About 1183, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa granted Erlenbach market rights. The Imperial award was given visible expression with a market and freedom sign. It shows a large cross on whose top stands a cock. On the crossbeam a hand rises up on one side and on the other a sword. The upheld hand made clear that the Erlenbach dwellers stood under the Emperor's special protection, and that any who set himself against it would have to reckon with the sovereign's upraised sword.