Mesenich

Mesenich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem, whose seat is in the like-named town. Mesenich is a winegrowing centre.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies on the river Moselle roughly 4 km southeast of Cochem.HistoryFinds from the Stone Age, remnants of Roman settlements and graves from Merovingian times bear witness to the municipality’s early days.As early as 1050, Mesenich had its first documentary mention in connection with the Polish queen and count palatine’s daughter Richeza’s donation to the Brauweiler Benedictine Monastery near Cologne.The municipality’s name, originally Mesinich, is, like most other nearby villages’ names, of Celtic origin. Besides winegrowing and subsistence agriculture, shipbuilding was an important means of livelihood. This explains why an anchor is included as a charge in the municipality’s coat of arms.