Horn, Germany

Bearing witness to early human habitation in the Horn area are Roman and Neolithic archaeological finds. There is also a mediaeval motte-and-bailey castle.[2]

In the 12th century, Horn had its first documentary mention in connection with the noble family that bore the same name, but it seems that the actual “first mention” in 1135 is a falsified document. Nevertheless, a genuine document from 1166 has the same contents and names the same persons, thus confirming the 12th century, at least, as the earliest time when the village is known to have existed.

Together with Laubach and Bubach, Horn belonged at this time to the imperial demesne, the Reichsgut. Landholdings seem to have been held by a noble family von Horn. It could be that this family's noble seat was at the castle, the Horner Burg. The complex's remnants can be found west of the village. In shape it was a special form of motte-and-bailey. In 1567, Johann von Koppenstein sold Meinhard von Schöneberg the remnants.

In 1302, Horn was pledged to the Counts of Sponheim and thereafter ended up with the Counts Palatine. In 1367, Horn was granted limited town rights. In 1410, the village passed to the newly formed Duchy of Simmern, and in 1673 it passed back to Electoral Palatinate. Beginning in 1794, Horn lay under French rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

• Achim R. Baumgarten: Horner Chronik. Ein Dorf im Wandel der Zeiten. Horn 1997

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horn (Hunsrück).

• Horn in the collective municipality’s webpages (in German)