Bernkastel-Kues () is a town on the Middle Mosel in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a well-known winegrowing centre. The town is a state-recognized health resort (Erholungsort), seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Bernkastel-Kues and birthplace of one of the most famous German polymaths, the mediaeval churchman and philosopher Nikolaus von Kues (Cusanus).
Geography
Location
Bernkastel-Kues lies in the Mosel valley, roughly from Trier. The greatest elevation is the Olymp (415 m above sea level), and the lowest point (107 m above sea level) lies on the Mosel's banks. The municipal area totals 23 657 101 m2, of which 7 815 899 m2 is used for agriculture, thereby making Bernkastel-Kues one of the Middle Moselle's biggest towns by land area.
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, these are Graach, Longkamp, Monzelfeld, Veldenz, Mülheim, Lieser, Maring-Noviand, Platten and Zeltingen-Rachtig.
Constituent communities
Bernkastel-Kues is subdivided into the four Stadtteile of Andel, Bernkastel, Kues and Wehlen. The former two lie on the Moselle's right bank, while the latter two are on the left. All together, 7,794 people live in all four centres (3,696 men, 4,098 women), of whom 268 – or 3.44% – are foreigners.
Population structure
Climate
The town lies in a transitional zone between temperate oceanic climate and continental climate. The barrier formed by the Eifel shields Bernkastel-Kues from west winds, putting it in a rain shadow and sometimes subjecting it to a föhn effect.
Yearly precipitation in Bernkastel-Kues amounts to , falling into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 41% of the German Weather Service's weather stations lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in August. In that month, precipitation is 1.6 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies hardly at all, being evenly spread throughout the year. At only 22% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
History
The earliest evidence of human habitation (3000 BC) was discovered by archaeologists in Kues. About AD 370, Decimus Magnus Ausonius, the Roman poet and teacher at the Imperial court, wrote his poem Mosella. Adalbero von Luxemburg (d. 1036 or 1037), Provost of the Trier Monastery of St. Paulin, became Lord of Bernkastel in the early 11th century.
In the first half of the 11th century, Bernkastel had its first documentary mention.
At the turn of the 8th century, a geographer described a place called Princastellum. This is said to be evidence of a Roman castellum in the 4th century near today's Landshut castle ruin. Pointing to this are, among other things, fittings and finds of ceramic and iron underneath the castle.
The 12th-century form of the name, Beronis castellum, was a learned re-Latinization, which was related to Adalbero von Luxemburg. Work was begun on the third castle building under the lordship of Archbishop of Trier Heinrich II of Finstingen.
On 29 May 1291, King Rudolph I of Germany granted Berrincastel town rights. The castle, Burg Landshut, which was built at that time, was given this name only in the 16th century. In 1332, the town rights were reaffirmed by Emperor Louis the Bavarian's Sammelprivileg (a kind of omnibus decree that dealt with many rights and privileges). Under the terms of the Golden Bull of 1356, Bohemond II became Elector. According to legend, he was brought back to health from a serious illness by a glass of wine, giving rise to the legend of the Berncastler Doctor winery.
In 1401, Nikolaus von Kues, also known by his Latinized name Nicolaus Cusanus, was born in Moselle shipowner Henne Cryfftz's house, which is well preserved and can be visited. In 1451, the St.-Nikolaus-Hospital, a hospital for the poor, was built.
In 1505, in an Electoral edict from Jakob II, the name Landshut for the archiepiscopal castle crops up for the first time. Emperor Maximilian I spent a night in Bernkastel in 1512 on the way to the Imperial Diet at Trier.
The Plague raged in Bernkastel in 1627, and in Kues in 1641. In 1692, Castle Landshut fell victim to fire and since then it has been a ruin.
From 1794 to 1814, Bernkastel was a cantonal chef-lieu under French rule. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Bernkastel and Kues were annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1821 Bernkastel became a district seat. In 1848, the Revolution came to Bernkastel as it had to many of the then politically disunited German lands: The black-red-gold flag was hoisted at the town hall and a militia was formed.