The largest village in the Spessart? Some will think for a long time. It is and has always been Frammersbach. Strictly speaking, it consists of four parts: Frammersbach, Herbertshain, Schwart (e) l, Hofreith. However, this classification can only be proven in the second half of the 16th century, and not all sources differentiate at all. It can be assumed that there were originally two settlements: Frammersbach west = right of the Lohr (which later differentiated) and Herbertshain east = left of the Lohr.
When did the first person set foot on Frammersbacher Boden? Finds from prehistory are naturally rare in today’s densely forested Spessart, but they do exist. The connection through the Lohr valley to the north to the Kahlgrund, the Kinzig and the Rhein-Main area attracted people. But when was the first permanent settlement built? Aschaffenburg, Lohr, Wrzburg: they date back to the early Middle Ages (and beyond), and Frammersbach, too, should have been a settlement from the Carolingian period at the latest. The ones from the 8th / 9th The border of the Aschaffenburg Forest, which dates back to the 19th century, and that of the parish of Lohrhaupten from 1057 clearly show that the interior of the Spessart was also populated.
But what would Frammersbach be without his carters? Just a village like any other. One might think: well, there were a couple of carters, and because there is also a picture of one of them from 1577, the whole community has stuck to it to this day and thinks it is something special.
The fact is: It is something special, and even if there were many German wagoners who were collectively referred to as Hessen in the Netherlands, and even if not a few other villages call themselves Fuhrmannsdorf: The Frammersbachers did not easily surpass them. That they would have had a monopoly on one of the routes, as can often be read, is completely unproven and historically and logistically also impossible. On the contrary: they had to come to terms with how they got through. It is not possible to clearly grasp what role they played in the overall structure of the transport system, in any case an important one. Above all, however, the village is intensely shaped by them without the sources allowing many details to be captured.
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Driving through the Spessart is an adventure, then as it is today. There were and are enough dangers, even if the Spessartruber only acted for a short time and are now being marketed for tourism. If you can’t go around the Spessart, you have to go through it, although it’s not a pleasure, but possible. The Birkenhainer Straße is a moderately used high street, for intermediate stops you may have to descend into the valleys.
Road through the Spessart
The other important road comes from Wrzburg, crosses the Main at Triefenstein and runs like today’s motorway straight through to Aschaffenburg. It makes no sense to categorize individual streets as Handelsstrae, Knigsstrae, Reichsstrae, Poststrae, Pilgerstrae, etc.: Every street is used for all purposes, not just for individual ones.
The term “trunk road”, which is used very often, is also problematic, as it implies that a road was designed for a long-distance connection. But: All roads lead to Rome, that is, the long-distance connection results from the simple stringing of local roads to a specific destination that every traveler sets for himself. There is no special express route.
Particularly important connections were given protection by the empire or this protection (escort) was given as a fiefdom to local authorities, and customs were generally also required on such roads. At least in slightly critical places, the road could be paved and grooved. It was an existential task for the communities to keep the roads in order; the rulers are just as interested in it and may push for it. Ruber and wild animals are less of a threat than potholes. The Spessartstraen are not easy, but they offer a real alternative to the long journey on the Main.
In many places, written evidence of their existence can only be obtained late, in Frammersbach it is the year 1314, but there is also a source that points back to the 12th century, even if it is not entirely clear. But that Frammersbach is younger than the neighboring Partenstein, which was attested in writing in 1233, that is of course completely impossible not only in the mentality of today’s residents.
The beginnings of haulage
The beginnings of haulage are likely to be related to the development of the County of Rieneck. It becomes crucial the The Spessart’s export goods are: glass. The four huts of the Mainzischen Spessart produce around 1400 230,000 pieces of hollow glass and 3000 quintals of flat glass. The Mainzer Kaufhausordnung of 1534/35 notes on the point of glass and jug carts: The Frammersbachers, except for the Landen zu Hessen, Wrttemberg and all other glasses give their pound duty from window and drinking glass, that is 3 pfennigs from the guilder.
Frammersbach is not mentioned here as the place of production, but as the place of origin of the transporters of the Spessart glass. Unfortunately, there are hardly any other meaningful documents, no loading lists, contracts or the like. What is certain is that a lot of glass was also transported by water because that reduced the risk of breakage. Transport in cages, also attested, can only be carried out over relatively short distances. So: at least a large part of the glass goes overland, and the Frammersbach truckers must have played a not insignificant role.
It remains to be seen from when and how the sales area has developed. The glass can be described as the spark that set the carting trade in motion, which then expanded through the resulting contacts with the large cities and trading houses. At first it was trips for your own account or on behalf of local dealers, but the business gradually expanded to include long-distance transport.
Carters on the road for months
The wagoners are often on the road for months. Their families have to do without the head of household. It is not unlikely that women from abroad will also come with the carters, who bring new things to the village and probably also help shape the dialect of Frammersbach, which is still special today. It is not possible to understand from the sources which goods end up here and especially in Lohr: it must have been a brisk import. In the village itself, the trade creates jobs: horse breeding and supply, leather processing, blacksmith, Wagner: they all benefit.
A special point is the cattle trade, in which the people of Frammersbach are also involved, although the time and extent are barely comprehensible: in 1683 it is said that they would not have 6000 mutton and almost all Polish and Hungarian oxen on Birkenhainer Strasse this year, to the detriment of the land toll , but bypassed it to Frankfurt.
In 1374 Rieneck received the customs duty on the one hand near Gemnden, here cattle, horses, sheep and pigs are mentioned as commercial goods, although it is not known to what extent they are transported. In 1422 the imperial hereditary marker Konrad von Weinsberg had a cattle drive from Hungary through the northern Spessart to Frankfurt. In any case, the Frammersbacher carters are not just one of the many professions, they are the economic engine of the region.
An impressive figure: in 1526, with 167 wagons and 17 carts, they soon put together as much as all other wagoners from 30 towns when escorting Erfurt. And in 1508 55 (!) Carters, probably only the actual entrepreneurs, from Frammersbach are named.
But times are changing. The Thirty Years War damages the village; A few years ago a Sternschanze was discovered near Frammersbach, which belongs to this time and needs to be explored even more intensively. There are also indications that Grimmelshausen, the author of the novel about the war Simplicius Simplicissimus, may at least have been familiar with Frammersbach.
The trucking business comes to a standstill
There is a unique source for the history of the village, the so-called Book of Six, which provides information about the local legal practice 15721764. The economic situation in Frammersbach changed dramatically, in the end it was steam shipping and the railroad that were restructuring the transport flows, and the carting business came to a standstill.
The stationery trade and, in the 20th century, home tailoring brought new prosperity, until here, too, changed economic practices created a new industrial landscape. Frammersbach continues to flourish. Of course, many questions arise about its history, and as with all places in the Main-Spessart region, there is still a lot to discover.
Literature: Rainer Leng: Limits, stones six-language. Wrzburg 2017; Theodor Ruf: Sources and explanations on the history of the market town of Frammersbach up to 1559. Wrzburg 2018
About the author: Dr. Theodor Ruf is a district home nurse for the Altlandkreis Lohr, he has written numerous articles on the history of the Main-Spessart region. The historian wrote his dissertation on the Counts of Rieneck.
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