# Mackenrodt > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mackenrodt > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mackenrodt.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenrodt > Source revision: 1345103934 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Infobox German location |name = Mackenrodt |type = |image_photo = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_coa = MackenrodtWappen.svg |coordinates = {{coord|49|43|38|N|07|15|19|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |image_plan = Mackenrodt in BIR.svg |state = Rheinland-Pfalz |district = Birkenfeld |Verbandsgemeinde = Herrstein-Rhaunen |elevation = 440 |area = 4.90 |postal_code = 55758 |area_code = 06781 |licence = BIR |Gemeindeschlüssel = 07 1 34 052 |website = [https://www.mackenrodt.de/ www.mackenrodt.de] |mayor = Reiner Mildenberger[https://www.wahlen.rlp.de/de/kw/wahlen/kd/gebiete/1340000000000.html Direktwahlen 2019, Landkreis Birkenfeld], Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 10 August 2021. |leader_term = 2019–24 }} '''Mackenrodt''' is an ''[Ortsgemeinde](/source/Ortsgemeinde_(Germany))'' – a [municipality](/source/Municipalities_of_Germany) belonging to a ''[Verbandsgemeinde](/source/Verbandsgemeinde)'', a kind of collective municipality – in the [Birkenfeld](/source/Birkenfeld_(district)) [district](/source/Districts_of_Germany) in [Rhineland-Palatinate](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate), [Germany](/source/Germany). It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' [Herrstein-Rhaunen](/source/Herrstein-Rhaunen), whose seat is in [Herrstein](/source/Herrstein). ==Geography== The municipality lies west of the river [Nahe](/source/Nahe_(Rhine)) in the [Hunsrück](/source/Hunsr%C3%BCck). The municipal area is 64.6% wooded. To the southeast lies the town of [Idar-Oberstein](/source/Idar-Oberstein). ==History== Mackenrodt has not always been the smallest municipality between the Idarbach and the Siesbach. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the village had more inhabitants than, for instance, [Hettenrodt](/source/Hettenrodt) or [Kirschweiler](/source/Kirschweiler). Unearthed within Mackenrodt's limits have been a few [archaeological](/source/Archaeology) finds from Treverian (the [Treveri](/source/Treveri) were a people of mixed [Celtic](/source/Celts) and [Germanic](/source/Germanic_peoples) stock, from whom the [Latin](/source/Latin) name for the city of [Trier](/source/Trier), ''[Augusta Treverorum](/source/History_of_Trier)'', is also derived) and [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) times. However, this does not mean that today's village is as much as 2,000 years old. Beginning about AD 500, the old settlements in the area were forsaken owing to the throngs of warlike Germanic peoples who were flooding in from the east. Only relatively late did people – as it happens, the [Franks](/source/Franks) – once again settle on the upper Nahe. Before anyone could settle, though, land had to be cleared. This can even be seen in placenames like Mackenrodt, Hettenrodt and Algenrodt. The ending ''—rodt'' refers to clearing woodland ([German](/source/German_language) still has a verb ''roden'' that means “clear” in the sense of removing trees). The whole area was throughout the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) part of the local feudal territory known as the Idarbann, both politically and ecclesiastically. One of the first measures undertaken by these new settlers was the establishment of churches; the ones in [Birkenfeld](/source/Birkenfeld) and Brombach (see [Niederbrombach](/source/Niederbrombach), [Oberbrombach](/source/Oberbrombach)) were already being mentioned in documents dating from about 700. The old greater parish of Idar might originally have been coëxtensive with the judicial region of the Idarbann. The execution place of this region was found at the point where Mackenrodt's, Algenrodt's and Idar's limits all met each other, a spot that even today in the official cadastral nomenclature still bears the name ''Galgenberg'' – “Gallows Mountain”. To the parish of Idar, the [Reformation](/source/Protestant_Reformation) came quite early on, before 1544. No later than 1320 or 1321, the Idarbann belonged as a subfief to the [Imperial](/source/Holy_Roman_Empire) Lordship of Oberstein. Mackenrodt had its first documentary mention in the enfeoffment document as a result. The village shared its fate with the rest of the Idarbann in a political and economic sense. Thus, Mackenrodt passed along with the rest of the Idarbann to the “Hinder” [County of Sponheim](/source/County_of_Sponheim) in 1766, and then in 1771 to the [Margraviate](/source/Margrave) of [Baden](/source/Baden), and soon thereafter to the [French Republic](/source/French_First_Republic) – as of 1804 the [Empire](/source/First_French_Empire). In 1814, the area found itself under a joint [Imperial-Royal Austrian](/source/Habsburg_monarchy) and [Royal Bavarian](/source/Kingdom_of_Bavaria) “State Administrative Commission” (''Landesverwaltungskommission'') before the [Congress of Vienna](/source/Congress_of_Vienna) awarded it to the Kingdom of [Prussia](/source/Prussia), who in turn [ceded](/source/Cession) it in 1817 to the Principality of Birkenfeld, an [exclave](/source/exclave) of the [Grand Duchy of Oldenburg](/source/Duchy_of_Oldenburg), most of whose territory was in what is now northwest Germany, with a coastline on the [North Sea](/source/North_Sea). In 1918, Oldenburg became a “free state” within [Weimar Germany](/source/Weimar_Republic). The [Third Reich](/source/Nazi_Germany) finally merged Oldenburg with Prussia in 1937. Since 1948, Mackenrodt has been part of the then newly founded [state](/source/States_of_Germany) of [Rhineland-Palatinate](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate). The discovery of [agate](/source/agate) at the old execution place, the ''Galgenberg'', set the course for the whole region's economic development. Over the centuries, Idar – now merged with Oberstein – became a world centre of the gemstone industry. Mackenrodt farmers found extra work as stone miners and agate grinders, as well as, later, as goldsmiths, [grinding machine](/source/grinding_machine) operators and diamond grinders. Nevertheless, [agriculture](/source/agriculture) and livestock raising for feeding the population remained until the end of the 19th century the more important industry. In 1833, Mackenrodt was described as “a village feeding itself by cropraising and livestock raising, lying one hour from Idar, with which it is parochially united.” At the time, the village had 178 inhabitants, 176 of whom were [Evangelical](/source/Evangelical_Church_in_Germany), while the other two were [Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church). The municipal area measured 1,810 ''[Morgen](/source/Morgen)'' (490 ha). The village was made up of 27 private buildings and one schoolhouse. One hundred and fifty years later, there were about 100 buildings, among them a church, administered as a branch church of Idar, and a sport clubhouse, which was also used as a community centre. With 400 or so inhabitants, Mackenrodt is still well behind most of the other smaller communities around Idar-Oberstein's periphery. The marked growth seen in, for instance, Göttschied, Kirschweiler or [Rötsweiler-Nockenthal](/source/R%C3%B6tsweiler-Nockenthal), where ample building development areas have attracted people from Idar-Oberstein who could not find property in their own town, simply is not replicated in Mackenrodt. Another factor that may explain the weak growth in Mackenrodt is the village's lack of a main road running through it. There are only six businesses in the village, all dealing with gemstones, but each one employs only one or two persons. Most people in Mackenrodt must [commute](/source/Commuting) to their jobs, mostly in Idar-Oberstein. This is easy enough for those with cars, but public transport links are bad, especially in the evening.{{Cite web |url=http://mackenrodt.de/public/index.php?title=Dorfgeschichte |title=Mackenrodt’s history |access-date=2011-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051915/http://mackenrodt.de/public/index.php?title=Dorfgeschichte |archive-date=2012-04-25 |url-status=dead }} ==Politics== ===Municipal council=== The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by [majority vote](/source/Plurality_voting_system) at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[http://wahlen.rlp.de/kw/wahlen/2009/gemeinderatswahlen/ergebnisse/1340305200.html Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat] ===Mayor=== Mackenrodt's mayor is Reiner Mildenberger, and his deputies are Klaus Gans and Gerd Nilius.[http://www.vg-herrstein.de/vg_herrstein/Ortsgemeinden/Mackenrodt/ Mackenrodt’s mayor and his deputies] ===Coat of arms=== The municipality's [arms](/source/Coat_of_arms) might be described thus: Per bend chequy argent and gules, and vert a spade blade argent. Mackenrodt's arms are unusual in that they have a “chequy” field whose [tincture](/source/tincture_(heraldry))s begin in dexter chief with the metal rather than the colour. This, at least, is what can be seen in this article, at the municipality's own website{{Cite web |url=http://mackenrodt.de/public/index.php?title=Hauptseite |title=municipality’s website showing arms with metal first |access-date=2011-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820103136/http://mackenrodt.de/public/index.php?title=Hauptseite |archive-date=2011-08-20 |url-status=dead }} and at the ''Verbandsgemeinde''’s website.[http://www.vg-herrstein.de/vg_herrstein/Ortsgemeinden/Mackenrodt/''Verbandsgemeinde''’s website showing arms with metal first] While this arrangement is usual under English heraldic rules, it is rather unusual in [German heraldry](/source/German_heraldry). An example of Mackenrodt's arms with the chequy field beginning with the colour rather than the metal can be seen at ''Heraldry of the World''.[http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Mackenrodt Heraldry of the World wikipage showing arms with colour first] ==Economy and infrastructure== ===Transport=== To the south runs ''[Bundesstraße](/source/Bundesstra%C3%9Fe)'' 41. Serving Idar-Oberstein is a [railway station](/source/railway_station) that, as a [Regional-Express](/source/Regional-Express) and [Regionalbahn](/source/Regionalbahn) stop, is linked by way of the [Nahe Valley Railway](/source/Nahe_Valley_Railway) ([Bingen](/source/Bingen_am_Rhein)–[Saarbrücken](/source/Saarbr%C3%BCcken)) to the [Saarland](/source/Saarland) and the [Frankfurt Rhine Main Region](/source/Frankfurt_Rhine_Main_Region). The ''Rhein-Nahe-Express'' running the [Mainz](/source/Mainz)-Saarbrücken route serves the station hourly. Every other train goes through to the [main railway station](/source/Frankfurt_(Main)_Hauptbahnhof) in [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt) with a stop at [Frankfurt Airport](/source/Frankfurt_Airport). Formerly, fast trains on the Frankfurt-[Paris](/source/Paris) route had a stop at Idar-Oberstein. ==Famous people== * Thomas A. Ruhk (1973–    ), writer ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *{{Official Website}} {{in lang|de}} *[http://www.vg-herrstein.de/vg_herrstein/Ortsgemeinden/Mackenrodt/ Mackenrodt in the collective municipality’s webpages] {{in lang|de}} {{Cities and towns in Birkenfeld (district)}} {{authority control}} Category:Birkenfeld (district) Category:Grand Duchy of Oldenburg --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mackenrodt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenrodt) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenrodt?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.