Balingen

Balingen stands on the Eyach near the Swabian Jura. First recorded as Balginga in 863, it became the seat of the Zollern lordship of Schalksburg in the thirteenth century. In 1255 a new town was founded a short distance upstream from the older settlement, on a tongue of land between the Eyach and Steinach. It grew within walls, and in 1403 Württemberg purchased it; the former Zollern castle became the residence of its officials.

Plague repeatedly struck Balingen, and after an outbreak in the 1460s the inhabitants founded a confraternity in honour of St Sebastian. During the Poor Conrad uprising of 1514, rebels took control of the town. Fire brought further destruction in 1724 and again in 1809, when much of the town within the walls burned. Balingen was rebuilt with a regular street plan after these disasters.