the County of Sponheim during the Count's crusade. Auen's long allegiance to Sponheim Abbey is confirmed by the 1488 Auener Weistum (a Weistum – cognate with English wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times) and by Abbot Johannes Trithemius’s homage about 1500; it might have lasted until 1570. Modern times This allegiance brought Auen into the Oberamt of Kreuznach. This was mentioned in a 1601 description of the Amt, which said that, among other things, the lordship of Sponheim Abbey and the outlying village of Auen both belonged to the Oberamt of Kreuznach. By this time, Auen was already an exclave between the other Ämter. Also mentioned was that Auen lay within the range of the Amt of Böckelheim but was nonetheless otherwise strictly subject to the Oberamt of Kreuznach. At the same time, the inhabitants of Auen were subject ecclesiastically to the parish of Geh in Kirche, which was in turn subject to Disibodenberg Abbey. This arrangement worked out quite well for the inhabitants of Auen. About 1550, the Reformation was introduced. The last priest left the parish of Getzbach and became the first Protestant minister in Pferdsfeld (a now vanished village). In 1575, the Getzbacher Wald (forest) was sold, thus stripping Auen of lands that had hitherto reached up to the Hummerstuhl, which amounted to almost half the municipal area. In 1707, Auen passed to Electoral Palatinate while remaining in the Oberamt of Kreuznach until Napoleonic times. Recent times After belonging for some years under French rule to the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Monzingen, Auen passed under the terms of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the Prussian Amt of Monzingen, which governed it for 154 years. Although Auen is a very old village, it was only in the 19th century that it blossomed into one of the Nahe region's agricultural and winegrowing hubs. The planting of vineyards promised a good secondary income earner, although a grape seed from about 1500 BC had already been found in the municipality along with some grain. The stonemason's craft, too, flourished at the quarries around Auen. In the mid 19th century, finished capitals and stones were delivered from these to Cologne Cathedral. Thirty-nine small farms grew what was needed. New farm lanes that afforded readier access were laid to make farmwork easier. A few farmers received certificates about