In 1365, the Dukes of Teck-Owen came into the possession of Mindelheim but had to sell their heritage around the castle Teck to the Counts of Württemberg. The last member of that line,
Louis of Teck, Patriarch of Aquileia since 1412, died in 1439. On 18 November 1705,
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was made Prince of Mindelheim by
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor. Marlborough was invested at an
Imperial Diet in
Innsbruck on the 24 May 1706. Mindelheim had been bought by an
Elector of Bavaria in the 16th century. It was
confiscated from Elector
Max Emmanuel in 1704 for his treachery, and effectively occupied after the
Battle of Blenheim. The
Principality of Mindelheim was situated south of the
Danube, south-west of
Augsburg, and west of
Munich. It covered an area of about and had an income of £2,000. Marlborough had to meet the cost of
investiture, which was reduced to £4,500 from the usual £12–15,000. He also avoided paying the wartime imperial tax of £6,000. The King of
Prussia, through his representative the prince of
Anhalt-Dessau, moved that the title should descend successively to all the heirs of Marlborough’s body. But the princes were opposed. The lack of a male heir would prevent the Churchills from becoming hereditary princes of the empire, and was essential to their agreement. Thus no special remainder was provided. Marlborough visited Mindelheim in late May 1713, receiving princely honours from his subjects. But the fate of the principality, and of Marlborough's effective
territorial sovereignty, depended upon the ultimate peace treaty. Mindelheim was lost in 1714 to the Elector of Bavaria under the
Treaty of Utrecht. == Main sights ==