Martinskirche, Evangelical-Lutheran church in Dautphe, Hesse, Germany

The Martinskirche in Dautphe is a Protestant hall church of rubble masonry on a slight rise, made of three connected parts: an 11th-century nave, a windowless west annex called the Wendelstein, and an east choir tower added around 1275. The nave walls are largely laid in herringbone pattern, and a round-arched tympanum above the south portal, made in 1959/60, shows St Martin cutting his cloak for a beggar.

Dautphe is first documented in the Lorsch Codex in 791 as a centre of missionary work in the Hessian hinterland. The stone church was built around 1100; in the 12th century a windowless western annex, the Wendelstein, was added, and around 1275 an eastern choir tower replaced the abandoned west tower. Dautphe adopted the Protestant faith in 1526, and Albanus Nepotianus served as its first Lutheran pastor from 1529 to 1535.

The church is dedicated to St Martin, the Frankish national saint, shown on the seal of the priest Konrad in 1279. Dautphe was the seat of a Sendgericht (church court) in the Middle Ages, and its parish once covered 15 villages after Buchenau and Eckelshausen separated. The south portal tympanon of 1959/60 copies a medieval image of Martin dividing his cloak with a beggar.

The church stands on a slight rise within a walled churchyard that was used for burials until 1816. The south portal, with a round-arched tympanum showing St Martin dividing his cloak, is the main entrance; the west side gained a pointed-arch portal and two small windows in 1960. The interior is entered through several doors to the galleries.

The roof truss, dated by dendrochronology to a felling in winter 1087/1088, is considered the oldest in Germany and among the oldest in Europe. The oak beams were built in fresh, which is why the construction year 1088 can be assumed.