History
In pre-Roman times, the Abtsteinach area was settled by Celts. In the Middle Ages, the area was held by the Lorsch Abbey. Expansion brought about by the second settlement drive led to the villages of Ober-Absteinach and Unter-Abtsteinach arising. In 1012, Abtsteinach had its first documentary mention as possesa steinah. In 1232, the Lorsch Abbey was dissolved by Emperor Friedrich II, and ownership of its holdings passed to the Archbishopric of Mainz.
In 1267, a Castle Count (Burggraf) at Starkenburg Castle (over Heppenheim), who also governed the Amt of Starkenburg, to which Abtsteinach belonged, is mentioned for the first time. As a result of the disastrous Mainz Episcopal Feud (Mainzer Stiftsfehde), the whole higher Amt of Starkenburg was pledged to Electoral Palatinate in 1461, and things remained so until 1623. From the year 1590 there comes a documentary mention that says that by then, Abtsteinach had long been a tithe court, giving it jurisdiction over several places, and obliging it to perform compulsory labour and military service. Through the abolition of the Electorate of Mainz in 1803, Abtsteinach passed to Hesse.
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