Illerich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kaisersesch, whose seat is in the like-named town. Geography Location The municipality, characterized by agriculture, lies in the Eifel some 50 km southwest of Koblenz, near the Moselle valley. Neighbouring municipalities Landkern lies just to the west, and Wirfus to the east. History About 1180, Illerich had its first certain documentary mention in the St. Matthias Mirakeln, which mentioned a “wonderful event” in villa Elrecha. The first documentary mention with an exact date comes from 1256; it is a document under whose terms Archbishop Arnold II of Isenburg approved the transfer of bondsmen from Ilriche to Himmerod Abbey. A document dated 15 August 1324, in which Sir Paul von Eich, Electoral-Trier Burgrave at Neuerburg, is named as the owner of holdings in Illerich, mentions the donation of an estate in Illerich to Rosenthal Monastery in 1321. It was also mentioned in 1331 that Himmerod Abbey had holdings here. Further holdings in Illerich (1331 and 1338) were owned by, among others, the noblemen Hermann von Bachem and Johann von Pommern. Illerich belonged along with Landkern to the Klotten High Court, and then later to the Electoral-Trier Amt of Cochem, eventually being grouped into the Cochem district in 1815. Before 1400, Diedrich, Lord at Daun was the tithe lord. Together with his wife Luzie, he transferred the tithing rights to Hentzen, called Speiss, the Schultheiß in Kaisersesch, as a fief. The next tithe lord after Daun was Manderscheid, for on 10 October 1493, Johann, Burgrave of Manderscheid and Count of Blankenheim, and his wife, Margret von der Mark gave each of their daughters Anna and Irmgard at the Marienberg Convent 20 Malter of grain from their tithes in Illerich. In 1569, the whole tithe of 50 Malter was shared by the Junkers of Gerolstein and Haust von Ulmen. In 1680, the families of the Count of Gerolstein and the Count of Pützfeld were mentioned. Towards the end of the 18th century, the tithes from Illerich were the subject of disagreement between the Countess of Sternberg and the Abbot of Brauweiler, leading to a rather lengthy court case between 1783 and 1787. Beginning in 1794, Illerich lay under French rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress