Sinsheim

Sinsheim lies on the Elsenz in the rolling country of the Kraichgau. An abbey on the Michaelsberg overlooked the settlement, which received town rights in 1192. Once an imperial city, Sinsheim passed to the Electoral Palatinate in 1329 and later became part of the lands governed from Mosbach. Its abbey was converted into a collegiate foundation for knights in 1496.

During the Peasants' War of 1525, armed peasants entered Sinsheim and stormed the collegiate church, directing their anger against the sons of local landowners who lived there. The foundation was dissolved during the Palatine Reformation in 1565. The Thirty Years' War brought successive armies and devastation. In 1674 Marshal Turenne defeated imperial forces near Sinsheim, and in 1689 French troops burned the town during the War of the Palatine Succession.