in the Moselle valley. On 17 February 893 Bishop Rodbert of Metz furnished the Collegiate Foundation of Neumünster with a wine benefit from the estates now known as villa bredallio. This tithe was reconfirmed in 936, 944 and 1138. Many further references confirm a church and the names Bredal, Bridal and Bridell as well as various estate and vineyard holders. On 5 February 1264, the St. Trond Benedictine Abbey sold its holdings in Briedel to Himmerod Abbey along with the tithes and patronage rights to the parish church at Briedel for 1,150 marks sterling. With this acquisition, Himmerod Abbey's hold on Briedel became quite fast and the village's fate was in the Abbey's hands for more than 500 years. In 1343, Briedel had a girding wall with a tower (the Eulenturm, or "Owl’s Tower") and four gates. On 31 May 1376 it was granted town rights, making Briedel a firm component of the Trier Electoral State. The townsmen celebrated the attendant end of serfdom, although they quickly realized that this would not change their lives in any way. Drudgery, tithes and servitude were as much life's everyday realities as they always had been. The Briedel court was made up of the Schultheiß and seven Schöffen (roughly "lay jurists"). In 1377, Briedel became part of the Amt of Zell. 1400 to 1700 In 1518, Briedel acquired its own court seal, which later provided the model for the municipal coat of arms borne today. In 1595, the village, which was said to be well off, was attacked by bands of mercenaries led by Captain Langhans at the time of the church consecration festival. The Briedel villagers, supported by their neighbours, scattered them and sent them home with "bloody heads". In 1632 and 1635, Swedish troops plundered Briedel and killed some of the inhabitants; the survivors were then reduced in number by a third with the coming of the Plague in 1636. The already concluded Peace of Westphalia, which was supposed to have ended the Thirty Years' War, did not spare the village further plundering by French troops, who sacked the church and set the village ablaze. In 1674, Briedel, and also some of the neighbouring places, denied French occupational troops in Trier any contributions. In an act of revenge, the troops set out from Trier to punish the wayward villages, but on the way met with Imperial troops who beat them back.