A Compilation of the Historical Research of Joseph Philip Rhein
The History of the Rhein and Laeng Families and their Descendants

The earliest information on Herrlisheim is in the year 743 when it was conveyed to the Abbey of Wissembourg under the name of Hariolfesvilla, the farm of Hariolf (Harold). In 1251, the village is the property of the Counts of Oetigen, landowners of low Alsace, who ceded it to the Lords of Lichtenberg in 1332. In 1480 with the death of Jacques de Lichtenberg the heritage is divided between Phillipe de Hanau and Simon Wecker, the Count of Two-Bridge Biche. The village is incorporated in 1570 with the property of Hanau-Lichtenberg and the extinction of Two-Bridge Biche. Later Hanau-Lichtenberg became part of the house of Hesse-Darmstadt. Herrlisheim was part of the lands the Hapsburgs handed over to France following the Thirty Years War that ended in 1648. In the year 1681, Herrlisheim was converted by force from Protestantism to Catholicism. It lies on a fertile plain between the Vosges and the Rhein River. It is 28 km northeast of Strasbourg in present day Bas-Rhin, France. Set forth below are the principal hyper-linked files on this site.

Joseph Philip Rhein
Joseph Philip Rhein