Sankt Wendel is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According to a survey by the German Association for Housing, Town Planning and Land Use Regulation, St. Wendel is known to be one of the wealthiest regions in Germany, behind Starnberg in Bavaria. Geography St. Wendel is situated on the river Blies west of the Bosenberg hill at an elevation of 938 feet (286 m). Its highest elevation is the Bosenberg hill at 1591 feet (485 m); the lowest is where the river Blies exits St. Wendel heading for Ottweiler at 853 feet (260 m). Demographics (each year at December 31) History The center of St. Wendel supposedly was the farm of a feudal lord named Baso from the Merovingian period (late 6th century), so the town was originally named Basonevillare ('farm of Baso'). Baso's farm was situated on Bosenberg's western side between the river Todtbach and the river Bosenbach. This term would probably have developed into Bosenweiler were it not for the local admiration of Wendelin. (Compare the names Bosenweiler, Bosenberg and Bosenbach, in which Baso's name has survived.) In the mid-7th century the Bishop of Verdun, Paulus, bought Basonvillare. He also inherited the settlement of Tholey (without the monastery) from the Merovingian nobleman Adalgisel Grimo, Deacon of Verdun. As a result, the St. Wendel area belonged to Verdun for centuries. Shortly before that the hermit Wendelin died near Basonvillare. He had been highly venerated by the people, and as a result, an intense pilgrimage developed during the next few centuries, which finally resulted in the renaming of the settlement Basonvillare to St. Wendel in the 12th century. The Lord of Blieskastel, whose properties stretched from the northern part of Lorraine all the way through the Hunsrück mountain chain to Bernkastel on the river Moselle (today Bernkastel-Kues), erected a castle surrounded by a moat in the valley of the Blies, which was intended to grant protection to the blooming pilgrimage site. The castle consisted of an artificial hill of earth with a wooden tower on top, surrounded by a palisade and a moat. Such an installation was called Mott, which is why this part of St. Wendel is named the Mott today. A third area was a small church "above the grave of Wendelin", which supposedly was