The nearest towns are Alzey, with its dual administrative functions of district and Verbandsgemeinde seat, and Wörrstadt, roughly 10 km away.
[7] On 25 December 1250, King William II of Holland moved into Bechtolsheim “with great magnificence” and took up positions with his troops against Conrad IV, whose armies lay near Oppenheim.
[8] He was, however, vanquished by Conrad, and could only avert the sacking of his villages by ceding Bechtolsheim and Mommenheim to the Hohenfels sideline.
In the end it was ruled by fewer noble families, namely von Dalberg, Nebel, Knebel, Beckers, Dienheim, Nordeck, Wallbrunn, Partenheim and Quernheim.
It was given the name of the great Mother of God Church, Ecclesia Major, B. M. V. (for Beatae Mariae Virginis, or “of the Blessed Virgin Mary”).
In 1937, the Province of Rhenish Hesse was abolished, and until the end of the Second World War, the municipality belonged to the district of Oppenheim or Alzey.
For institutions the Jews had a synagogue or prayer room which is believed to have been set up in an existing building in 1845, and which served as the Jewish community's religious centre until some time between 1900 and 1910.
Owing to the sharp drop in the Jewish population the synagogue was closed, and in 1925, the run down building was torn down in 1925.
The dead were buried in the Jewish graveyard within Gau-Odernheim's municipal limits on a ridge at the Petersberg (mountain).
[26] Blazon (German):[28] Gespalten von Silber und Schwarz, belegt mit einem roten Balken.
The fess gules (red horizontal stripe) might clearly and vividly express, among other things, the link with the Ganerbschaft, and also the villagers’ oneness.
This latter coat was party per pale (parted vertically down the middle) with the von Dalberg arms on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side and the von Knebel arms on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side.
The second coat of arms contains in simplified form on the dexter side the lilies of the Barons of Dalberg or Chaimberlains Knebel von Katzenelnbogen.
The divided shield with the Dalberg lilies and the Knebel von Katzenelnbogen insignia was commonly regarded in Bechtolsheim as the municipality's arms.
[30][31] On 31 January 1984, the municipality was granted a coat of arms, whose German blazon reads as follows:[32] Von Blau, darin je eine silberne Lilie, und Silber, darin je ein schwarzer Ring, geviert, belegt mit einem schwarzen Balken.
In the Nachrichtliches Verzeichnis der Kulturdenkmäler Rheinland-Pfalz für den Landkreis Alzey-Worms (“News Directory of Rhineland-Palatinate Cultural Monuments for the District of Alzey-Worms”) from the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe (“General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate”), the following buildings and monuments in Bechtolsheim are listed:[34] The municipality's economy is based mainly on winegrowing and agriculture.
[36] Furthermore, the municipality is home to the kitchens of a medium-sized bakery business that supplies its own two shops in Bechtolsheim and Gau-Odernheim and also the travelling sales booths.
Local public transport is provided by bus links to Alzey and Mainz run by Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe (ORN).
The paper appears monthly and contains mainly the protocols of past municipal council meetings, as well as club news and information on events.