Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
Wolfstein was founded in 1275 on Habsburg King Rudolph I's orders, which called for a “fortified and free” town near his castle, “Woluisstein”, now known as the "Alt-Wolfstein" (“Old Wolfstein”) ruin. Rudolph forthwith granted the new town the same town rights and freedoms as the town of Speyer. As an “everlasting marketplace”, it was to be a sanctuary for commerce, trade and dealing. The first townsmen and -women came from the surrounding, much older villages.
Bad Lobenstein
A legend describes how the inhabitants believe the town's name might have been established. It is believed that emperor Ludwig the Bavarian, who lived from 1328 to 1347 announced "Praise the stone" as he had lost and found his favourite dog in this region during hunting for deer. He was looking for the dog for quite a while until finally one of his knights found the tired and slightly injured dog lying on a stone. The knight caried the dog to his master, who was so grateful, he gave this piece of land as fief to the knight. In memory of this event, the place received the name Lobenstein and caried from now on the head of a bracke in its coat of arms.
On 4 August 1993 previously independent municipalities Helmsgrün and Lichtenbrunn got incorporated into the community of Bad Lobenstein. On 1 January 1997 also Unterlemnitz and in 1999 Oberlemnitz got in incorporated.