 In 1477, "Künnig als Chur Maintzisch Lehn" (or in standard modern German "König als Kurmainzisches Lehen" – “König as an Electorate of Mainz fief”) was given to the "Schenk" Konrad von Erbach.Under the terms of the Erbach land partition in 1747, the "Amt" of König passed into the ownership of the Counts of Erbach-Schönberg.In 1948, König was granted the right to call itself "staatlich anerkanntes Bad", or “state-recognized resort”, and in 1980 this resort in the Odenwald was granted town rights.