commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...
in north-eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. Its name is probably derived from the French "bœuf" (bull or ox). Variants of the name include Boofi - Boffesheim - Bofftsheim - Boffsheim - Bototzheim - Booftzheim - Booffzheim.
History
It is said that from the fifteenth century the village belonged to the Mieg family. In 1545, they introduced the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
into the village and the village church of St Etienne was turned into a Protestant chapel.
According to another source, Sebastian Mieg (Mueg), from a Strasbourg merchant family, bought half of Boofzheim in 1567 from the Abbess of St Etienne and built a castle on the land. This castle was burnt down by the Swedes in 1636 and was rebuilt in 1642. It was to the east of the Catholic Church, but no trace remains today. Église Saint-Étienne de Boofzheim was last built in 1684.
From 1687 to 1854, the Church was shared by Protestants and Catholics, after which the Protestants built their own church and St Etienne's was given back to the Catholics.
In 1852, there were 953 Protestants and 200 Catholics in the village.