Alteckendorf: Information from Answers.com

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Coordinates: 48°47′37″N 7°35′43″E / 48.793611°N 7.595278°E / 48.793611; 7.595278

Administration
Commune of Alteckendorf

Location
Alteckendorf
Country	France
Region	Alsace
Department	Bas-Rhin
Arrondissement	Strasbourg-Campagne
Canton	Hochfelden
Intercommunality	Pays de la Zorn
Mayor	Georges Harter (2001–2008)
Statistics
Elevation	167–265 m (550–870 ft)
Land area¹	5.72 km² (2.21 sq mi)
Population²	744 (2006)
- Density	130 /km² (340 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	67005/ 67270
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Alteckendorf (sometimes spelled Alt Eckendorf) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.

1 Geography
2 A Fusion of Two Villages
3 Language
4 See also
5 References

Geography

Alteckendorf is located at an altitude of 117 metres above sea level, in between the Vosges Mountains and Germany. The Landsgraben stream, a tributary of the Zorn, flows through the village. The village is surrounded by hills: the Koppenberg (256m), the Englischberg (288m) and the Schyrberg (250m). To the north of the village is the Alteckendorf forest.

The route départementale D69 linking Kirrwiller to Mommenheim and the Sarreguemines-Strasbourg railway both run through the village.

Neighbouring localities within a radius of 5 kilometres include Minversheim, Ettendorf, Huttendorf, Ringendorf, Lixhausen, Bossendorf, Hochfelden and Schwindratzheim.

Alteckendorf is appropximately an hour by car from Strasbourg and is near the militarily historically famous town of Haguenau.

A Fusion of Two Villages

Eckendorf is first mentioned in 744 and is catalogued under various names subsequently, including Ecchenheim (744), Ecchenheimomarca (in 764 and 792), and Ecchenthorf, Ekkendorf, Ekindorf. The Abbey of Wissembourg is listed as the landowner in from 752-787. Later, in 1120, the monsastery at Mauermünster-Sindelsberg is named as the landowner. In 1146 it was recorded that the knight Simon de Frundsberg ceded his possession at Ekindork for "16 ½ lötig Silberstücke" to the Abbey of Stürzelbronn. In 1194, the monastery at Neuburg was the landowner of Eckendorf.

Altdorf does not appear until later in history, with a completely different name; perhaps Mazonivilare, because it is recorded in a document of 752 that Sigfrid, son of Sigismund gave up his property in the villages of "Ecchenheimo et Mazonivilare". No mention of the village occurs later; it was undoubtedly destroyed during a war and when the inhabitants returned they named the place Altdorf (old village). The name Altdorf does not appear until 1331.

The two villages were imperial possessions before 744. In the 18th Century, they were in the possession of the Landgraf von Werd in his capacity as the abbatial fief of Wissembourg.

The first mention of a church in the two villages is in 1313 when Rudolf von Hüttendorf, son of Burckhard, knight of Hüttendorf is installed as rector of the church.

Language

The majority of the inhabitants can speak and or understand German and speak French. The local dialect is known as Alsacien. Alsacien is a dialect of German that has been spoken and developed in the region for over a thousand years.