Öhringen

Öhringen lies in the Hohenlohe country of Franconia. Two Roman forts once guarded the imperial frontier here, beside a civilian settlement known as Vicus Aurelianus. A medieval foundation charter dated 1037 records the establishment of a collegiate church at Öhringen. The lords of Hohenlohe later gained rights over the church and founded a hospital in the town in 1353.

During the German Peasants' War, some 1,500 farmers came to Öhringen in 1525 to support local demands. The collegiate foundation was reformed in 1556, and its administration passed to the territorial lords. In the Thirty Years' War the town suffered hunger, plague and plunder. Count Johann Friedrich I made Öhringen his residence in 1677, encouraging new building and crafts. Hohenlohe's territories, including Öhringen, passed to Württemberg in 1806.