Castellaun

Kastellaun grew beneath a castle of the counts of Sponheim in the Hunsrück. Count Simon II made it his residence in 1301, granted town rights in 1305 and obtained a market privilege from Emperor Henry VII in 1309. Its position brought the count into conflict with Archbishop Baldwin of Trier, who besieged the town in 1321 and later built Balduinseck Castle nearby to counter it.

When the counts of Sponheim died out in 1437, their lands passed to several heirs who governed Kastellaun jointly. The town suffered occupation and plague during the Thirty Years' War. French troops destroyed the old castle and town during the Nine Years' War. The joint lordship ended in 1776, and after another period of French rule Kastellaun passed to Prussia in 1815.