Ruins of Naumburg

The local history of Bärenbach was closely linked to the history of the neighboring Naumburg from the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century. The village and the castle are already mentioned in documents from the 12th century. The castle, located near the confluence of the Bärenbach stream into the Nahe river, belonged to the possessions of the Raugrafen, a side line of the Wildgrafen. After changing ownership, the castle came into the possession of the Counts of Sponheim-Kreuznach in the 14th century. Naumburg subsequently became the administrative seat of an office of the same name, which included Bärenbach. After the division of the front County of Sponheim between the Electorate of the Palatinate and Baden in 1706, the Margraves of Baden acquired the castle and office of Naumburg, which they elevated to a higher office from 1776 onwards due to territorial gains. About one third of the area of Bärenbach was lordly castle estate. Margrave Ludwig Georg of Baden had leased this Naumburg estate in 1655 to 16 families from Bärenbach, half of the population.