Antiquity Sankt Julian (main centre) The settled area around Sankt Julian is very old. On the bed of the Lenschbach in the 1950s, two
jade hatchets were found and determined to be from the
New Stone Age, and thus some 5,000 years old. In the cadastral area of Schwarzland about 1938, two urn graves from
La Tène times (450 BC) were unearthed along with a blue glass ring as
grave goods. The old churchtower shows some
Roman spolia. It could be that the
church was built on the same site as an earlier
Roman temple, and it is therefore easy to see that the builders would have salvaged bits of this old building for the church. When the church was given a new nave in 1874, Roman spolia from the old nave were saved. At first, these were kept in the churchtower before being transferred to the
Historisches Museum der Pfalz ("Historical Museum of the Palatinate") in
Speyer in 1970. Casts of these spolia now adorn the wallwork at the steps that lead into the church. They depict a
hippocamp and they come from a Roman tomb. This mythical creature is hitched to a sea god's chariot. Other Roman spolia are found in the churchtower's wallwork. Also among the finds have been two Amazon shields, as they are customarily found on pedestals at
Mithraea. Further bearing witness to a Roman presence are Roman soldiers' and traders' graves along with gold coins from
Emperor Constantine's time.
Eschenau The broader area around Eschenau was settled in
prehistoric times, bearing witness to which, among other things, are
hammerstones from the
Stone Age, which have also turned up in neighbouring municipalities. Further prehistoric and also
Roman archaeological finds have come to light in neighbouring Sankt Julian and Gumbsweiler. Coins and bricks found near Eschenau show that there was a settlement at what is now greater Sankt Julian as long ago as AD 360.
Gumbsweiler A
prehistoric barrow, about which there were once reports, is now no longer to be found. Of particular interest, however, are the finds of two little stone hatchets, which might date from the
New Stone Age, although on the other hand they might also be of Roman origin. One of these finds was owned by Friedrich W. Weber and is today kept at the Kusel district administration. It is a
trapezoidal hatchet blade made of
jade with a wholly intact edge and workmanship that shows masterful skill in grinding and polishing. It was found in the bed of the Grundbach. Another stone hatchet of similar quality was found near the graveyard and is today still in private ownership. While digging work was being done at the Klosterflur (rural cadastral area), workers struck some old walling made of limestone mortar, some thick bits of tile and a great number of potsherds and artefacts from
Roman times. A
Gallo-Roman settlement likely stood here, which may have some link with the Roman finds in neighbouring Sankt Julian. Furthermore, a sewer made of stone slabs, open at the top and leading to the Grundbach was also struck. The village's farmers are always telling of building blocks being brought up by their ploughs in the fields, and of light stripes seen running across the earth in their seeded fields in times of drought. It could mean that a Gallo-Roman
villa rustica lies buried underneath, or perhaps a monasterial estate from the early days of the so-called
Remigiusland.
Obereisenbach Graves found within Obereisenbach's nominal area point to settlers in the area in
prehistoric times. On the heights west of the village, some land surveyors found a
silex blade, which is now kept at the
Historisches Museum der Pfalz ("Historical Museum of the Palatinate") in
Speyer. In the formerly municipally unassigned cadastral area of Schwarzland northwest of Obereisenbach, nowadays part of the Baumholder troop drilling ground, cable layers unearthed two
flat graves which also yielded up beakers, dishes, pots and a glass ring. It was most likely a cremation grave at which the bodies were burnt on site.
Roman archaeological finds have been unearthed mainly in neighbouring Sankt Julian and Gumbsweiler. A Roman
bronze statue – an idol – was found by a farmer while he was ploughing. This figure is now kept in
Munich. Roman potsherds have also turned up near Obereisenbach.
Middle Ages Sankt Julian (main centre) It is unknown when the tower that still stands now at the old
Romanesque church in Sankt Julian was built, but going by its stylistic elements, it might have been sometime about the turn of the 12th century. It is highly likely that an earlier church once stood on this same spot. About 1290, a priest named Conrad worked in Sankt Julian, a well-to-do man who endowed a
chapel to hold
Saint Juliana's relics, which was built right next to the then Romanesque church. Furthermore, Conrad bequeathed to the village a great landhold. After the chapel was built, Sankt Julian must have grown into a
pilgrimage centre. In the
Middle Ages, there was in the Rhinegravial lands between the rivers
Glan and
Nahe an entity known as the
Hochgericht auf der Heide ("High Court on the Heath"), within which the
Waldgraves and Rhinegraves exercised
high jurisdiction. This high court was further divided into smaller court districts, among which was the
Vierherrengericht ("Four-Lord Court"), whose seat was in Sankt Julian. In 1424, the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves enfeoffed a Count Johann vom Steine with the village, while a Hugelin vom Steine (perhaps Count Johann's brother) had already been enfeoffed with the neighbouring village of Obereisenbach (now a constituent community of Sankt Julian) and with a mill at Sankt Julian itself.
Eschenau Eschenau lay in the
Nahegau, and was likely founded only in the 11th or 12th century. An exact date has never been determined. According to the 1340 document that contains Eschenau's first documentary mention, Eschenau was granted to the Lords of Montfort, then represented by Sophie of Monfort. She was obliged to pay a tithe through the Church of Sankt Julian to the monastery on the Remigiusberg amounting to two
Malter of
wheat, two
Malter of corn (possibly meaning
rye), four
Malter of
oats and six
Logel of
wine. The payments might well have been missed for several years. Sophie then showed herself ready to comply with the requirements. According to a 1366 document, though, the Church of Sankt Julian now had some paying of its own to do. Sophie was now ready to take on half the tithe payments, while the provost was now to pay the other half. Territorially, Eschenau then belonged to the
Vierherrengericht ("Four-Lord Court") of Sankt Julian within the
Hochgericht auf der Heide ("High Court on the Heath"). The responsible
feudal lords were the Lords of Steinkallenfels, the Lords of Kyrburg (Kirn) and the Rhinegraves of Grumbach. Eschenau was nevertheless time and again transferred by the territorial lords to subordinate
castle lords and officials. While in the 14th century the village was held by the Lords of Montfort, in the late 15th century it passed in equal shares to Heinrich of Ramberg, Emerich of Löwenstein and Rudolf of Alben. On the other hand, personages from Eschenau can be named who were in foreign service, such as the young nobleman Kunz von Eschenau, who served the town of
Kaiserslautern in 1477, and Ludwig von Eschenau, who about 1544 was an
Amtmann in
Meisenheim and later in
Bergzabern, and also a
Palatinate Großhofmeister.
Gumbsweiler Going by the village's name, ending as it does in
—weiler, Gumbsweiler might have been founded early in the time when the
Franks were taking over the land. At that time, it lay within the so-called
Remigiusland around
Kusel and
Altenglan, which in the early 12th century was taken over by the
Counts of Veldenz as a
Vogtei. Gumbsweiler, however, only had its first documentary mention in 1364 in a document from Count Heinrich of Veldenz. The count's son, who later became Heinrich III of Veldenz, was married to
Lauretta (or Loretta) of
Sponheim, and the young couple had chosen as their residence
Castle Lichtenberg. Every village in the
Unteramt of Altenglan/Ulmet was obliged by this document to supply them both with their economic needs. The document thus named all the villages in question. In a 1379 document, the knight Sir Mohr of Sötern acknowledged that, among other things, he had been enfeoffed with holdings in Gumbsweiler (
Gundeßwilr) by Count Friederich of Veldenz. Nevertheless, the name
Gundeßwilr that appears in this document has been ascribed by other regional historians, Carl Pöhlmann among them, not to Gumbsweiler, but rather to the village of
Ginsweiler. In 1444, the County of Veldenz met its end when Count Friedrich III of Veldenz died without a male heir. His daughter
Anna wed
King Ruprecht's son
Count Palatine Stephan. By uniting his own Palatine holdings with the now otherwise heirless County of Veldenz – his wife had inherited the county, but not her father's title – and by redeeming the hitherto pledged County of Zweibrücken, Stephan founded a new County Palatine, as whose comital residence he chose the town of
Zweibrücken: the County Palatine – later Duchy – of
Palatinate-Zweibrücken.
Obereisenbach An exact founding date for Obereisenbach cannot be determined. Like Eschenau, Obereisenbach lay in the
Nahegau, whose counts split into several lines, and at the time of its 1426 first documentary mention, the village belonged to the Lords of Steinkallenfels (or Stein-Kallenfels) in the
Hochgericht auf der Heide ("High Court on the Heath") and, more locally, the
Vierherrengericht ("Four-Lord Court"), whose seat was in nearby Sankt Julian. A 1336 document about
Niedereisenbach spoke of an
inferiori Ysenbach, thus of a lesser place of this name, there might well have been a greater village as well, with the same name.
Modern times Sankt Julian (main centre) In the 16th century, the Waldraves and Rhinegraves pledged their holding here to
Palatinate-Zweibrücken under the duke at that time,
Wolfgang, but the pledge was redeemed in 1559. After a legal dispute, the village passed to Steinkallenfels in 1628. High jurisdiction at first remained in the Waldraves' and Rhinegraves' hands, but in 1680, this, too, was ceded to the Lords of Steinkallenfels. In 1778, the Steinkallenfels sideline died out, and Sankt Julian was taken back by the Waldraves and Rhinegraves.
Eschenau The 16th century was a time of constant change in Eschenau. In 1502, the village was still under Hans von Ramberg's ownership, but by 1554 it was held by the Prince of Stromberg – whose wife was Annette von Ramberg. Thereafter it passed into the Mauchenheims' ownership, and then Philipp Franz gave it back to the Waldraves and Rhinegraves of Grumbach. In 1596, these counts bought many of their
fiefs back from those whom they had enfeoffed, and until the
French Revolution, Eschenau, too, belonged directly to the Rhinegraviate. Time and again, Ludwig von Eschenau, already mentioned above, was named in documents. He was a
ministerialis in the service of the Duchy of
Palatinate-Zweibrücken, and, obviously, he was from Eschenau. He negotiated between Palatinate-Zweibrücken and
the Palatinate in 1534 over the redemption of a series of pledged villages in
Alsace. In 1535, he negotiated in a dispute about church property in
Einöd and
Ernstweiler, and also led negotiations in a dispute with the
County of Leiningen. In 1536 he settled a dispute between Palatinate-Zweibrücken and the Palatinate about the community of
Gutenberg. Then, he had to deal once again with a dispute involving Einöd and Ernstweiler. Already in 1541, Ludwig became
Amtmann in
Meisenheim and was significantly involved with the formulation of the Treaty of Disibodenberg, which laid out measures for Palatinate-Zweibrücken's behaviour should the Palatinate's Electoral line die out. In 1543, the guidelines were finally laid down for founding the Palatinate-Veldenz sideline. In 1544 he was
Amtmann of Neu-Kastell and led negotiations for Gräfenstein. In 1553 he appeared in the record as
Großhofmeister of the Palatinate. During the
Thirty Years' War, the village shared a fate with all neighbouring villages when it was utterly destroyed. It appeared for the first time under the name
Ischenaw on a map of the
Theatrum Europäum, on which the so-called Battle of Brücken is depicted. In the late 17th century, there was further destruction as a result of
French King
Louis XIV's wars of conquest. Details are unknown. The 18th century ushered in a time of steady population growth, and there was
emigration, mainly to
North America.
Gumbsweiler Gumbsweiler lay within
Palatinate-Zweibrücken, and also within an
Unteramt, which was administered for a while from
Altenglan, next from the vanished village of Brücken (not to be confused with
Brücken, which still exists), and then from
Ulmet. In 1546,
Duke Wolfgang approved the expansion of Heinrich Kolb's mill by two grist runs on the proviso that the estate mill at Ulmet not have any business taken away from it. The mill must therefore already have been standing a long time by then. In this time, too, a tithe barn was built in the village, whose buildings lasted centuries, only to be torn down in 1978 in the name of village renewal. A
keystone with the year 1604 chiselled into it has been preserved. Political development did not always proceed harmoniously. Heavy setbacks came with the
Thirty Years' War, by whose end Gumbsweiler had become uninhabited and uninhabitable, although the little
late mediaeval church was left mostly unscathed. After the recovery, the
Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the
Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession) brought further setbacks, and only in the 18th century did steady population growth begin. In 1724, the bridge across the
Glan at Gumbsweiler had fallen into disrepair. It was torn down and a new one was built. This was later partly demolished by
French troops, and then given a provisional repair before being built yet again in 1841.
Obereisenbach During the time of the
Plague, the
Thirty Years' War and
French King
Louis XIV's wars of conquest, Obereisenbach shared its neighbours' fate. There were deaths from both sickness and wartime ravages. The responsible lordship was still Steinkallenfels until Count Philipp Heinrich's death in 1778. Then came a disagreement between the Counts of Salm-Salm (Hunoltstein), the Counts of Salm-Kyrburg and the Rhinegraves at Grumbach over who owned the two villages of Sankt Julian and Obereisenbach. The dispute was eventually settled in the Rhinegraves' favour, but they were considered the overlords anyway.
Recent times Sankt Julian (main centre) In the time of the
French Revolution and the
Napoleonic era that followed, Sankt Julian belonged to the
Mairie ("Mayoralty") of Offenbach, the
Canton of Grumbach, the
Arrondissement of Birkenfeld and the
Department of
Sarre. While in the new territorial order arising from the
Congress of Vienna the old Rhinegravial villages on the
Glan's left bank were grouped into the
Principality of Lichtenberg, a newly created
exclave of the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (which as of 1826 became the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), Sankt Julian, Obereisenbach and Eschenau were excepted from this transfer and grouped into the
Kingdom of Bavaria in 1817 as part of an exchange against a village in the
Oster valley. Sankt Julian at first became the seat of a
Bürgermeisterei ("mayoralty") for these three villages, and administratively amalgamated with it in this context was neighbouring Obereisenbach. The merged municipality was called Sankt Julian-Obereisenbach. The mayoralty was united with the one in
Ulmet in 1861, but became separate again in 1887. In 1878, a new
church was built. In this rural community with a goodly share of workers among its population, there was a noticeable shift towards polarization of political groupings in the wake of the
First World War. Quite early on, the
Nazi Party (NSDAP) gained a strong foothold in Sankt Julian, winning 29.8% of the vote locally in
May 1924 Reichstag election (today, the
Social Democratic Party of Germany is said to be the village's strongest political party). By 1938, after the
Third Reich had existed for five years and war was coming, the
Heeresstraße (literally "Army Road") was built. Since the
Second World War ended, Sankt Julian has been part of the then newly founded
state of
Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1966, the new
schoolhouse was dedicated. In the course of the 1968 administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate, the mayoralty was dissolved and the villages of Sankt Julian-Obereisenbach, Eschenau and Gumbsweiler were amalgamated to form the greater municipality of Sankt Julian, which since 1972 has belonged to the
Verbandsgemeinde of Lauterecken. In 1985, passenger traffic on the local
Altenglan-
Lauterecken railway line was ended, and in 1992, the line was closed outright.
Eschenau After
French Revolutionary troops marched in about 1794, the old territorial structures were swept away. Once the German lands on the
Rhine's left bank were
annexed to
France, new administrative entities arose based on the French Revolutionary model. They were set up in 1797, and were made permanent in 1801 (although actually, they did not last very long). Eschenau, just like Sankt Julian, belonged to the
Mairie ("Mayoralty") of Offenbach, the
Canton of Grumbach, the
Arrondissement of Birkenfeld and the
Department of
Sarre. The states that were allied against France (
Prussia,
Austria and
Russia), reconquered the German lands on the Rhine's left bank in 1814. After a two-year transitional period, Eschenau passed to the
Kingdom of Bavaria in a departure from what was generally considered the new border arrangements, with the
Glan downstream from the mouth of the Steinalb generally being held to be the border between Bavaria and Prussia (or until 1834 the
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Principality of Lichtenberg). This exceptional arrangement, which also affected Sankt Julian and Obereisenbach, was part of an exchange against a village in the
Oster valley. Sankt Julian at first became the seat of a
Bürgermeisterei ("mayoralty") together with Eschenau and Obereisenbach. The merged municipality was called Sankt Julian-Obereisenbach. The mayoralty was united with the one in
Ulmet in 1861, but became separate again in 1887. Late in the
Second World War, in 1945, part of Eschenau was destroyed in an attack by
American strafers. There were dead and wounded. In the course of the 1968 administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate, the mayoralty was dissolved and the villages of Sankt Julian-Obereisenbach, Eschenau and Gumbsweiler were amalgamated to form the greater municipality of Sankt Julian, which since 1972 has belonged to the
Verbandsgemeinde of Lauterecken.
Gumbsweiler The
French Revolution and the French
annexation from 1797 to 1815 brought with it its horrors, but also some advantages: the lasting abolition of
serfdom, commercial freedom, the elimination of water rights and milling rights formerly held by feudal lords, freedom from inheritance taxation and, of course, the abolition of all lordly privileges. The new freedoms brought the people advantages foremost in the economic field of endeavour, especially when it came to building new mills. Gumbsweiler belonged during Revolutionary, and later
Napoleonic, times to the
Mairie ("Mayoralty") of Hundheim, the
Canton of Lauterecken, the
Arrondissement of Kaiserslautern and the
Department of
Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in
German), whose seat lay at
Mainz. The
Mairie of Hundheim became a mayoralty under
Bavarian administration beginning in 1816, and for a while, Gumbsweiler was the biggest place within it. According to Mahler, writing in 1966, "The
Bürgermeisterei ("Mayoralty") of Hundheim at first belonged to the so-called
Kreisdirektion Kaiserslautern ("Kaiserslautern District Directorate"), but then after the formation of the
Landkommissariate ("State Commissariates") in 1817 was assigned to the
Landkommissariat of Kusel. In 1838, the
Rheinkreis (that is, the
Palatinate when it was a Bavarian
exclave), whose seat was in
Speyer, received the official designation "
Regierungsbezirk Pfalz". In 1862, the
Landkommissariate became
Bezirksämter, and in 1938,
Landratsämter." During this Bavarian epoch, Gumbsweiler grew from a small farming village into a bigger village among whose dwellers, bit by bit, workers came to dominate. Apart from the changes in higher levels of government (Kingdom of Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria,
state of
Rhineland-Palatinate), the administrative arrangements at first did not change. In the early 1930s, the
Nazi Party (NSDAP) became very popular in Gumbsweiler. In the
1930 Reichstag elections, 11.3% of the local votes went to
Adolf Hitler's party, but by the time of the
1933 Reichstag elections, after Hitler had already
seized power, local support for the Nazis had swollen to 54.2%. Hitler's success in these elections paved the way for his
Enabling Act of 1933 (
Ermächtigungsgesetz), thus starting the
Third Reich in earnest. The village itself came through the
Second World War unscathed, but the memorial at the graveyard lists 51 fallen. In the course of administrative restructuring in 1968, Gumbsweiler lost its autonomy with the founding of the new
Ortsgemeinde of Sankt Julian with the constituent communities (
Ortsteile) of Eschenau, Gumbsweiler, Obereisenbach and Sankt Julian.
Obereisenbach Obereisenbach's administrative situation after the
French Revolutionary
annexation was the same as Eschenau's and Sankt Julian's: it belonged to the
Mairie ("Mayoralty") of Offenbach, the
Canton of Grumbach, the
Arrondissement of Birkenfeld and the
Department of
Sarre. The states that were allied against France (
Prussia,
Austria and
Russia), reconquered the German lands on the Rhine's left bank in 1814. After a two-year transitional period, Obereisenbach passed to the
Kingdom of Bavaria in a departure from what was generally considered the new border arrangements, with the
Glan downstream from the mouth of the Steinalb generally being held to be the border between Bavaria and Prussia (or until 1834 the
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Principality of Lichtenberg). This exceptional arrangement, which also affected Sankt Julian and Eschenau, was part of an exchange against a village in the
Oster valley. Sankt Julian at first became the seat of a
Bürgermeisterei ("mayoralty") together with Eschenau and Obereisenbach. The merged municipality was called Sankt Julian-Obereisenbach. The mayoralty was united with the one in
Ulmet in 1861, but became separate again in 1887. Just after the
Second World War, there was an armed confrontation with some
French occupational troops, who had been mistaken by the populace for "plundering Russians" who had been forced labourers, now freed, in the only just ended time of the
Third Reich. The shooting killed one inhabitant from Obereisenbach. In 1958, a watermain was built in the village. In the course of administrative restructuring in 1968, the
Bürgermeisterei of Sankt Julian was dissolved, and in 1972, within the
Verbandsgemeinde of Lauterecken, Sankt Julian became the hub of the like-named
Ortsgemeinde with the constituent communities (
Ortsteile) of Eschenau, Gumbsweiler, Obereisenbach and Sankt Julian.
Population development Sankt Julian (main centre) Information about Sankt Julian's population levels before 1800 is not available. In 1828, the village had 471 inhabitants, of whom 432 were
Protestant, 36
Jewish and 3
Catholic. In the century that followed, the population level rose only slightly. In 1997 there were 593 inhabitants, of whom 537 were
Evangelical and 42 Catholic. Since the
persecution during the time of the
Third Reich, there have no longer been any Jews in the village. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Sankt Julian and Obereisenbach together, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:
Eschenau Eschenau has remained rurally structured to this day. The greater part of the population worked until a few decades ago at
agriculture. Alongside farmers, though, there were also farm workers, forestry workers and craftsmen. In the village itself ran an industrial concern that employed both villagers and others. This, however, no longer exists. With respect to religion, the villagers are overwhelmingly
Evangelical. Today, Eschenau is a residential community for many
commuters. The village's population rose steadily over the last two centuries with a temporary pause about the turn of the 20th century, and now is stagnating once again, with a drop in numbers foreseen for the coming years. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Eschenau, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:
Gumbsweiler Gumbsweiler was home to many farmers, though very early on there were also workers living in the village, and today they make up the majority. There is generally a good cohesion among the villagers, who always seem ready to solve issues communally. There is great interest locally in playing music. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Gumbsweiler, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:
Obereisenbach Obereisenbach's inhabitants lived well into the 20th century mainly from
agriculture, although there were also the miller families,
innkeepers,
distillers, workers – especially at the stone quarries – and those who ran the
mineral water spring. Rounding out the scene were the
basket weavers who travelled overland plying their wares, some very poor people, often families with many children but also lone persons who eked out a living in substandard dwelling conditions. This population structure has since undergone a thorough shift. Farming is indeed still practised, but most people, who belong to the most varied of occupations, seek their livelihoods elsewhere. Obereisenbach is popular among seniors and pensioners as a second residence. With respect to religion, the villagers are overwhelmingly
Evangelical. The population grew over the course of the 19th century, but shrank again in the 20th. Despite the more recent gains towards the end of the century, a drop in numbers is foreseen for the coming years. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Obereisenbach:
Municipality's names Sankt Julian Sankt Julian was mentioned in a 1290 document as "
apud Sanctam Julianam" (
Latin for "at Saint Juliana's"), and therefore, despite the name's masculine appearance and sound, the village is in fact named after a saint named Juliana, who is worshipped at the village's church. There are several saints named Juliana, but the old patronage for Sankt Julian's church could only have referred to
Juliana of Nicomedia, who during her long martyrdom had molten
lead poured over her. According to a falsified document dated to 1192, "
Saint Julien" might have been the church's namesake saint, and indeed the village maintains a partnership with one of the many places in
France named Saint-Julien (to wit, the
one in Côte-d'Or). Sankt Julian may well once have borne another name that the brisk
pilgrimage in Saint Juliana's pushed aside when the name was changed. If so, the old name is now forgotten. After 1290, the following forms of the name crop up in the record:
ecclesiae sanctae Julianae (1336),
ecclesiae de sancta Juliana (1340),
zu sant Juliana (14th century),
Sanct Julian (1588) and
Sanct Juljan (1686). In the local speech, the village is also called "Dilje".
Eschenau The name appeared for the first time in
cartularies kept by the
County of Veldenz. In 1340 it appeared as
Essenoe and in 1366 as
Eschenawe. The current name first appeared in an original document in 1614. The name originally described a settlement on a
floodplain (
Aue in
German) with
ash trees (
Eschen in German) growing on it.
Gumbsweiler The village's name, Gumbsweiler, has the common
German placename ending
—weiler, which as a standalone word means "
hamlet" (originally "homestead"), to which is prefixed a syllable
Gumbs—. Most of the villages with names ending in
—weiler arose in the early period of the
Frankish takeover of the land. The
Old High German word
villare might relate to the village's founder's name. Perhaps the prefix arose from a personal name,
Gummund, suggesting that the village arose from a homestead founded by an early Frankish settler named Gummund, thus "Gummund's Homestead". The name first appeared in Count Heinrich's document mentioned above in 1364 in the form
Gommerswijlre. Other forms that the name has taken have been, among others,
Gumeswilre (14th century),
Gummeßwilre (1416),
Gomßwillr (1458) and
Gumbsweiller (1593).
Obereisenbach Obereisenbach was named for the brook that flows by it, the Eisenbach ("Ironbrook"), and the prefix is German for "upper", distinguishing it from
Niedereisenbach ("Nether Ironbrook"), which lies at the brook's mouth. The name first cropped up in the record in the form
Oberysenbach daz dorff und Geriechte (modernized:
Obereisenbach das Dorf und Gericht, meaning "Obereisenbach the village and court [district]") in a 1426 document. The reference to
iron in the village's name is inspired by the iron
inclusions in the local
sandstone.
Vanished villages Within what are now Eschenau's limits once lay two villages named Haunhausen (mentioned in 1287) and Olscheid (mentioned in 1345). Their exact locations are unknown. Olscheid lay roughly at the limits with the fellow Sankt Julian constituent community of Obereisenbach and the separate municipality of
Niederalben. It might even be that these former places lay within Niederalben's limits. According to researchers Dolch and Greule, two now vanished villages once stood within Gumbsweiler's limits, named Borrhausen and Trudenberg. About the former almost nothing is known; the village's name is preserved only as a rural cadastral toponym. The latter crops up in the historical record only once, in Count Heinrich's 1364 document (see above), which dealt with supplying the young comital couple Heinrich and Lauretta, and which mentioned many placenames for the first time, including Gumbsweiler. It is certain that Trudenberg lay on the
Glan's right bank within the former
Remigiusland, likely on the heights between
Ulmet and Gumbsweiler. Could it be that the local forest's current name, "Freudenwald", is a
corruption of an earlier name "Trudenberger Wald", after the now vanished village? Trudenberg might also have lain within Ulmet's current limits. Within what are now Obereisenbach's limits once lay a place called Berghausen, but the only record of this place is the preservation of its name in rural cadastral toponyms. This village's exact location, too, is unknown. It might have lain within what were Sankt Julian's limits before the four constituent communities were amalgamated. ==Religion==