Schmidthachenbach

Schmidthachenbach
Coat of arms
Schmidthachenbach
Location of Schmidthachenbach within Birkenfeld district
Coordinates: 49°43′52″N 07°28′14″E / 49.73111°N 7.47056°E / 49.73111; 7.47056Coordinates: 49°43′52″N 07°28′14″E / 49.73111°N 7.47056°E / 49.73111; 7.47056
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Birkenfeld
Municipal assoc.	Herrstein
Government
• Mayor	Jörg Schreiner
Area
• Total	10.05 km2 (3.88 sq mi)
Elevation	255 m (837 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	386
• Density	38/km2 (99/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55758
Dialling codes	06757
Vehicle registration	BIR
Website	www.schmidthachenbach.de

Schmidthachenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.

Schmidthachenbach liess in the Großbach valley, a side valley of the Nahe. Half the municipal area is wooded.

Schmidthachenbach borders in the north on the municipality of Heimweiler, in the east on the municipality of Becherbach bei Kirn, in the southeast on the municipality of Otzweiler, in the south on the municipality of Sienhachenbach, in the southwest on the municipality of Oberreidenbach, in the west on the municipality of Mittelreidenbach and in the northwest on the municipality of Bärenbach. The first three and last of Schmidthachenbach’s neighbours named here are in the neighbouring district of Bad Kreuznach, while the rest are in the Birkenfeld district. Schmidthachenbach also meets the municipality of Sien to the south at a single point, which is also shared with two other municipalities.

Also belonging to Schmidthachenbach are the outlying homesteads of Antesmühle and Forsthaus Antestal.

In 1075, Hugo de Hachenfels sold his lands in Olkenbach to Saint Simeon’s Monastery at Trier for 260 silver marks in a deed documented by Archbishop of Trier Udo. The Lords of Hachenfels are said to be the village’s namesake. In 1112, Cuno de Hachenfels cropped up in a document about an exchange of holdings between Disibodenberg Monastery and Provost Richard von Liebfrauen in Mainz. Named as an occupant of the Hachenburg (an old castle near the Hachenfels) in 1128 was Adalbero de Hachenfels, who also cropped up in a donation document from Archbishop of Mainz Adalbert I to Disibodenberg Monastery. In 1140, Emicho VI’s two sons formed the lines of the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves (Konrad) and the Raugraves (Emich VII). It was in this time that a new castle, the Naumburg, was built near Bärenbach, within whose domain lay Schmidthachenbach. In 1172, Emich VII transferred ownership of the Naumburg to his brother Gerlach. In 1323, Raugrave Conrad sold Archbishop of Trier Baldwin the Naumburg for 1200 Heller, whereupon Baldwin enfeoffed Conrad with the very castle that he had just sold.