Schönberg – History
Little is known about the “ancient history” of Schönberg. As early as the end of the 13th century, Schönberg was awarded the right to hold a market from the Counts of Hals. Duke Albrecht IV. then awarded the market town its coat of arms. In 1438, the town and the Court of Bärnstein became part of the Duchy of Bavaria. In 1648, Schönberg was twice looted by the Swedes, and then in 1742 by the Pandurs. The town suffered further during the plague years of 1634, 1647-1649 and through major fires in 1661 and 1810, leaving Schönberg partially or completely ruined in 1664, 1834 and 1844 (including the church).
During the rebuilding effort, many houses were built with facades in the southern-European style. On 25 April 1945, American troops destroyed three-quarters of the market town. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1703 to 1704), the War of the Austrian Succession (1742) and Napoleon’s march to Vienna (1805 to 1810), the village was looted several times and asked to provide food and cash payments. The market town was also hit hard by diseases. The plague ravaged the town in 1634 and 1647 to 1649, as did typhoid in 1801, smallpox in 1805, typhus fever in 1806 and dysentery in 1811. Two economically-important cattle markets were held on St. Paul’s Day and St. George’s Day in the town every year. In 1615, for instance, 1,254 oxen from Schönberg were bought up for the slaughterhouses in Straubing, Regensburg, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Ulm.
The market town’s coat of arms depicts the “Bavarian diamonds with a red arrow laid diagonally across them”. The market town’s oldest coat of arms existed on a seal used in 1514 with the label “s.marcht,schoninperg”. The meaning and origin of the arrow are not known. In a document dated 18 June 1537, Dukes Wilhelm and Ludwig confirmed a coat of arms letter from their father Duke Albrecht IV. (died March 18, 1508) for Schönberg, which could no longer be found, meaning that town authorities and citizens had not used the coat of arms up to that point. In the confirmation, the coat of arms is described in Bavarian as “ain geweckhiter Schild, inmitten ybergkh ainen ganntz roten strahl habenndt”.
In 1971, the municipalities of Hartmannsreit and, in 1978, Eberhardsreuth and Kirchberg were added to the municipal area as part of a series of local government organisation reforms.
Eberhardsreuth was located on the former “Goldener Steig” from Vilshofen to Bohemia and was mentioned as far back as the 13th century. In 1263, Bishop Otto of Passau gave “Eberhardsdorf” to Heinrich von Hachaim with other goods as a fief. The manor and chapel are in private ownership and originally took the form of a moated castle in the middle ages. The current structure dates back to 1639.
The coat of arms of the former municipality of Kirchberg shows “a silver stork with a golden snake in its beak walking against a red background”. The motif is taken from the coat of arms of the Passau suffragan bishop Sigismund Pirchau von Salona, who consecrated the local church in the middle of the 15th century. The jewel in the crown of the town and a memorable sight for visitors is the late-gothic St. Johannes chapel. Its name, location and patron saint suggest that it was consecrated between 1450 and 1500.