Oberbettingen

Oberbettingen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Hillesheim, whose seat is in the like-named town.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies on a flat expanse in the valley of the river Kyll in the Vulkaneifel, a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.HistoryIn 845, Bettingen, or more specifically, Niederbettingen Castle, had its first documentary mention in a document from King Lothar by way of St. Maximin’s Abbey in Trier. In the Middle Ages, the village belonged to the House of Bettingen, under whom were the Counts of Blankenheim, Manderscheid and Gerolstein. About 1470, Oberbettingen was made subject to the County of Gerolstein. Some of the earlier Lords of Bettingen were the Abbot of Prüm in 1077, Wirich von Bettingen in 1157 and Theobald von Bettingen in 1158.