Antiquity Archaeological finds make clear that there were humans in the area as early as the
Stone Age. Unearthed at the Ameshübel (or Anishügel – a hill) east of the Autobahn, on lands later also settled by the
Gallo-Romans, was an
agate borer, which is now kept by the Office for Archaeological Monument Care. Likewise from the Stone Age comes the piece of a blade made of reddish stone. While workers were building the Autobahn in 1939, they found a
bronze ring. A group of
barrows in the municipal area's southwest, partly within Selchenbach's and Herchweiler's limits, comes from the
Iron Age. Many times,
Roman coins and bricks from
Roman times have been found, leading to the assumption that there might be a
villa rustica hidden in the ground near the Anishügel. There is also speculation about a possible Roman town named Anissa (thus explaining the hill's name?). In the woods near Albessen, remnants of a
Roman road are to be found.
Middle Ages The interpretation of the village's name makes it rather unclear when Albessen was founded. Since pre-Germanic names of bodies of water were sometimes preserved in the region, there might possibly have been a very short time in settlement continuity between
Gallo-Roman times and
Frankish settlement. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that a village of Albessen already existed in Gallo-Roman times. Likelier is that the brook's pre-Germanic name was preserved and then later applied to a newer settlement, one founded in the time when
Germanic settlers were establishing themselves. Also to be considered is a theory, first set forth by
Alsatian historian Adolf Schiber in the late 19th century, that areas with the body-of-water name “Alb” might have something to do with areas to which the
Alamanni withdrew in the time just after their loss at the
Battle of Tolbiac (
Zülpich). In the so-called
Polyptique, an
early mediaeval taxation register kept by the
Bishopric of Reims, however, no placename corresponding with “Albessen” can be found. Nevertheless, it could be that Albessen is a very old settlement that sprang up in the Early Middle Ages. Likelier, though, is that it is a founding that dates from later Frankish times. Written records about Albessen show that the village was dependent on the branch monastery of the
Abbey of Saint-Remi in
Reims and the
County of Veldenz on the Remigiusberg, meaning that it lay in the so-called
Remigiusland founded in the late 6th century, and in the County of Veldenz, whose counts had been the
Schutzvögte (roughly, “protectors”) of the
Remigiusland since 1112. The younger line of the Counts of Veldenz ended in 1444. The last count was Friedrich von Veldenz, whose daughter wed
Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken, who then took his own holdings, combined them with his wife's inheritance (the former County of Veldenz) and out of them founded the
County Palatine of Zweibrücken.
Modern times The village shared a history with the County Palatine of Zweibrücken up until its end in the time of the
French Revolution. Like all villages in the region around
Kusel, Albessen, too, suffered greatly under the effects of the
Thirty Years' War. While there were 81 inhabitants living in the village in 1609, there may only have been a few left by the time the war ended. The population built itself back up with newcomers, although this took a while. During the time of
French rule from 1801 to 1814, Albessen lay in the
Department of
Sarre, the
Arrondissement of Birkenfeld, the
Canton of Kusel and the
Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Konken. After
Napoleonic times and the
Congress of Vienna, when Albessen found itself in the
Kingdom of Bavaria beginning in 1816, there was a new territorial arrangement. Within the
Rheinkreis (that is, the Palatinate, which had now become a Bavarian
exclave), the village now lay within the
Landkommissariat (later
Bezirksamt, then
Landkreis or “rural district”) of Kusel and at the same time in the Canton of Kusel, as under Napoleonic rule. The cantons later had little meaning, with the
Bürgermeistereien (“mayoralties”) having more importance. Albessen belonged to the
Bürgermeisterei of Konken.
Recent times The village came through both world wars comparatively unscathed, but there were casualties: four fallen in the
First World War and 12 fallen and
missing in the
Second World War. In the Second World War, there was an
air raid that damaged buildings and wounded several villagers. A district administrative commission that had been on hand to assess the damage from the air raid came under attack on the way back to
Kusel by a
ground-attack aircraft, and four members of the entourage were killed. The conservative rural populace, even before
Adolf Hitler’s
seizure of power in 1933, turned in majority numbers towards
National Socialism. Early on, a thorough
Flurbereinigung was undertaken in Albessen’s municipal area. In the course of administrative restructuring in
Rhineland-Palatinate, Albessen was grouped into the
Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel in 1968, with effect from 1 January 1972.
Population development Albessen remained, even until the most recent past, a village characterized by
agriculture, and going hand-in-hand with that, the villagers themselves were by a great majority characterized by a conservative mindset. There were once quarrymen, coalminers and ironworkers – the two last working in the Saarland – but also farmhands in the often huge agricultural operations. Especially in the 19th century, whole families
emigrated to the
United States. Today, the village is for most of the inhabitants only the place where they live. They seek work mainly in
Kaiserslautern and Kusel. The population figure doubled between 1802 and 1825, but has remained fairly constant ever since. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Albessen, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:
Municipality’s name In the
Historisches Siedlungsnamenbuch der Pfalz (“Historical Settlement Name Book of the Palatinate”) by Dolch and Greule, the placename Albessen is traced back to the pre-Germanic name of a body of water,
Alb. According to this, the name Albessen means “settlement on a brook”. Versions of the name's history by other placename researchers who interpreted the name as “Albert’s settlement” would therefore be invalid. Forms of the name appearing in documents over time are, among others: Albeßen (1436 and 1460), Albersau and Albesen (1446), Albeßan (1456), Albesang (1460). ==Religion==