and the Sponheim comital family's influence had grown so great, that it had become impossible for the now supposedly debt-free Winneburg-Beilstein family (as it was now known) to wield any power. In 1690, the whole village was destroyed in the ravages of war. Only three farms on the village's outskirts were spared this calamity. Meanwhile, disputes over who had the lordly rights in Blankenrath continued as time wore on. All together, the disagreement lasted more than two and a half centuries, even reaching the Imperial Chamber Court in Wetzlar, which failed to resolve the matter. The dispute was finally made moot when the Holy Roman Empire and all its governing institutions, including all the lordly families and the Imperial Chamber Court, were swept away in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the wake of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic intervention. Beginning in 1794, Blankenrath lay under French rule. The neighbouring village of Reidenhausen, which hitherto had formed together with Blankenrath a single municipality, was separated. In 1814 Blankenrath was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna, and the Amt of Blankenrath was founded. Since 1946, Blankenrath has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Under the Verwaltungsvereinfachungsgesetz (“Administration Simplification Law”) of 18 July 1970, with effect from 7 November 1970, the municipality was grouped into the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, losing its Amt status in the process once the municipality of Mastershausen had been transferred to the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, precluding any grounds for Blankenrath to have its own Verbandsgemeinde. Politics Municipal council The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: Mayor Blankenrath's mayor is Jochen Hansen, and his deputies are Thomas Geisen and Jürgen Hastenpflug. Coat of arms The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per fess enhanced, party per pale argent a cross sable and argent a cross gules, and gules a bugle-horn sinister of the first. The black cross stands for the Cologne Cathedral Foundation, the red one for the Prince-Bishopric of Trier. The bugle-horn is the charge borne by the Braunshorn noble family in Beilstein. The arms have been borne since 5 January 1981. Culture and sightseeing Buildings The following are listed buildings or sites