There is already evidence that Mittelreidenbach is an ancient settlement. The stones with markings, called "Hollen—and Bellenstein" [“Hell and Bell Stones”] in [ancient times and the eleven graves of the
Huns (burial sites of the
Celts) are known to be in the area of the sports fields of Mittelreidenbach. The foundation of the present village of Mittelreidenbach goes back to the
Frankish period (800-1000
AD). In the 12th century, the settlement belonged to the district of Naumburg bei
Bärenbach. In this history, a
Ritter (knight), Werner von Reidenbach appears, in the years between 1282 – 1287, as the resident of Hachenpfuhls (now Hachenfels) near Naumburg. In 1321, the
Herren [Lords] von Reidenbach zu Dune und Stein (Oberstein, now
Idar-Oberstein) were given the properties of Weiersbach and Nahbollenbach. One of the earliest mentions of Mittelreidenbach is found in a deed of sale in 1340, when the
Edelknecht (the lowest rank of medieval German nobility) Johann von Oberstein sold the tithes in Reidenbach to the
Archbishop of Trier,
Baldwin of Luxembourg. After the extinction of the
Ritter von Reidenbach family, the properties fell to the
Herren von Schwarzenberg. With the extinction of the
House of Schwarzenberg in 1483, the brothers Bernhard and Jost von Flersheim in
Rheinhessen inherited the village and estate of Reidenbach. Later, the Reidenbach package went as the dowry of Anna, the daughter of Jost Flersheim, to Emmerich von Dietz, the district officer of
St. Wendel. When the male line of the House of Dietz became extinct in 1616, the village and estate of Reidenbach were annexed as orphaned fiefs by the
Archbishopric of Trier and assigned to the district of St. Wendel. In 1779, it was transferred to the district of Oberstein. Under the
crosier of the Archbishop, Mittelreidenbach remained until
Napoleon and his
Grande Armée overran the Palatinate. On 23 January 1798, the village was added to the French Empire as part of the
Département de la Saar, where it would stay in Birkenfeld's
arrondissement [prefecture] until 1814. In 1816, the
Congress of Vienna gave it to the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (after 1826, the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). The Duchy assigned it to the
Principality of Lichtenberg, which was administrated by the town of
Lichtenberg, but the Principality's distance from the Duchy proved problematic. In 1834, the Principality was sold to the Kingdom of
Prussia. Mittelreidenbach became Prussian, this time in the district of St. Wendel of the
Rheinprovinz [Province of the Rhineland]. With the fall of Prussia in 1918, it was added to Germany. Since the end of World War II, Mittelreidenbach has belonged to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Since the administrative reforms of 1970, it has been a member of the
Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein.
Population The growth of the population of Mittelreidenbach, as shown by the numbers for the years between 1871 and 1987 from the national, state and local censuses: ==Politics==