 The town was first mentioned in 1039 in the famous Pegauer Annals as a settlement next to an early medieval castle.This was one of the principal fortifies places in the region in the 11th and 12th century and is the location of some of the earliest known stone buildings in Saxony.In 1070 count Wiprecht exchanged his inherited estate in Balsamgau for the lordship of Groitzsch.