Brensbach, Kr. Odenwald, Hessen

Excavations in 1851 revealed that a settlement in the area of Brensbach had existed since the Middle Bronze Age (around 3,500 years ago). There is also evidence from the Iron Age dating around 450 BC when Celtic tribes settled large parts of Central Europe. The Romans also occupied the Odenwald area.

The earliest written mention of this place (noted as Brendisbach) dates to 1223. The line of the Lords of Brensbach, after whom the village took its name, died out in 1414.

From 1427, the area was under the governance of the Electorate of the Pfalz.Plague and famine ravaged this area during the Thirty Years' War reaching a height with the Swedish and French battling it out 1635.

Until 1806, the village was part of the Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt.

Church:

The existence of a Catholic parish in Brensbach is first mentioned in 1387. Following the Reformation, the first Protestant pastor was installed in 1526.

The tower of the village church of St. Markus dates to 1503, and the nave & choir were added in 1526-27. It sits in the center of the town along with the parish hall (old school) which dates from 1811.

The building was renovated in 1858, but the baptismal font and pulpit date from the 15th century.