Marktheidenfeld

Marktheidenfeld is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and the seat (but not a member) of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (municipal association) of Marktheidenfeld. The town has around 11,000 inhabitants.GeographyLocationThe town lies 24 km west of Würzburg at the Mainviereck (Main Square) on the eastern side of the Spessart (range), geologically on the seam between the Spessart red sandstone area and the Muschelkalk area of the Fränkische Platte (a flat, mostly agricultural region), which between the Main Square and the Maindreieck (Main Triangle) is known as the Marktheidenfelder Platte.SubdivisionsMarktheidenfeld’s Stadtteile are Glasofen (amalgamated in 1972), Zimmern (1974), Marienbrunn (1975), Altfeld, Michelrieth and Oberwittbach (all in 1978).The town has the following Gemarkungen (traditional rural cadastral areas): Altfeld, Glasofen, Marienbrunn, Marktheidenfeld, Michelrieth, Oberwittbach and Zimmern.HistoryHeidenfeld may have arisen during the Frankish taking of the land in the early 8th century. Already by 855 a place by that name was mentioned as belonging to the Holzkirchen Monastery, which from this time belonged to the Fulda Abbey. The Counts of Wertheim, who were the monastery’s Vögte also managed in the late 13th century to secure the same office over Heidenfeld.