Hayna is in an area of Germany known as Pfalz or Palatinate (in English). Hayna is on the west side if the Rhein about 10 miles north-west of Karlsruhe and the northern part of Baden.
Hayna is 2 miles south of the larger city of Herxheim.
1214: This area was part of the Holy Roman Empire from 1214 on. Over the years it was ruled by Dukes, Counts, and descendants of Counts.
1272: In Hayna they have a text from 1272 in which the citizens had to pay a tax to the Bishop of Speyer/Rhein
1618-1648: After the Reformation the strength of the Holy Roman Empire began to decline. The 30 year war which started as a war between Protestants and Catholics decimated Hayna.
At the end of the war there were only 77 citizens left out of a population of 600.
1673-1689: King Louis XIV of France, pretending to act on behalf of his sister-in-law, a Pfalz princess, invaded Pfalz. In the subsequent general European war, the War of the League of Augsburg, French designs on the Pfalz were frustrated, but the retreating French army systematically devastated the area. After the French war only 7 homes in Hayna were left standing and habitable. Only 7 homes were lived in.
The Metz family and the Rang family survived.
1742: Charles Theodore inherited the Pfalz in 1742, and Bayern (Bavaria in English) in 1777.
Jacob Metz’ death notice mentions Hayna, RheinBayern as Jacob’s birth place.
1792-1815: Hayna was conquered by the French army and became part of the French Republic.
During this period Hayna’s name was Hayna, Bas Rhin, French Republic.
1815: After Napoleon’s fall the Treaty of Vienna gave the Pfalz and some surrounding territories to Bavaria. Then its name became Hayna, Bayern.
1871: Chancellor Otto von Bismark during the Franco-Prussian war organized all German states in a unified German Empire. (see the map “The German States before 1871” )
1918-1930: After World War 1 the region was occupied by Allied troops.
1947: Germany was divided into East & West Germany. And the states of Rhineland and Pfalz were joined. Thus Hayna, Rheinland-Pfalz, West Germany became it’s name.
1990: East Germany and West Germany were reunited. Now Hayna’s name is again Hayna, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.
The details about the Metz and Rang homes came from Marlene Stephen.
