Böttingen is a municipality

Municipalities of Germany

Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...

 in the district of Tuttlingen

Tuttlingen (district)

thumb|Coat of armsTuttlingen is a county in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring counties are Rottweil, Zollernalbkreis, Sigmaringen, Constance and Schwarzwald-Baar.-History:...

 in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. In recent decades it has developed from an agricultural village to an advanced industrial community.

Geography

Böttingen sits on a plateau in the southwestern Swabian Alb

Swabian Alb

The Swabian Alps or Swabian Jura is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km in width. It is named after the region of Swabia....

 in a long dry valley. At an elevation of 911 to 991 meters it was the highest village in the historical Kingdom of Württemberg

Württemberg

Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

.

The municipality borders Gosheim

Gosheim

Gosheim is a town in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.At Gosheim, there is Lemberg Mountain, the highest mountain of Swabian Alb and a radar facility for surveillance of air traffic....

 to the north, Bubsheim

Bubsheim

Bubsheim is a municipality in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

 to the northeast, Königsheim

Königsheim

Königsheim is a town in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-External links:*...

 to the east, Mahlstetten

Mahlstetten

Mahlstetten is a town in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

 and Dürbheim

Dürbheim

Dürbheim is a town in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

 to the south, and Balgheim

Balgheim

Balgheim is a municipality in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Balgheim lies in a basin on the edge of the Baar at the foot of the Swabian Alb and the Dreifaltigkeitberg . The European Watershed, the divide between the Rhine and Danube watersheds, occurs in the...

 and Denkingen

Denkingen

Denkingen is a municipality in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

 to the West.

The municipality Böttingen consists of the village Böttingen and the Gehöft Allenspacher manor, as well as the abandoned village

Abandoned village

An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages were deserted for a variety of causes...

s Leineburg and Windingen.

History

The first written mention of Böttingen was in 802 and contained a land title grant by the Abbey of Saint Gall. Celtic and Alemanni grave finds as well as flint axes in a cave indicate an earlier Stone Age

Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...

 settlement. After 1253 the territory paid tribute and received protection from the Beuron Archabbey

Beuron Archabbey

Beuron Archabbey is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube valley in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

, after a change of ownership the Bishopric of Constance

Bishopric of Constance

The Bishopric of Constance was a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from about 585 until 1821. Its seat was Konstanz at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany...

, and then the Herren von Enzberg, until it became part of Württemberg

Württemberg

Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

 in 1805. The village had to pay interest and tithe as well as socage

Socage

Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure forms in the feudal system. A farmer, for example, held the land in exchange for a clearly defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the farmer and to the Crown...

 until 1848.

Sights

• The old mountain landmark (980 meters above sea level) has a view of the nature preserve landscape of the southwest Swabian Alb
  Swabian Alb
  The Swabian Alps or Swabian Jura is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km in width. It is named after the region of Swabia....
  
   as well as a chapel.
• 60 km-long cross-country skiing trail network on the plateau
• Posted hiking trails

Notable residents

• Bernard Häring, Catholic theologian
• Margret Marquart, theologian and missionary doctor in Uganda and Ghana (died 2004)