Mayen

Mayen lies in the volcanic Eifel on the old road between Trier and Andernach. Its potteries produced wares traded across central Europe from late Roman times into the Middle Ages. Nearby quarries supplied basalt for millstones and tuff for stone coffins, evidence of a stoneworking tradition extending back before Roman rule. The settlement appears in records as Megina in 847, and King Rudolf I granted it town rights in 1291.

In the Middle Ages it was regarded as the chief town of the Meiengau. Mayen belonged to the Electorate of Trier. During the Nine Years' War the town was occupied and largely destroyed. French revolutionary troops again occupied the left bank of the Rhine in 1794. Following the Congress of Vienna, Mayen passed to Prussia and became an administrative centre for its surrounding district.