View source for Zeil am Main

{{Refimprove|date=January 2007}}
{{Infobox German location
|type               = Stadt
|image_coa            = DEU Zeil am Main COA.svg
|image_photo = Zeil am Main.jpg
|image_caption = General view of the town
|coordinates       = {{coord|50|01|N|10|36|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan = Zeil am Main in HAS.svg
|state        = Bavaria
|region  = Unterfranken
|district         = Haßberge
|elevation              = 230
|area            = 35.72
|postal_code               = 97475
|area_code           = 09524
|licence               = HAS
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 09 6 74 221
|website           = [http://www.zeil-am-main.de/ www.zeil-am-main.de]
|mayor             = Thomas Stadelmann<ref>[https://www.statistik.bayern.de/wahlen/kommunalwahlen/bgm/ Liste der ersten Bürgermeister/Oberbürgermeister in kreisangehörigen Gemeinden], [[Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik]], 15 July 2021.</ref>
|leader_term       = 2020&ndash;26
|party             = SPD
}}{{Confused|Zell am Main}}
'''Zeil am Main''' ({{IPA|de|ˈtsaɪl ʔam ˈmaɪn}}, {{lit|Zeil on the Main}}) is a town in the [[Haßberge (district)|Haßberge]] district in [[Lower Franconia]], an area in the federal state of [[Bavaria]], [[Germany]]. It is situated on the right bank of the [[Main (river)|Main]], 7&nbsp;km east of [[Haßfurt]], 24&nbsp;km northwest of [[Bamberg]], and 25&nbsp;km east of [[Schweinfurt]]. Zeil is a historic Franconian town known for its old churches, romantic houses, medieval walls and towers, the hill church of "Zeiler Käpelle", and the castle ruins of the Schmachtenburg.

==History==
Zeil am Main is located in an area of the River Main valley where, since the 11th century, the [[diocese]]s of [[Würzburg]] and [[Bamberg]] overlapped and vied for domain of the region. Zeil's strategic location between the dioceses, situated on the River Main trade route and military road between [[Nuremberg]] and [[Schweinfurt]], ensured that Zeil was worthy of possession by regional powers.

The earliest evidence of Zeil am Main as a city is in a 1018 AD deed of donation signed by [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]], King of the Romans. [[Bishop]] Lamprecht of Prun granted municipal law to the city in 1379 and allowed citizens of Zeil to build protective fortifications. As a result, the city wall was constructed with numerous towers, and Schmachtenberg castle was built. King Wenceslaus of [[Bohemia]] entitled the community with special laws to use the river Main commercially in 1397. The prince bishops of Bamberg used Zeil's strategic location as a northern enclave to provide a buffer against their Würzburg rivals, and 1695 saw the construction of a hunting lodge for the prince bishop. In the early 19th century, church lands were secularized, and Zeil am Main became a municipality within Bavaria by edict in 1818.

Bella Katz Oberbrunner, the mother of [[Goldman Sachs]]'s founder [[Marcus Goldman]], was born in Zeil Am Main.<ref name="whenmoney7">{{cite book|last1=Breton Fisher|first1=June|title=When Money Was in Fashion: Henry Goldman, Goldman Sachs and the Founding of Wall Street|date=2010|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=9780230617506|oclc=562769185|page=[https://archive.org/details/whenmoneywasinfa0000fish/page/8 8]|url=https://archive.org/details/whenmoneywasinfa0000fish/page/8}}</ref>

==Culture==
[[Viticulture]] is still practised in Zeil. Vines are grown on mountain slopes around the city. The summer wine celebration in the old part of town is the high point of the year. In addition, the Göller brewery's Zeiler [[beer]] bears the name of the city.

==Sons and daughters of the town==
* Alberich Degen (1625-1686), 42nd abbot of the Cistercian monastery Ebrach
* Franz Burger  (1836-1920), a Catholic farmer functionary, mayor and member of Landtag and member of Reichstag
* Heinrich Schneier (born 1925), politician, (SPD), member of Landtag

==Gallery==
<gallery>
image:Krum.jpg|District Krum
image:Bischofsheim Zeil W.jpg|District Bischofsheim
image:Zeiler Käpelle.JPG |The hill church  "Zeiler Käpelle", 
image:Zeil am Main Unterfranken Stadtmauer.png |Medieval walls and in the background the Propstenhof
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Cities and towns in Haßberge (district)}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeil Am Main}}
[[Category:Haßberge (district)]]