Reil, Germany

Reil
Coat of arms
Reil
Location of Reil within Bernkastel-Wittlich district
Coordinates: 50°1′19″N 7°6′56″E / 50.02194°N 7.11556°E / 50.02194; 7.11556Coordinates: 50°1′19″N 7°6′56″E / 50.02194°N 7.11556°E / 50.02194; 7.11556
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Bernkastel-Wittlich
Municipal assoc.	Traben-Trarbach
Government
• Mayor	Artur Greis (SPD)
Area
• Total	12.14 km2 (4.69 sq mi)
Elevation	110 m (360 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	1,025
• Density	84/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	56861
Dialling codes	06542
Vehicle registration	WIL
Website	www.reil-mosel.de

Reil is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Reil is strongly characterized by winegrowing and tourism. It was the second capital of the Kröver Reich, a Carolingian crown estate that existed until the French Revolution.

The municipality lies on the Moselle. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Traben-Trarbach.

In 1008, Reil had its first documentary mention. The document in question, from King Heinrich II, is dated 18 May 1008 and documents an exchange agreement under which Archbishop Willigis of Mainz traded to Saint Stephen’s Church at Mainz an estate in Reil (then known as Rigula) for another estate in Büchenbach (then known as Buochinbah). During the Middle Ages, an important pilgrimage centre, called Reilkirch, stood across the Moselle from Reil, whose Romanesque tower and Early Gothic nave were completely demolished in the 19th century.

Since Reil was also known in the Middle Ages as Rile or Ryle, it is often claimed that Cologne Cathedral’s first master builder, Gerhard von Rile, came from the village. A noble family from which “Meister Gerhard” could have come, however, is first named in documents only in 1285, roughly fourteen years after Gerhard’s death. Its last representative, David von Reil, died penniless in 1610.