The Tafelsbrunnen (Table Fountain) between Speyer and Berghausen was once a popular excursion destination for the people of Speyer. Much has changed over the years, however. However, one must gratefully acknowledge that the fountain itself is in good condition. A roof with seating provides a welcome place to rest.
The distinguished Speyer field name researcher, high school professor Dr. Engelhardt, was able to prove that the Tafelsbrunnen was called the St. Afra Fountain in the Middle Ages – a chapel in honor of St. Ulrich and St. Afra once stood nearby (the field name "behind St. Ulrich" recalls this) – and was first mentioned in a document in 1295 (for more information, see Engelhardt: Historical Memories). A pious legend tells of the spring: St. Afra was the first person to call it a "Table Fountain." Servatius (Bishop of Tongeren between 348 and 384), "when he was tormented by burning thirst in the Speyer March, made the sign of the cross with his finger on the ground, whereupon a living spring bubbled from the ground, which never dried up from then on" (according to Joh. Geissel). The Speyer historian Wilhelm Eysengrein (1564), who first reported this legend (without, however, citing a source, as is his custom), did not specify a specific location, and so, since there had been no spring in the Speyer area in recent times other than the Tafelsbrunnen, St. Servatius was associated with him. The discovery of a Roman coin is noteworthy: "Found in 1894 near the Tafelsbrunnen." The coin bears the inscription: "Sabina Augusta Hadriani Augusti." It was thus minted in honor of Empress Sabina, Hadrian's wife (117-138). In a lecture Dr. Engelhardt gave in 1911 on Speyer's field names, he stated, among other things, about the Tafelsbrunnen (Table Fountain): "The naming after St. Afra served only to suppress the memory of the pagan goddess who sheltered the souls of small children here until the stork delivered them to the happy wife." Dr. Engelhardt apparently later abandoned this opinion. Be that as it may, the people of Speyer claim that the stork brings newborn children to the Tafelsbrunnen pond—it lies below the spring and is fed by it.
Anyone who makes the effort to visit the Tafelbrunnen (Table Fountain) will find the year 1857 carved above the three fountain pipes. How did this come about? The most popular tourist destination at that time was Berghausen, "because it boasts a garden in the English style, which is truly worth a visit in its charming, idyllic setting, and the inn leaves nothing to be desired" (August Becker: Pfalz und Pfälzer – 1857). The journey to the Mattern'sche Wirtschaft (later "Pfälzer Hof") – this is what August Becker was referring to – was long for many a noble Speyer family, and thirst was often great. So the Tafelbrunnen (Table Fountain) came to the rescue: for some, it offered clear, cool water, for others, it provided contemplative peace. At that time, a wealthy bachelor lived in Speyer, the city councilor and landowner Daniel Friedrich Heppenheimer (1798-1860). At a city council meeting in 1855, he proposed diverting the water from the Tafelbrunnen to Königsplatz and erecting a running fountain there in honor of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The necessary funds could be raised through a subscription among the citizens. He himself offered to donate 500 guilders for this purpose. This was a considerable sum at the time.
Translated by Google •
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