Palatine Holzland

Holzland is the name of a region in the western part of the Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate

The Holzland is clearly bounded by surrounding streams: to the south and southeast by the Schwarzbach, and, to the west and north by its tributary, the Moosalb. Only in the extreme east, by the Steinberg, does the Holzland transition without any clearly defined features into the Frankenweide.

The valleys that border and cut through the Holzland are, in places, largely natural. Many, mighty sandstone rock formations outcrop on the valley sides. Hillsides and heights are covered by valuable mixed forest, except in the immediate vicinity of villages. The old sessile oaks harvested here, which are often several centuries old, earn the highest lumber prices overall.

The quality and density of its stands of trees gives the Holzland ("wood land") its name. Even during times when large areas of the Palatine Forest were depleted by wood pasture practices, charcoal burning and mining, valuable stands of woodland survived for centuries in this area.

Nevertheless, there were clearings here, mainly made in the 9th century in connection with the settlement arrangements of Hornbach Abbey, to whom the hitherto imperial estate had probably been gifted by the Count of Homburg. Lordship over the region was given to Electoral Palatinate. After the dissolution of Hornbach Abbey in 1558 in the wake of the Reformation these rights of ownership went to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, which, from then on, was in perpetual dispute with the Palatinate. As a result, in 1776 there was an exchange treaty, whereby Zweibrücken surrendered its rights in the Holzland to the Electorate.

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