Bechtolsheim (Literally Bechtol's Home) is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land, whose seat is in Alzey. Geography Location The municipality lies on the Selz, which here snakes along the Petersberg (mountain), at whose foot the municipality is found. The nearest towns are Alzey, with its dual administrative functions of district and Verbandsgemeinde seat, and Wörrstadt, roughly 10 km away. The state capital of Mainz, 30 km away, can be reached most quickly on Autobahn A 63. As a winegrowing centre, Bechtolsheim lies in Germany's biggest winegrowing district and in the middle of the Rheinhessen wine region. The municipal area covers 1 065 ha, of which 300 ha is planted with grapevines. Neighbouring municipalities The municipality's nearest neighbours are Biebelnheim (1 km) and Gau-Odernheim (1.5 km). After these come Gabsheim and Undenheim. With Weinolsheim there is a common municipal limit, but aside from paths across the countryside, there is no road link. History New Stone Age In the early 20th century, at what are now Bechtolsheim's limits with Biebelnheim and Gabsheim, a stone axehead from the New Stone Age was found. On 7 February 1962, a skeleton was discovered in the form of a seated burial. Roman times Four Roman villas have been unearthed. Coins from Marcus Aurelius’s and Constantine the Great’s time with Emperor Licinius’s effigy, a coin of Roman Empress Faustina, a little clay lamp with the potter's mark Attus-a and a waterpipe, which could be Roman, have been found. It is hence plain to see that settlements had arisen here by the time between AD 260 and 400. First documentary mention Bechtolsheim had its first documentary mention in 766 on the occasion of the donation of a vineyard to Lorsch Abbey. At that time, the village was variously named Bertolfsheim, Bertolvesheim and Bertolfesheim. In 793, it was called Beralfesheim, in 798 Beratwolfesheim and in 800 Badolfesheim. On 25 December 1250, King William II of Holland moved into Bechtolsheim “with great magnificence” and took up positions with his troops against Conrad IV, whose armies lay near Oppenheim. At the time, the place belonged to Werner IV of Bolanden, who had taken William's side. He was, however, vanquished by Conrad, and could only avert the sacking of his villages by ceding Bechtolsheim and Mommenheim to the Hohenfels