page_title: Bad Wimpfen
section_title: Thirty Years' War
hierarchical_section_title: Bad Wimpfen / History / Thirty Years' War
caption_attribution_description: Wimpfen im Tal, Stiftskirche St. Peter, Im Hintergrund Wimpfen am Berg
context_page_description: Bad Wimpfen is a historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar.
context_section_description: This religious conflict soon grew less important, as the imperial troops of the Count of Tilly fought against the army of Margrave Georg Friedrich of Baden-Durlach in 1622 near the town. This Battle of Wimpfen was one of the most important and bloody ones during Thirty Years' War.
  During this period Wimpfen was sacked several times, and houses and fields were burned. The population decreased radically due to disease and pestilence. At the end of the war, in 1648, the population had been reduced to a tenth of its pre-war size. Many important buildings were destroyed in this period, and redevelopment brought about loss of large parts of the castle which was used for building materials.
  The town suffered the devastating consequences of the Thirty Years' War for more than 150 years. Although the Celts had extracted salt since pre-Christian times, there was now no possibility to produce salt. There was huge poverty within the population. During this time the town got financial aid from Nuremberg.
  In 1783 it was declared that the removal of wood from surrounding forests was to be taxed to improve the town's financial situation. However, the citizens could not afford these fees. Consequently, there were many riots, but ultimately these were suppressed by local orders.
  Originally, in terms of administration, by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss the town was part of Baden. However, the knightly diocese of Wimpfen im Tal belonged to Hesse-Darmstadt. Consequently, a conflict about sovereignty rights over the parish increased between Baden and Hesse. Finally Baden agreed to cede the area, since their own territory was far away – and so Wimpfen under Hessian rule. This change was officially proclaimed on April 5, 1803. Starting in 1805–1806 Wimpfen was an outlying town under the control of Hesse.
  For Wimpfen, this was a very comfortable situation as it was able to administer itself autonomously. At the time of the foundation of the People's State of Hesse in 1919, Wimpfen became part of the district of Heppenheim. It was merged with the district of Bensheim in 1938 and given the status of Kreis Bergstraße. In total, Wimpfen belonged to Hesse for 140 years. In 1945 the American military government reorganised administrational areas, and Bad Wimpfen came again under the control of Baden.
caption: Wimpfen im Tal, St. Peter parish church, Wimpfen am Berg in the background, Michael Neher, 1846
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