Königshofen

Königshofen stands on the Franconian Saale in the Grabfeld, below the Haßberge hills. It was recorded in 742 in a grant by Carloman to the bishopric of Würzburg and received town rights around 1235. The counts of Henneberg held it in the Middle Ages; in 1354 Eberhard of Württemberg sold it to the bishopric, whose rulers developed Königshofen into a fortress.

The Henneberg counts regained the castle and district in the fifteenth century before they returned to Würzburg. During the Thirty Years' War, Gustavus Adolphus's Swedish army appeared before the fortress in October 1631, and it surrendered three days later. Swedish occupation lasted until 1635. After 1650 the town was strengthened with bastioned fortifications. The bishopric was secularised in 1803, and Königshofen eventually passed to Bavaria in 1814.