The Burg Bartenstein (castle) was built around 1180 by the Counts of Rieneck for hunting and to protect the Wiesener Strasse connecting the village of Langenprozelten on the river Main to the valley of the Kinzig.

From their main seat of Rieneck, in the east of the Spessart, they expanded, building castles to settle and incorporate additional land.

The first documentary mention of Partenstein is a commentary in 1233 on the disputes that inevitably arose between the Rieneck family and the Archbishops of Mainz, who were rivals for local hegemony.

In 1553, the number of inhabitants in the town had reached 450, and, when the last Count of Rieneck died in 1559, the land was bequeathed to the Archbishops of Mainz.

In the Thirty Years' War, with quartering of soldiers in the city, supplies were looted, cattle were slaughtered, and the place became susceptible to epidemics and disease.

In 1677, Partenstein's first Protestant teacher arrived, Johannes Hopf, and 1695 brought a furnished Catholic school.

To cover the enormous financial requirements, the population was called twice annually for the purpose of war loans.

The village no longer had a rural character, especially after the roads were removed[clarification needed] and the houses grew in size.

Among other things built were a school building, a Gymnasium, a deep well and an elevated tank for the water pipeline, a fire brigade equipment house, a town hall and a purification plant shared with the neighbouring municipality of Frammersbach.

[3] Owing to the influence of the at first Lutheran and later Calvinist County of Hanau, Partenstein is even today one of the few mainly Protestant communities in the Bavarian Spessart.

Poleaxes were once known in German as Parten (they are more commonly called Hellebarden now), while bricks are Bausteine, or simply Steine if the context makes it needless to specify what kind of “stones” they are.

[4] According to official statistics, there were 167 workers on the social welfare contribution rolls working in producing businesses in 1998.