 53°0′54″N 12°59′54″E / 53.01500°N 12.99833°E / 53.01500; 12.99833Coordinates: 53°0′54″N 12°59′54″E / 53.01500°N 12.99833°E / 53.01500; 12.99833
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Ostprignitz-Ruppin
City	Lindow in the March
Area
• Total	10.17 km2 (3.93 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	173
• Density	17/km2 (44/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	16835
Dialling codes	033933
Vehicle registration	OPR

Banzendorf is a village in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. Since the end of 2001 it is a component locality of the city of Lindow in the March, East Prignitz-Ruppin district.

Banzendorf is located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of Lindow. Banzendorf is a linear village with only few houses situated in the alleys. The village location itself is flat, but there are also some hills in the vicinity of Banzendorf, especially northeast at its outlying hamlet Rudershof. In the southwest of the village Dierberg Heath (Dierberger Heide) is spreading. Banzendorf is directly connected by streets and alleys with Dierberg (Dierberger Weg), Hindenberg (Banzendorfer Straße, forming the main street and district road No. K6604), Lindow (Lindower Weg), Rönnebeck in Brandenburg (Rönnebecker Weg) and Schulzendorf in Ruppin Land (Schulzendorfer Weg). In 1993 the 10.17 square kilometres, or 1,017 hectares (ha), of Banzendorf comprised 902 hectares (2,230 acres) of agricultural area (84.2% of the total), 99 hectares (240 acres) of forests (9.2%), 32 hectares (79 acres) of circulation area (3%), 17 hectares (42 acres) of built-up area and pertaining open space (1.6%), 6 hectares (15 acres) of water bodies (0.6%) and 15 hectares (37 acres) of various other usages (1.4%).

Banzendorf's oldest recorded mentioning dates back to 1365 under the name of «casa Banzendorp». In the course of the medieval eastward migrations of Germans Gebhard I, Count of Arnstein had conquered the area around today's Banzendorf and in 1196 he settled in the castle of Ruppin, located in today's Alt Ruppin, a locality of Neuruppin. The comital family, later called counts of Lindow-Ruppin, established the County of Ruppin, of which Banzendorf formed a part. The county was no imperial county, immediately under the emperors, but the counts held it mediately as a subfief of the March of Brandenburg.

By 1220 or 1240 the counts founded a Cistercian nunnery in Lindow and richly enfeoffed it with lands and villages, whose inhabitants became serfs to the nunnery. Also other noble families endowed the nunnery with additional land or revenues from dues (to be performed by serfs) in order to maintain a decent life for the nuns, usually unmarried daughters or childless widows of the same noble families. Banzendorf was one of altogether 18 villages enfeoffed to the nunnery. However, the Banzendorfers had to render their socages to the counts of Ruppin.