600), Apfelbach (350), Dainbach (370), Edelfingen (1,400; birthplace of the American biochemist Julius Adler), Hachtel (360), Herbsthausen (200), Löffelstelzen (1,000), Markelsheim (2,000), Neunkirchen (1,000), Rengershausen (480), Rot (260), Stuppach (680), Wachbach (1,300) Mergentheim is mentioned in chronicles as early as 1058, as the residence of the family of the counts of Hohenlohe.

The Deutschmeister, highest ranking member inside the Holy Roman Empire (to which Prussia did not belong), moved his seat to Mergentheim in 1525 after his castle at Hornberg/Neckar had been destroyed by peasants.

Some grand masters, like Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614–62), who in his 21 years in that role never once set foot in the town, were hardly ever present.

For the order's general chapter in 1791 he brought the orchestra of the Archbishopric of Cologne, including one Ludwig van Beethoven on viola.

[3][4]: 114 Mergentheim's fortunes declined after that but were reversed in 1826, when a shepherd by the name of Franz Gehring discovered rich mineral springs in the surrounding area, during the time when spas were expanding in Germany at a rapid pace.

The obelisk was built under Duke Paul von Württemberg, a memorial for a dog that saved his life on one of his expeditions.

[4]: 115 The castle complex is dominated by the Schlosskirche (palace church), begun in 1730 under Franz Ludwig Herzog von Pfalz-Neuburg in Baroque style.

The main altar painting is Die Salbung Jesu durch Maria in Bethanien by local painter Matthäus Zehender [de].

Side altar paintings were by Giambattista Pittoni (Kreuzaufnahme, Armenspeisung durch die heilige Elisabeth).