page_title: Ganerbschaft
section_title: Künzelsau in Hohenlohekreis
hierarchical_section_title: Ganerbschaft / Examples / Künzelsau in Hohenlohekreis
caption_attribution_description: Ganerben Künzelsaus, Schmuck am Alten Rathaus
context_page_description: A Ganerbschaft, according to old German inheritance law, was a joint family estate, mainly land, over which the co-heirs only had rights in common. In modern German legal parlance it corresponds to a "community of joint ownership".
context_section_description: In the late 11th century, the von Stein family, owners of Künzelsau (today in the county of  Hohenlohekreis), was about to die out. One of the last members of the family, Mechthild von Stein, donated a large portion of her estates to  Comburg Abbey. On her death, the remaining part of the estate went to her close relatives: the lords of Künzelsau and the lords of Bartenau. Over the centuries, the divisions of the estate were inherited, partly or wholly purchased or went into other hands by marriage.
  Around 1500 the lords of Stetten owned 25% of Künzelsau, 20% belonged to the House of Hohenlohe and 15% to the imperial town of Schwäbisch Hall. Another 10% was owned by the Archbishopric of Mainz, the Bishopric of Würzburg owned 10%, and 20% was divided amongst various individuals (Sulmeister von Hall, Ritter von Bachenstein, Berlichingen, Crailsheim, Neuenstein etc.).
  In the period that followed the division of the estate changed hands many times. Following the Tierberg Feud of 1488 a burgfrieden treaty was agreed in 1493 that governed the joint management of the estate under a Gemeinschaftlichen Ganerben-Amts-Schultheißen ("Common Ganerben Office Sheriff"). The co-heirs pledged themselves henceforth only to transfer their share of the estate to one another, not to anyone outside the community. Only Comburg Abbey was allowed, in 1717, to buy the share of the estate belonging to the lords of Stetten, because they had formerly been members of the Ganerbschaft.
  In 1802 the estate lost its status as a Ganerbschaft in the wake of secularisation, and the castle and lands all went to the imperial princes of Hohenlohe. However, in 1806 the whole estate was seized by the Duke of Württemberg and became part of the Kingdom of Württemberg.
caption: Coats of arms of the co-heirs on the Old Town Hall in Künzelsau
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