Here is that letter translated by a friend of mine who just happens to be a German teacher. Joe Amburgey here it is... Dear Mr Amburgey, please excuse me that im just today answering your letter. I hope you have a chance to translate, because unfortunately my english skills arent up to letter writing. The book you cited, The changing history of a joint-heir city, is a complete chronology of the city with about 470 pages. Boenningheim was a joint-heir city and was divided into 4 parts. The peasant war ended in 1525. The joint-heir fortress was destroyed. A new city structure brought peace again, and protestantism was introduced. The 30-year war (1618-1648) brought need, misery, and the plague. Many inhabitants died and the houses and walls decayed. It took a long time for a normal life to develop. in 1727 the joint-propriety was dissolved and the city was sold to the earl's stadium (translator's note: Ya got me on that last one, but its all i could get out of it!) One of your ancestors is mentioned on page 93: 3 shoemakers, Kasper Maner, Stoffel Kegel, and Hans Amberger, rejected the guild in Besigheim. Therefore they were brought before those in charge and ordered to form a new order among their trade and to understand the masterworks. (?) The guild, the association of any trade, was compellingly dictated in the medieval cities. Their predecessor Hans Amberger had joined a guild in a neighboring city of Besighem and therefore was sent to prison in a dungeon. At any rate the guild was should have been restructured. I will copy and send to you different pages from the book in the next weeks. Maybe I can find more about your ancestors. Unfortunately the city archives burned in an attack on April 7, 1945 sincerely,