Bretzfeld

Today's Bretzfeld is a sort of collective municipality or merger as the following 11 villages (Ortsteile), that each have their own history and previously were independent, were incorporated into the original village of Bretzfeld throughout 1972 and 1975: Adolzfurt, Bitzfeld, Brettach, Dimbach, Geddelsbach, Rappach, Scheppach, Schwabbach, Siebeneich, Unterheimbach, Waldbach In 1973, the districts of Heilbronn and Hohenlohe of today were established.

All villages, except for Brettach, were included in the Hohenlohe district and were later merged into Bretzfeld in 1975, thus losing their status as completely independent municipalities.

In the same year, it was granted full city rights by Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Originally documented as divided into Upper-Brettach and Lower-Brettach since 1376, the whole of Brettach is historically connected to the Maienfels Castle [de] that is today in the eponymous village in Wüstenrot.

Interestingly, the hamlets of Kreuzle und Busch, also part of Wüstenrot today, grew out of Brettach.

First documented as Geydelsbach in 1337, it is uncertain whether the village belonged to the manor of either Heimberg or Maienfels.

Gedelsbach joined the Hohenlohe district and was incorporated into Bretzfeld in 1975, by un-incorporating from Maienfels.

Viticulture in Gedelsbach is attested since 1573, although it suffered under the Grape Phylloxera and was temporarily completely abolished in the 1960s.

Today, predominantly white wine is grown, and the Geddelsbacher Schneckenhof has attained regional significance.

In a territorial reform in 1972, Rappach became part of the then newly created Hohenlohe district and was from then on administered collectively with Bretzfeld on a voluntary basis.

[8] The village underwent a major expansion at the beginning of the 1980s when the "Steinsfeld" (translatable to Rockfield) development area was established.

Interestingly it was built were a former hamlet - a ghost town of the 16th century - Steinfurt (translatable to "Rockford" in english, like in Illinois) once stood.

In its early history it was located roughly at the border of the spheres of influence of Löwenstein and Weinsberg.

[9] The village of Schabbach is at least a thousand years old as it was first historically mentioned in document of 1037 as "Suabbach".

It belonged to the noblemen of Weinsberg until it was sold to the electoral palatinate in 1446 and was taken by Württemberg in 1504.Siebeneich was first historically documented in 1335.

The "Siebeneicher Himmelreich", a major vineyard in the south of the village, is a tourist attraction and is a popular location for hikes.

It was later part of the following historical administrative divisions: District of Heilbronn (1806/7), Oberamt of Weinsberg (1807-?

Heilbronn (district) Schwäbisch Hall (district) Main-Tauber-Kreis Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis Bretzfeld Dörzbach Forchtenberg Forchtenberg Ingelfingen Krautheim Künzelsau Kupferzell Mulfingen Neuenstein Niedernhall Öhringen Pfedelbach Schöntal Waldenburg Weißbach Zweiflingen