sideline. Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter and the time of joint holding The Lords of Bolanden ceded their economic estate to their Hohenfels sideline. A further mention of Bechtolsheim is to be found in the Bechtolsheimer Freiheitsbrief (“Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter”) from Philip of Hohenfels the Elder in the foundation certificate of the joint holding, or Ganerbschaft, from 15 November 1270. Joint landholders in this arrangement, besides the Barons of Dalberg and the Chamberlains of Worms, were the Barons Knebel von Katzenelnbogen, Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim, the Barons of Dienheim, the Counts of Hallberg, the Barons Sturmfeder von Oppenheim, the Barons of Wallbrunn and Count Beckers von Westerstetten. Appearing for the first time about 1407 was a Wilhelmum de Mauchenheim d[ictum] Bechtolsheim, that is to say a “Wilhelm from Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim”. Up to 17 knightly families were resident in the village. In the end it was ruled by fewer noble families, namely von Dalberg, Nebel, Knebel, Beckers, Dienheim, Nordeck, Wallbrunn, Partenheim and Quernheim. For the building of the Muttergotteskirche (“Mother of God Church”, the one mentioned earlier, used as a “simultaneous” church), Popes Nicholas IV in 1292, Boniface VIII in 1313 and Benedict XII in 1341 published letters of indulgence, which can still be found in the church archives, and which show that half a century was spent building the church. It was given the name of the great Mother of God Church, Ecclesia Major, B. M. V. (for Beatae Mariae Virginis, or “of the Blessed Virgin Mary”). It had many endowed altars at which the nobles exercised the right of presentation. The resident and regional nobles chose it as their burial site. French Republic to German Empire Between 1792 and 1814 Bechtolsheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German). Thereafter it was briefly ruled by the “Imperial-Royal Austrian and Royal Bavarian Civil Administration of Kreuznach”, and then from 1815 by the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the newly created province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen). On 28 September 1896 the railway station on the Alzey–Bodenheim line was opened. On the night of 1 August 1904, the village's belltower next to the simultaneous church burnt down after a lightning strike. The permanent water supply through watermains was ensured in 1906 with the Wasserzweckverband Rhein-Selz-Gebiet (“Rhine-Selz Area Water Purpose Association”), founded with neighbouring municipalities. After the First World War, Bechtolsheim belonged to the People's State of Hesse beginning in 1918. In 1937,