On 19 April 788, Thüngen had its first documentary mention. In the
Codex Eberhardi, it says:
... Manto comes et frater eius Megingoz tradiderunt sancto Bonifacio bona sua in his locis: Isinhusen, Wanchei, Heselere, Tungede, Binizfelt, Hoholtesheim, Steti, Bucheled ... The placename Thüngen comes from the word
Thing (also seen in
Old English þing in the same sense, namely “assembly”). A
þing (pronounced the same way as the
Modern English thing) or a
Ding (
Modern High German) was the name for
Volksversammlungen (roughly, “
folkmoots”) and assizes held under old
Germanic law. Thüngen's origins therefore point to a place where such gatherings were held. This explanation for the community's name's origin is disputed, however, with alternate explanations positing a
Celtic or
Roman source for older forms of the name such as
Thungidi or
Tungede. Until about 1200, the community's lords were the
Counts of Henneberg. After they died out, the lordship was taken over by a knightly noble family who later named themselves “von Thüngen” after the place. Thüngen's history is tightly bound with this noble family. In 1366, a Thüngen townsman was named in a document for the first time, and in 1419 the first village order was decreed. In 1465, Thüngen was raised to town, which allowed its fortification with walls and towers as well as a town constitution. Guilds could be introduced and weekly markets held. From 1551, with lordly approval, the
Reformation was definitively introduced, which led to considerable contention between the denominations over the next few centuries, especially in the wake of the
Thirty Years' War, which left part of the village in the hands of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (administered by the
Juliusspital, a hospital foundation that still exists now). A rural
Jewish community arose in the 16th century. On 28 June 1814, in connection with the
Napoleonic Wars, Thüngen was awarded to the
Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1825, the guilds had to be shut down. Officially, town rights were never revoked. In 1846, the
Schlossbrauerei Thüngen (
brewery), still in business today, was founded by Wilhelm, Wolfgang and Hanskarl von Thüngen. Once the
Werntalbahn (
railway) was finished in 1879, the first train ran through Thüngen on 16 April. In the presence of Prince
Ludwig III of Bavaria, on 18 May 1892, the
Ludwigslinde was planted at the
Planplatz. In 1923, the association
Bayern und Reich (“Bavaria and Empire”) staged an event in Thüngen at which owing to arguments with inhabitants, a worker was killed. Of the 152 Jewish inhabitants still in the community in 1933, many had emigrated by 1940. Nevertheless, at least 50 Thüngen inhabitants were deported and murdered. Since 1978, the market communities of Thüngen and
Zellingen, and the communities of
Himmelstadt and
Retzstadt have formed the
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (Administrative Community) of Zellingen.
Population development Within town limits, 1,336 inhabitants were counted in 1970, 1,341 in 1987 and in 2006 1,375. == Politics ==