Franzosenstein or Napoleon Stone

The flat triangular top is engraved with the tools of the stone carver's trade: hammer, pointed hammer, chisel and angle. There was originally a small sphere on the top.

History of the stone :

Wilhelm Kloeppel was born on 21 July 1774 in Obermendig. He died on 22 April 1851. A stonemason by trade, he was appointed municipal forest warden during the Napoleonic era. He was married from 1803 to Barbara Hermann, born on 30 October 1780, and they lived at what is now Laacherstrasse 51. According to the inscription above the lintel, the house was built in stone in 1823, presumably after the great fire that devastated the village. Stone consoles and millstones were built in.

In the Fuchshöhle district, Wilhelm Kloeppel erected this small obelisk on a forest plot in 1812. When the weather was fine, Wilhelm and Barbara Kloeppel spent many hours in front of the grotto with coffee, biscuits and knitting needles. This is why this spot was popularly known as ‘Klöppelslost’.

he Obermendig chronicler Jack Mittler reports :

‘Over in the forest stood a small obelisk 1.50 metres high, triangular, tapering towards the top, with a small ball on the sloping top’.

The local poet Florin Kloeppel, born on 20 May 1876 in Obermendig, died on 30 December 1958, whose mother was a descendant of Wilhelm Kloeppel's sister, inherited this piece of woodland with the obelisk from his mother, née Erb. He wrote about it :

"Wilhelm Kloeppel had dug a grotto in the tuff soil, in front of it was a fireplace with a bench and table. In front of the area Wilhelm planted bird cherry, wild berries, snowball, fir and acacia trees.

This stone also stood in the grottoes. But as so much was destroyed in the post-war period, I took it into my care. (Note: after the First World War) It now stands as a gatekeeper in my garden.And when spring comes soon, he will feel at home among his forest mates again. Then the large elderberry bush blooms next to it, laburnum drips down beside it and wild vines run down to it, the Napoleon Stone."

The garden was inherited by Mrs Maria Porten, née Klöppel, a daughter of Florin Klöppel.After giving up the garden, the stone was on loan to the volcano museum in Mendig for several years.In 2024, her 3 children, grandchildren of Florin Klöppel, declared that they would donate the obelisk to the municipality of Mendig.

Mr Wolfgang Schlags, who now owns the historic Hirschbrunnshof, made this site next to the gate to the Hirschbrunnshof available for the obelisk. The initiative of Mr Schlags is also responsible for the erection of the obelisk and the structural design of this site.

The dedication on the 3rd side of the stone
(which was always referred to as the French or Napoleon Stone because of its content).

Paul-Francois-Marie-Adrien de Lezay-Marnésia was prefect of the Département de Rhin-et-Moselle, based in Koblenz, during the French period of the Rhineland from 1806 to 1810. He was born on 9 August 1769 in Moutonne, Département Jura in France, and died on 9 October 1814 in Haguenau, Alsace, as a result of an unfortunate fall. He had studied in Göttingen, spoke fluent German and translated Schiller's Don Carlos into French. In the Département de Rhin-et-Moselle, he was primarily concerned with education, agriculture and road construction. In Koblenz, he laid out a green riverside promenade, which was given the name Parc Lezay-Marnesia.

The Rhineland in the French period

The French Revolution of 1789 and the occupation of the Rhineland on the left bank of the Rhine from 1793 to 1814 had a lasting impact on the history of the Rhineland. In the spring of 1798, the French began to organise the administration and judiciary on the left bank of the Rhine according to the French model. This was driven forward above all by Napoleon, who had been First Consul in France since 1799 and Emperor of the French since 1804. Secularisation was carried out, i.e. the ecclesiastical and princely estates were transferred to private ownership and the feudal system was abolished. During this time, Leonard Hirschbrunn, who was the administrator and first mayor of the Mairie (district) of Sankt Johann, acquired the Zehnthof in Obermendig from St Florinstift in Koblenz.

The elimination of the numerous former state structures of the Old Empire, the territorial reorganisation with a tightly structured administration, the reorganisation of the judiciary, the restructuring of society through the abolition of the nobility, the expropriation of the monasteries and the abolition of dependency relationships and all feudal rights brought about a fundamental change and ushered in a great surge of modernisation.

In January 1814, the liberation army under Blücher entered the Rhineland and drove out the French. This marked the end of the French era. Much of what the French had introduced, such as judicial reform, secularisation and the division of land, was taken over by the Prussian state, which was now in charge.

Text : Manfred Porten, Willi Bömerich, Silvia Mintgen-Bömerich

Sources

• Willi Bömerich, Obermendiger Chronik I, Mendig, year of publication 2016.
• Willi Bömerich, Obermendiger Chronik II, Mendig, forthcoming.
• Sabine Graumann: 1794 to 1815 - The dawn of modernity.The ‘French period’, Rhenish History, LVR, Cologne/Bonn, 01 October 2012.
• Felix Selgert, De Gryter Oldenbourg, Externe Experten in Poltik und Wirtschaft, Historische Zeitschriften / Beiheft N.F. 78, published on 05.05.2020, edition: 1/2020; page 31 to 64: Regine Jägers, ‘Enthousiasme et expertise’ - Der französische Präfekt Adrien de Lezay-Marnésia und sein Engagement für den kommunalen Wegebau im Rhein-Moseldepartement 1806-1810.
• Wikipedia : Lezay-Marnésia

• The Stiftsmühle or ‘the master's mill’
  

There used to be a mill on the very spot where you are standing.The so-called ‘Stiftsmühle’ or ‘der Herren Mühle’.

In the history of Obermendig, two manor houses took centre stage. One was the smaller Fronhof of the Premonstratensian convent of Dünnwald (former Mohrshof in Oberstrasse) and the larger Florinshof of the formerly independent monastery of St Florin in Koblenz.

Bann mills belonged to both farms. The Dünnwälder had a ban mill - the ‘Hohenrecher Mühle’ - in the area of today's street ‘In den Mühlwiesen’. And the Florinsstift directly operated two ban mills.One was the Erlenmühle and the other the Stiftsmühle of the Florinsstift on this site.

The ban mills were connected to the law issued by Emperor Barbarossa in 1158 on the so-called Mühlenzwang. The ‘Mühlenzwang’ obliged all subjects of a landlord to have their grain ground exclusively in the Kameralmühle, Zwangmühle or Bannmühle and thus secured the miller the grinding fee that had to be paid to him by the farmers for the use of the mill, which remained the same for centuries. Violations of the ban were penalised. This prevented competition between the mills. However, many mill operators had little to gain from this, as the levies for the regal fee to the lord of the manor were often very high.

The door entrance to the Stiftsmühle mill shows the year 1723 as the year of construction, however, the Weistum from 1531 indicates that there was already a mill in 1531, which was called ‘der Herren Mühle’ at the time.

The actual mill was located on the ground floor of the mill building, which was operated by an external mill wheel and driven by the Obermendiger Bach or Kellbach stream flowing next to it.

The floors above housed the living quarters of the miller, who leased the mill from the canon. It is not known exactly how long the mill remained in operation.Unfortunately, the mill had to be demolished in 1949 due to dilapidation.

Whether dilapidation was the real reason remains to be seen.You can see that the mill narrows the road.Perhaps it also fell victim to the expansion of the road that followed the demolition.

Wolfgang and Bärbel Schlags, the owners of the Florinshof, acquired an old millstone to commemorate the old mill at this location.

The Obermendig local painter Werner Portz painted a very authentic painting with the mill, the old gate and the Laurentius Chapel in the background.

Text: Frank Neideck with thanks to Silvia Bömerich-Mintgen, Ulrike Niederelz and city archivist Rolf Breil for their support with the research.

Sources

• Willi Bömerich, Obermendiger Chronik I, Mendig, year of publication 2016.
• Ralf Nolden, ‘The Florinshof in Obermendig, an example of monastic rule’
• Wikipedia: ‘Bannmühle’, ‘Mühlenzwang’