Simmern

Simmern lies on the old road between Bingen and Trier in the Hunsrück. First recorded in 1072, it received town rights from Emperor Louis the Bavarian in 1330. Markets drew traders from across the uplands, and the town built a double wall with gates and towers. By the end of the fourteenth century it belonged to the Wittelsbach counts palatine.

Simmern became the residence of a Palatine ruling branch. Duke John II, who ruled from 1509 to 1557, encouraged art and printing and introduced the Reformation. His son Frederick III became elector palatine in 1559 and later embraced Calvinism. In 1689 French troops destroyed almost the entire town during the Nine Years' War, including its palace. Simmern was rebuilt, but the electors kept their court elsewhere.