1100 to 1799

Hohenheim was mentioned for the first time in a document when Egilolf von Hohenheim gifted a piece of land to the Hirsau Monastery.

Barely one hundred years later, Hohenheim was already referred to in the documents as a villa, i.e., as a village settlement, which indicates that, in addition to a palace as a manor, there was already some kind of rural estate. The noble family of Hohenheim, also called Bombaste von Hohenheim, settled here until the 15th century. Their most famous member is the humanist and physician Theophrast von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus.

After the Bombasts left Hohenheim in 1420, Hohenheim passed through many hands. For almost one and a half centuries (1432 to 1557), it belonged to the Katharinenhospital in Esslingen.

The imperial official Emanual Garb purchased Hohenheim.

After the palace and estate of Hohenheim were completely destroyed in the 30 Years' War, the imperial chamber jeweler and chief Bavarian provisional commissioner Emanuel Garb acquired Hohenheim in 1667 and immediately subjected the property to the Württemberg rule as a hereditary fiefdom. He build a small, early Baroque water palace with parks on the castle ruins.

In 1769, the Wuerttemberg Duke Carl Eugen collected the entailment Hohenheim, as the male members of the Garb family had died out. The Duke used the water palace to house his respective mistresses.

From 1772 until 1793, Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg had the palace and parks erected for his later wife Franziska and himself.

In 1776, Hohenheim, which Duke Carl Eugen had gifted to his lover and later wife Franziska von Hohenheim, became his summer residence. Because the Garb water palace had grown too small, the first wings and an English garden were added.

In 1785, the water palace was torn down and the cornerstone for today’s Hohenheim Palace was laid. During this time, the duke and duchess lived in today’s Speisemeisterei Building.

In 1793, Duke Carl Eugen died before the palace was completed. Construction was halted, and the palace remained empty for 20 years. The ruins were plundered numerous times.

After her husband’s death, his family pressured Franziska until she moved to Kirchheim Palace. On New Year’s Day 1811, she died after a protracted illness.