Morshausen

Morshausen
Coat of arms
Morshausen
Location of Morshausen within Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district
Coordinates: 50°11′27″N 7°26′23″E / 50.19083°N 7.43972°E / 50.19083; 7.43972Coordinates: 50°11′27″N 7°26′23″E / 50.19083°N 7.43972°E / 50.19083; 7.43972
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Municipal assoc.	Emmelshausen
Government
• Mayor	Horst Schmitt
Area
• Total	7.56 km2 (2.92 sq mi)
Elevation	334 m (1,096 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	363
• Density	48/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	56283
Dialling codes	02605
Vehicle registration	SIM
Website	www.morshausen.de

Morshausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Emmelshausen, whose seat is in the like-named town.

The municipality lies in the Hunsrück, 6 km from the Moselle and 10 km from Emmelshausen, at an elevation of 334 m above sea level.

The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Morshausen’s mayor is Horst Schmitt.

The German blazon reads: Über einem Schildfuß, darin ein goldener Stutzwecken, in silbernem Feld ein schwarzer, linksgewendeter Schwengelbrunnen.

The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Argent a well boom with pail to sinister sable, on a base vert a Stutzweck Or.

The well, which stands as the main charge, was endowed in the 15th century by a Hungarian countess who was married at the Ehrenburg (castle). In remembrance of her homeland, the well was built in the style of those typically seen in the Puszta region. The woodwork has been renewed at regular intervals by the municipality ever since, and the well may still be seen on Brunnenstraße (“Well Street”). The Stutzweck is a traditional baked article, and in Morshausen, it stems from a citizen’s bequest in 1782. He bequeathed his belongings to the municipality on the proviso that a good field be acquired, and that the rent drawn therefrom be used to bake Stutzwecken during Holy Week and to buy wine. On Maundy Thursday, all the village’s poor, wretched and children were to come together in the church to pray for his poor soul and to eat the Stutzwecken dipped in the wine in observance of the Lord’s Supper. The Stutzweck is still shared out to the churchgoers each year on Good Friday after midday devotions.