Heldritt Castle

The Heldritt family, vassals of the Counts of Henneberg, owned two estates in Heldritt and others in surrounding villages. They made donations to neighboring monasteries over centuries. A member of the family was the Bamberg Auxiliary Bishop Johann von Heldritt, whose tombstone from 1416 is preserved in the Dominican Monastery in Bamberg. In the 17th century, the region was affected by the plague, which claimed many lives in 1626 and 1630. Shortly thereafter, in 1632, Heldritt suffered destruction at the hands of Bavarian and imperial troops. By 1642, the village was almost depopulated, and much of the agricultural land lay fallow.