Freinsheim
| Freinsheim | |||
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Town hall and protestant church
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 Freinsheim
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Location of Freinsheim within Bad Dürkheim district
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| Coordinates: 49°30′27″N 8°12′31″E / 49.50750°N 8.20861°ECoordinates: 49°30′27″N 8°12′31″E / 49.50750°N 8.20861°E | |||
| Country | Germany | ||
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate | ||
| District | Bad Dürkheim | ||
| Municipal assoc. | Freinsheim | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Jürgen Oberholz (FW) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 13.61 km2 (5.25 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2015-12-31) | |||
| • Total | 5,026 | ||
| • Density | 370/km2 (960/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | ||
| Postal codes | 67251 67098 (Lindemannsruhe) 67247, 67248 (P.O. boxes) |
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| Dialling codes | 06353 06322 (Lindemannsruhe) |
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| Vehicle registration | DÜW | ||
| Website | www.stadt-freinsheim.de | ||
Freinsheim (German: [ˈfʁaɪnshaɪm]; Palatine German: Fränsem) is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With about 5,000 inhabitants, it is among the state’s smaller towns. It is also the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality.
Freinsheim lies in the Upper Rhine Plain at the eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, roughly 20 km west of Ludwigshafen between Bad Dürkheim (about 6 km to the southwest) and Grünstadt near the German Wine Route. Within town limits rises the Fuchsbach.
As established by various archaeological finds, Freinsheim’s municipal area has been continuously settled by human beings for roughly 5,000 years. An organized community likely existed beginning in the 6th century, as witnessed by the discovery of a Merovingian linear graveyard. Freinsheim had its first documentary mention in 773 in the Weißenburg Monastery’s records (this place is now Wissembourg in Alsace, France).
In the 15th century, Freinsheim passed to the Electorate of the Palatinate, under whose care the existing fortifications were completed. The town wall’s most recent building work is the äußeres Eisentor (“outer iron gate”), finished in 1514. In 1689, Freinsheim sustained heavy destruction in the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession); only foundations were left standing. In the 18th century came reconstruction. Administrative functions within the Electorate of the Palatinate (such as the institution of an Unteramt) helped bring about an economic upswing. After the French Revolution and the Congress of Vienna, Freinsheim passed to the Kingdom of Bavaria along with the rest of the Palatinate on the Rhine’s left bank. Until 1818, Freinsheim belonged to a Ganerbschaft (joint inheritance), which comprised the Leiningen villages of Leistadt, Herxheim am Berg and Kallstadt as well as the Electorate of the Palatinate villages of Freinsheim and Weisenheim am Sand.
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