Mimi, I'll let Wendelin do all the hard work but I'll try to give you one quick thought. A Spital should be a hospital where persons infected with loathsome, chronic diseases such as Leprosy were treated. Leprosy, in particular, was much more common six, seven or eight hundred years ago. There has been a web page, perhaps still up, at < http://www.lepramuseum.de/tab-bawu.htm > which lists many of the early Leper Houses in Baden and Wuerttemberg. I didn't see Kippenheim listed in my old copy of that page but many of the towns of the Ortenau had such hospitals and probably Kippenheim was skipped by the author of that web page or the disease treated at Kippenheim was a different chronic disease. djweber [email protected] ------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mimi" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 9:24 AM Subject: [Ortenau] Re: Re: STULZ from Kippenheim? > Wendelin, > Thank you for your reply. Wow. This is all news to me !!! > What is a spital? > Where can I find out about the other things you mention? > - Mimi >