the community of blankenbach came into being in 1966 through the merger of the formerly self-administering communities of großblankenbach and kleinblankenbach. the kahl split these two communities, as symbolized by the wavy bar in the arms. until the 19th century, the river formed the border between two lordly entities, with großblankenbach being ruled by the counts of schönborn. this is shown in the arms by the lion, taken from the arms once borne by the schönborn family, who governed the community for the archbishopric of würzburg, symbolized in the arms by the dancetty (that is, zigzag) partition in the base of the escutcheon, based on a similar partition in the arms borne by the bishops, and known as the “franconian rake”. the six-spoked wheel (the wheel of mainz) refers to electoral mainz’s lordship over kleinblankenbach.