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| DEUTSCHLAND | GERMANY |
| Bundesland: Rheinland-Pfalz | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Landkreis: Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis |
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Simmern / Hunsrück is situated at an elevation of 400 m lies in the Hunsrück upland in the so-called 'Simmerner Mulde' ('Simmern Hollow'), about 42 km south of Koblenz and about 52 km west of Mainz, the capital of Germany's state of Rheinland-Pfalz. The municipality has a population of about 8,200 (2025). Simmern is the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde (collective municipality) Simmern-Rheinböllen.
The local area was already inhabited in Roman times. The oldest known written document referring to Simmern dates from 1072. Simmern lay on
the important Bingen-to-Trier army road. It belonged at first to the Counts of the Nahegau, later passing to the
Raugraves, who were enfeoffed with Simmern by the Electorate of Trier sometime between 1323 and 1330. Simmern was granted town rights in 1330.
Before the 14th century was over, Simmern passed to the Counts Palatine of the House of Wittelsbach. The Palatine Wittelsbachs were,
beginning in 1356, Electors, and after Elector Palatine and King of the Romans (German King) Ruprecht III's death in 1410, they split into
several lines, among which was the Palatinate-Simmern line, which kept its residence in the town. During the reign of Count Palatine
Johann II (r.1509–1557), the Reformation was introduced in his duchy, which led to tension with the neighbouring Archbishoprics
of Trier and Mainz. His successor Friedrich III converted to Calvinism in 1563 and played a leading role in Imperial politics. In 1559,
the Palatinate-Simmern line succeeded the now extinct main line of the Palatinate in the Elector's capacity in Heidelberg.
Friedrich IV's son, Friedrich V was elected King of Bohemia — Bohemia was an elective monarchy — but
soon ran afoul of the forces arrayed against him, notably the Catholic League and the Holy Roman Emperor himself, and not only was he forced to
flee Bohemia in the face of these forces after only a year on the Bohemian throne (earning himself the derisive nickname "Winter King"), but he
also saw to it that the Electorate of the Palatinate, too, was gripped in the throes of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). After that war,
Karl I Ludwig won back the electoral title in the Peace of Westphalia, but with his son's (Karl II) death in 1685, the Palatine line
of the Wittelsbach died out, and France was now declaring rights of possession, but the Palatinate-Neuburg line also
maintained a claim to the succession, which led to the Nine Years' War (War of the Palatine Succession, 1688–1697). With the Treaty of
Ryswick, the Wittelsbachs were confirmed as the rulers over the Palatinate, however, the electors in the 18th century chose to keep their
residence in Mannheim. Following the Peace of Vienna (1815), which ended the Napoleonic Wars,
Simmern was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia. Since 1946, Simmern has been part of the then newly founded state of German state of
Rhineland-Palatinate. Since 1980, the official name of the town is Simmern-Hunsrück.
The top picture on glass no. 4993 [left] shows a view of the
Villenkolonie Schinderhannesturm
The bottom left picture shows a view of the monastery church of Ravengiersburg (see there).
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simmern/Hunsr%C3%BCck, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simmern_im_Hunsr%C3%BCck;
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_B%C3%BCckler, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schinderhannes]
![[scale]](lineal.jpg)