Bönnigheim

Bönnigheim is a town in the German administrative district of Ludwigsburg which lies at the edge of the areas known as Stromberg and Zabergäu. The nearest large towns are Ludwigsburg and Heilbronn.GeographyDistricts of the townThe town includes the previously separate parishes of Hofen and Hohenstein. The boundaries established on 31 December 1971, saw the inclusion of the property known as the Burgermühle and the lost village of Birlingen. The former parish of Hofen now comes under the village of Hofen. In the same way, the former parish of Hohenstein now comes under the village of that name.HistoryDevelopment of the townThe first documentary reference to Bönnigheim occurs in the Lorsch codex. In a document dated 16 February 793, the nun Hiltburg bequeathed the parishes of Bönnigheim, Erligheim and Alt-Cleebronn to the abbey of Lorsch, and it was due to this bequest that Bönnigheim fell to the bishopric of Mainz. The monastery of Hirsau later bought the village as a fief and sold it in 1284 to the monastery of Bebenhausen.GanerbentumIn the same year, Bönnigheim was granted the status of a so-called Ganerbentum (community of joint owners), and in 1288 the fief was passed to Rudolf von Habsburg, who in turn granted it to his son, Albrecht von Löwenstein-Schenkenberg, in 1291. The estate that had emerged from the so-called Ganerbentum, which lasted until 1750, became partitioned through inheritance, marriage and purchase.