[1]: 10 [2]: 3 The Spessart is a Mittelgebirge, part of the German Central Uplands, located in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria and in Hesse, Germany.

Another way of describing the extent of the range is by naming the rivers that border it: the Main in the south and west, the Kinzig in the north and the Sinn in the northeast.

On top of this is the Zechstein, dating to the Permian, found in a band stretching from Sailauf to Eidengesäß and as an "island" in the area of the stream Bieber near Biebergemünd, where it contained deposits of silver, copper, iron and cobalt.

[1]: 8 However, the north-south rift that follows the river Main along the western leg of the Maindreieck does not match exactly the geological divide between the sandstone and the Muschelkalk.

[8]: 8 Like the Vorspessart, the Nordspessart also sports more evergreens, because the original tree cover there was largely gone by the 15th century as a result of the substantial fuel needs of the local glass foundry industry.

[2]: 16 Subsequent efforts to settle the uplands were made by the inhabitants of villages around the periphery like Klingenberg, Miltenberg, Kreuzwertheim, Lohr or Gemünden.

However, their efforts were hindered by their insular position, sandwiched between the substantial holdings of the great ecclesial powers of Fulda, Würzburg and Mainz.

The latter acquired local influence not least via the Kollegiatsstift Aschaffenburg, which had been gifted much of the previous royal hunting preserve in 974 by Emperor Otto II.

In 982, Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria died and left his regional territories to Mainz, which eventually turned Aschaffenburg into a second princely residence.

Between the 12th and the 15th century several hunting lodges (Schöllkrippen, Wiesen, Rothenbuch, Bartelstein, Rohrbrunn) and moated castles (Burgsinn, Sommerau, Mespelbrunn) were constructed.

[11] In total there were 18 to 22 of these Huben (or Hufen, so called after an area of land that could be circuited on horseback in a given amount of time), located inter alia in Hösbach, Goldbach, Krausenbach, Obernau, Kleinostheim, Sailauf, Waldaschaff, Wintersbach and Heimbuchenthal.

[1]: 13  The commoners employed by the absentee feudal lords lived in villages that took the typical form of stretching along a single main street which followed the valleys of little streams (Streifendörfer, today still visible at Hessenthal, Mespelbrunn, Heimbuchenthal or Wintersbach).

However, since the territory ruled by Mainz used an inheritance law that required the property to be split between all the sons of the deceased, the size of the holdings soon began to dwindle and often became too small to support families.

[1]: 36–37 A major regional industry in medieval and early modern times were glass foundries that made use of the abundant local supply of firewood (e.g. at Wiesthal, Weibersbrunn, Neuhütten, Heigenbrücken, Einsiedel and Heinrichsthal).

[1]: 13 [12]: 42–3 Low soil quality and decreasing plot size made life hard for farmers in the higher elevations of the Spessart.

Due to the area's low density of population, important trade routes passing through lonely forest territory and the Spessart's extremely fragmented political situation (there were at times 17 separate jurisdictions), banditry was a lucrative business.

The most important historical account of the legendary Johann Georg Faust, namesake of the proverbial Faustian Bargain, was when he came to the small Spessart town of Gelnhausen in 1506.

Thus, the tale of Snow White may have originated in the Spessart heartlands, with the town of Lohr pushing forward a substantial case for being the home and inspiration for the main characters and elements like the magic mirror.

Also the use of children for mining in very tight crawlspaces and the unhealthy working conditions often caused medieval and early modern miners to be stunted or otherwise deformed.

In stark contrast to the Grimm brothers' version, the more rural, precarious lifes of Spessart folks made Mother Hulda, generally a regular staple in middle German tales, a much more brutal and unfathomable figure, at times even resorting to killing people.

[15] The most popular story is about her guarding a buried treasure chest in legendary "Altenburg" castle, that can only be retrieved by being absolutely silent during the process.

The Spessart is the point for departure for the protagonist of what is widely regarded as the first major German novel, Simplicius Simplicissimus, written in 1668 by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, and vividly depicting the social consequences of the Thirty Years' War.

The Spessart features one officially recognised spa town, Bad Orb, as well as a number of climatic spas (Luftkurorte), like Heigenbrücken, where visitors benefit from the high air quality.

Critics argued that they would lose the right to access water sources on public land, that the zones of strict environmental protection would result in the uncontrolled spread of pests such as the Bark beetle or of wild boars and wolves.

In addition, many local property owners currently enjoy rights, sometimes dating back to the Middle Ages, to harvest wood in state-owned forests.

[18] CSU Member of the Landtag Peter Winter [de] founded the association Wir im Spessart to oppose the plan.

However, wine growing and fruit orchards have proved more successful in the west and northwest (Kahlgrund, Obernburg, Klingenberg, Großheubach) and on the southern edge of the Mainspessart.

[1]: 13  Besides attracting tourists to the area, there are substantial forestry businesses, for example at Burgsinn and the Fürstlich Löwensteinscher Park [de], a privately owned woodland.

[2]: 16  However, shipbuilding which used to be a major industry in some towns along the Main, lost its local importance with the advent of ships built from metal rather than wood.

[26] Quarrying of sandstone, a major industry in medieval and early modern times concentrated on Miltenberg, Fechenbach and Reistenhausen, has largely been ended.