The first settlement in the area came as early as the 7th century BC by which time the
Celts had settled the fortified
basalt mountain in Daun. The
Romans, too, used this prominent hill in the Lieser valley as a watch post, as witnessed by Roman finds. The placename may have come from the Celtic-Roman word
Dunum, meaning either “fence” or “fortified heights”, that is to say, a fort. In the late 10th century, a castle complex belonging to the free Lords of Daun arose here. In 1075, Daun had its first documentary mention in a townsman named
Adalbero de Duna. In 1163, the free lords’ family died out. One of the family’s
ministeriales,
Richardus de Duna, took over his former Lord’s name and even the
coat of arms with the Daun
fretting. In 1337, Daun is mentioned for the first time as being a town. In 1346 came a grant of town rights along with market rights, and Daun became at the same time the location of a high court. In 1712, the
Electoral-Trier '
was built by the Elector of Trier and Archbishop Karl-Josef on the Burgberg ("Castle Mountain"). After a transitory occupation by the French beginning in 1794, the village passed in 1815 to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1817, Daun became seat of the district and an ' mayoralty, and also at the same time a district administrator’s seat. Since 1947, it has been part of the then newly founded
state of
Rhineland-Palatinate. Beginning in 1951, Daun could once more call itself a town. On 15 May 1895, Daun was linked to the German
railway network with the '
(Cross Eifel Railway). On 1 December 1909, a further railway line, the ' to
Wittlich came into service. All public rail transport, however, ended in Daun more than a decade ago, although a two-hourly daytime service for tourists has been running in the summertime since 2005 on part of the '
. The ', on the other hand, was torn up about a decade ago and has since become the '''', a cycle path. In 1965, Daun became a garrison town, housing at the
Heinrich Hertz Barracks, among others, two
signal corps units and one
signals intelligence unit. == Politics ==