Seventy-eighty-eight marked Zazenhausen’s first mention. This makes it Stuttgart’s second oldest place after Cannstatt. We are standing in Zazenhausen a district on Stuttgart’s northern edge.
Zazenhausen likely shares Alemannic roots with Zuffenhausen dating back to the 7th century. The name Zazenhausen may have originated then. An Alemannic clan leader named Azo settled with his entourage on the banks of the former Biberbach now Feuerbach. The Alemannic “z’Azehause” meaning “at Azenhausen” later evolved into Zazenhausen.
The Lorsch Codex first documented the village in 788 and 789. This occurred during three donations of goods to Lorsch Monastery. A church dedicated to Saint Nazarius was mentioned in the donation of June 24 789. The fate of the Lorsch property remains unknown. It possibly became a Wittumgut appearing in Bebenhausen Monastery’s account books from the 14th century. Besides Bebenhausen Monastery Lorch Monastery also owned property in Zazenhausen during the High Middle Ages. The local lords however were the Dukes of Teck.
A local nobility of Zazenhausen hasn’t been proven. In the 15th century local rule passed via the Lords of Frauenberg to the Lords of Stammheim. This was a Württemberg fief. After the Stammheim line died out in 1588 the fief was granted to their heirs the Schertel von Burtenbach family. During the Thirty Years’ War and subsequent hard times around the turn of the 18th century the village suffered. It shared the horrors of war with the surrounding area. However residents did not completely abandon it.
Around 1300 the small farming village’s property was divided into hereditary leasehold farms. The respective landlords had power over these. Besides the local lords and the Bebenhausen and Lorch monasteries the Esslingen Katharinenspital the Esslingen Klarakloster and the Dionysiusprende of the Esslingen Stadtkirche also possessed farms in the village. These ownership conditions remained largely unchanged until the early 19th century.
In 1737 Duke Carl Rudolf acquired the Schertel von Burtenbach’s manor in Zazenhausen. He acquired it for the Württemberg ducal house. Together with Stammheim Zazenhausen formed the Kammerschreiberei-Stabsamt Stammheim. Nevertheless some rights of the Ritterkanton Kocher remained in place. The inhabitants of the small village lived almost exclusively from agriculture. Predominantly they grew grain but also wine. In 1799 there were 30 houses and 16 barns as well as other buildings in the village.
During the reorganization of the Württemberg administration in 1806 the Kammerschreiberei-Stabsamt Stammheim was dissolved. Zazenhausen became a municipality of Class III. It replaced the departed Weilimdorf and joined the Oberamt Cannstatt. In 1923 the village became an independent municipality within the Amtsoberamt Stuttgart. With its incorporation into Stuttgart in 1933 it left again. When the city of Stuttgart was divided into districts in 1956 Zazenhausen became part of the Zuffenhausen district.
A church or chapel dedicated to Saint Nazarius already existed in Zazenhausen. This was during one of the village’s first mentions in 789. The old church was possibly renovated around 1300 by Bebenhausen Monastery. It likely departed during the Reformation. During this time the village along with Württemberg soon converted to the new faith after 1534. In 1581 or 1582 a new church was built. As in pre-Reformation times it was a subsidiary church of Kornwestheim. Zazenhausen didn’t become an independent parish until 1867.
Worth seeing here is the Protestant Nazariuskirche. It was built in 1581 and 1582. The cemetery designated as a cultural monument and documented since around 1500 adjoins the church. In 1828 the village schoolhouse was added to the church. Haus Schwarz on Blankensteinstraße counts among Zazenhausen’s oldest buildings. The relief with Joshua and Caleb as well as the initials JGDW embedded in the wall comes from the builder Johann Georg Dockenwadel from 1550. The Meierhof on Spitalhofstrasse 10 is one of Zazenhausen’s old hereditary leasehold farms. It was once owned by Bebenhausen Monastery and came to Lorch Monastery in 1739. The Spitalhof on Spitalhofstrasse 11 is a half-timbered building from the 19th century. The keystone dates to 1836. It once belonged to the hospital of the Klara-Hof Sirnau near Esslingen. Of the Zazenhausen mill mentioned in the late Middle Ages and rebuilt by Johannes Krehl in 1770 only the keystone of the entrance dating from the 1770 reconstruction remains. The mill was demolished in 1966.