Drolshagen

Drolshagen
View of Drolshagen towards south from Papenberg (417 m). St. Clement's Church dominates the skyline.
Coat of arms
Drolshagen
Location of Drolshagen within Olpe district
Coordinates: 51°02′N 07°46′E / 51.033°N 7.767°E / 51.033; 7.767Coordinates: 51°02′N 07°46′E / 51.033°N 7.767°E / 51.033; 7.767
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Arnsberg
District	Olpe
Government
• Mayor	Ulrich Berghof (CDU)
Area
• Total	67.12 km2 (25.92 sq mi)
Elevation	353 m (1,158 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	11,874
• Density	180/km2 (460/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	57489
Dialling codes	02761, 02763
Vehicle registration	OE
Website	www.drolshagen.de

Drolshagen is a town belonging to the district of Olpe in the Regierungsbezirk of Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, lying roughly 5 km west of Olpe.

Drolshagen lies in the heavily wooded Naturpark Ebbegebirge in the Sauerland. The area of the municipality of Drolshagen is characterized by heavily wooded low mountain ranges with altitudes close to 500 metres, flat tops and broad valleys in between. More than 40% of the municipal area is wooded. To the west where the municipal area ends is a steep drop of altitude and the view is open towards the plains of the river Rhine in the distance.

Drolshagen borders on the following towns and communities, clockwise beginning in the northwest:
Gummersbach, Meinerzhagen, Attendorn, Olpe, Wenden, Reichshof and Bergneustadt.

Drolshagen's current municipal area comprises 58 communities of various sizes.

The highest hills are:

Several named and a number of unnamed streams and brooks flow through the valleys of the municipality of Drolshagen:

The Brachtpe empties into the Biggesee and the Herpel into the Listertalsperre.

Like other areas of Sauerland Drolshagen is part of the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge.

The Sauerland, then known as Süderland, had been part of the Duchy of Saxony when it was given to the Archbishop of Cologne, Philipp, in 1180. In 1413, the townsfolk and Denklingen Castle were under the control of the Duke of Berg as part of the feudal system existing at the time. From 1470, the historical record mentions knights in Drolshagen.

Drolshagen was granted town rights on 2 March 1477 by Ruprecht, Archbishop of Cologne, thus entitling it to a market and walls. In 1485, these were not only confirmed but also strengthened by Archbishop Hermann IV, who added the right to hold a fair. Long before Droshagen received its town charter it had already been a Freiheit ("freedom") meaning that it had already been granted privileges close to a town charter. As such, Drolshagen had a mayor, a council and a seal of its own. Even by 1477, this "freedom's" sphere of influence within the Sauerland was already quite broad. The Cistercian monastery, endowed in 1235, fell into a quarrel with the town beginning in 1550 over who had rights to the St.-Clemens-Kirche (church), which in turn led to a trial in Rome.