Alflen

Alflen 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 Ulmen, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Geography

Location

The raised part of the village is called Kirch-Alflen for the church there (the first syllable comes from Kirche, which means “church” in German), and may well be the older part of the village. Beyond the river Litzbach lies the Überdorf (“Upper Village”) in a hollow.

History

In Alflona, the Karden ecclesiastical foundation owned, according to the directory of holdings compiled about 1100, an estate along with lands worked by compulsory labour and rights to two thirds of the parish’s tithes. This holding was confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1178. The foundation still held the tithing rights until the late 18th century. Named in the document issued by Pope Eugene III for the Abbey of Echternach in 1148 was, among other things, a lesser holding near Alflue or Afflue; another such reference crops up from 1161.