Mistelbach

Mistelbach grew around a castle and a crossing of roads in Lower Austria's Weinviertel. The lords of Mistelbach held the castle as vassals of the Babenbergs; in 1372 the settlement became a market and received the right to hold an annual fair. Its inhabitants gained burgher status, and a wall with four gates enclosed the market. The Liechtenstein family acquired the lordship in 1383.

Mistelbach suffered devastation during the Hussite Wars in 1426. During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish commander Lennart Torstensson made the town hall his headquarters in 1645; the ensuing occupation left more than half the houses destroyed. In 1665 the local community disputed the Liechtenstein lordship's seizure of a large forest. After documents proved the town's claim, the forest was returned.