The History of the City of Sinsheim and its Districts

The entire area of Kraichgau was, as a low area between the Odenwald and the Black Forest, among the oldest cultural areas in southern Germany. Individual findings have pointed to activity during the Later Stone Age (5000 to 2000 B.C.) with stone hatchets, lance tips and especially the “Three Moguls” with 14 cairns at Burghälde, which the antiquity researcher Karl Wilhelmi excavated and described in the 19th Century. Scorch marks from the Neolitch Stone Age stimulated excavating along the autobahn running south from Hildesheim toward Tage, in the direct vicinity of the plow line “Little Broad Tree”, which drew attention to an early settlement through the discovery of urn graves. The Helvetii constructed a sanctuary at Burghälde in 400 B.C., the ring wall to which can still be traced around the knoll. A remnant from the Celtic cultural period, the grave of a Celtic princess was discovered near Dühren, the wealth of which picked up ears among experts. The Roman times particularly left lasting traces in the Sinsheimer area. In 1936, a four-sided stone block depicting four deities was found at St. Michael’s Basilica. Its inscription indicates a settlement in Saliobriga. A villa rustica near the “Three Mogul Group” and constant coin, shard and clay findings evidence the importance of this area during Roman occupation. The giant Jupiter column excavated in Steinsfurt in 1959 serves as an impressive example of Gallo-Roman art.

The earliest beginnings of the original village, Sunnesheim, date back to the Franconian Period around 550 AD. The first written record comes from the year 770 with the Lorscher Codex, in which a Hagino dedicated a court to Nazarius, cloistral patron saint. A large Franconian cemetery on both sides of today’s Carl-Orff School provided some illuminating information about those times. By 800, Sunnisheim was no longer an insignificant village and was, most likely, the residence of the local ruler, a count. He was given a fortified district at the bottom of Elsenz valley. From 1020 on, the Zeisolf-Wolframe dynasty were the feudal Salian counts of the area around Kraichgau, Gartach and Elsenz. In 1067, a prestigious Zeisolf count was given the right to hold markets and mint coins, which, today, can be seen as the beginning of municipal functions. The counts of Kraichgau had a family burial ground on the Michaselsberg in Sinsheim, where there certainly had been a sanctuary for a long time, starting no later than the middle of the 11th Century.

The Bishop Johannes von Speyer established the Benedictine monastery on the MIchaelsberg in the presence of Emperor Henry IV in the year 1100. The founding of the monastery, in particular with regard to the exceptional privileges granted by Emperor Henry IV, was made in a context extending far beyond the local scene. In 1192, half of the monastery was ceded half to the city by the Emperor, although the residents were guaranteed city-like rights. From that point on, city air brought liberation in Sinsheim as well, although this, of course, was in a more narrow sense than in the large, free imperial cities. The city’s struggle for emancipation throughout the following centuries was met again and again with cloistral greediness. In a record dating from the year 1234, Sinsheim was named civitas. The oldest seal image found with the imperial eagle used as the city’s coat of arms originates from the year 1300. In the 13th and 14th Centuries, the city was repeatedly sold off. In 1496, the monastery was converted into a secular, aristocratic college.

In 1525 this region too was affected by the Peasants’ War. The citizenry’s relationship with the now secular leadership of the Stiftsherren came to a head. The city gates were opened to the approaching peasants by Pastor Anton Eisenhuth of Epping without resistance. The monastery and Steinsberg castle were plundered, pillaged and widely destroyed. After 1528, the monastery was re-established and the characteristic tower with the round dome was built. During the Reformation, the monastery was forcefully dissolved by the Calvinistic Elector Frederick III in 1565. The hapless 30 Years’ War, 1618 – 1648, brought terrible destitution and unimaginable suffering to Sinsheim. The Peace of Westphalia signed in Munster in 1648 sealed the monastery’s destiny, which by that time had be re-Catholicized. The stones of the ruinous cloister walls became stone quarry used to rebuild the buildings. In 1674, this area witnessed the Battle of Sinsheim. Marshall de Turenne left from Philippsburg,  marched through this area and met the German troops north of our city. 3000 dead and an entirely plundered city were what was left. The city’s suffering, however, had not yet reached its climax. In 1689, the city suffered the same fate as Heidelberg Castle when Ludwig XIV’s troops burned down every building. War after war followed (Orleans War through 1697, War of Spanish Succession 1701-14, War of Polish Succession 1734-38, War of Austrian Succession 1742-45, Seven Years’ War 1756-63 and the French Revolution).

The citizen’s unbroken will to live was astounding and, despite all of the adversity, they rebuilt the city hall, now the City Museum, in the years 1712-14 with latticed framework. In 1797, Goethe traveled through Sinsheim and wrote about his impression of the “cheerful country town” in his diary, “Poetry and Truth.” In 1803, Sinsheim was given to the Prince of Leiningen by the Principal Conclusion of the Extraordinary Imperial Delegation. During this time, the princely justice ministry in Hilsbach was moved to Sinsheim. In 1806, Sinsheim ultimately became a part of the Grand Duchy of Baden and gained capital status as a “badische Amtsstadt.” During the 18th Century, a Franciscan monastery was established in the eastern part of town, where the district nursing home stands today. The monastery, however, only existed around 80 years.

From 1819 through 1857, Dean Karl Wilhelmi served in Sinsheim. Not only did he raise interest in pre-history of our region with his excavations, but he was also a highly esteemed antiquity researcher and member of 37 European research associations. In 1830, he founded “The Sinsheim Society for Researching Pre-Historical Monuments in the Homeland”, whose work has been inherited by today’s “Friends of Sinsheimer History, e.V.” (tel. 07621-404950). He became the founder of antiquity research in southwestern Germany and bestowed the citizens with a rich chronicle of the city. In 1824, the city’s most famous son, Franz Sigel, saw the light of day for the first time. He fought alongside Friederich Hecker and Gustav Struve in 1848-49 for a free, self-governed and democratic republic, becoming supreme commander of the Baden region’s revolutionary army and the minister of war in the provisional government. After the European democracy movement was defeated, he emigrated to Switzerland, Paris and London, finally ending up in the USA. There, he worked as, among other things, a teacher, engineer and director of the St. Louis Board of Education. During the American Civil War, he lived a second military career as the highest officer of German heritage and was in contact with Abraham Lincoln. Three memorials honor him in New York, St. Louis and Sinsheim.

The City of Sinsheim was an important center of the democracy and freedom movement in Baden during the Revolution of 1848-49. Starting in April of 1848, Sinsheim City Hall was firmly in the hands of the revolutionary democrats that sur-rounded the pharmacist Gustav Mayer.  He declared the democratic republic from this location and marched toward Heidelberg with 250 armed franctireurs to support the Hecker Revolt from the north. After the defeat of the German democracy movement, 80,000 residents of Baden emigrated to the USA, one tenth of every person in Sinsheim’s administrative district.

In 1864, the administrative districts of Sinsheim-Neckarbischofsheim were merged. In 1924 it was merged with the administrative district of Eppingen and in 1936 the district of Sinsheim was created. Sinseheim had now reached a population of around 32,000 after the annexation of the 12 neighboring areas and was given the title of Major County Seat on 1 January 1973 in a resolution of the Baden-Wurttemberg State Parliament.
Today, the Major County Seat has around 35,600 residents.

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