Free Imperial City of Bopfingen

Origins

Bopfingen lies beneath the Ipf, a hill crowned by a major Celtic princely seat of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. The medieval town grew under the Hohenstaufen and appears among the imperial cities in the imperial tax list of 1241.

Rule and society

Bopfingen was a modest market town with a tiny territory, governed by a council of burghers and dependent on its larger neighbour Nördlingen and on the Swabian city leagues. Its economy rested on farming, crafts and the local market. It adopted the Reformation in the 16th century and suffered heavily in the Thirty Years War.

Decline and legacy

Bopfingen lost its freedom in 1802, passing first to the Electorate of Bavaria and in 1810 to the Kingdom of Württemberg. It is now a small town in Baden-Württemberg, and the Ipf is a protected archaeological site.