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Diedendorf and Schalbach, Lorraine
The Allaman Heritage, Durward B. Allaman / Richard J. Henry
All Rights Reserved, © 1997 Richard J. Henry
Map available from www.mapquest.com
 Schalbach is seven miles east of Vinstigen (Fenetrange -French). In the first half of the eighteenth century, it was in the lordship of Vinstigen and this lordship was under the Lorraine influence. Lorraine itself, formerly a mighty and independent duchy, had come under French control and finally fell to France in 1766. The inhabitants of this province were not allowed to have Protestant services by order of the French royalty and under death threats.
A Reformed parish centered at Diedendorf, where the records start in 1698, was established after the military defeat of Louis XIV in 1697, and the restoration of this area to the Counts of Nassau. This parish served all of Nassau-Sarrewerden and also the remaining Huguenot families in the neighboring territories of Lixheim and Vinstigen. After the defeat of Louis XIV in 1697, many Reformed Swiss families came into the area to repopulate and they appear in large numbers in the Reformed parish records at Diedendorf. Diedendorf was one of seven villages that were founded by the Huguenots in 1559 with permission of the Counts of Nassau. Several of the families that appear in the Diedendorf records, Schneider, Wotring (Vautrin), Balliet, Marx and Hahn, also all appear in the Egypt Reformed church records in Lehigh Co., PA.
This area was peaceful and prosperous until the time of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). In 1629 the Grafschaft of Nassau-Sarrewerden was occupied by the Duchy of Lorraine. The Catholic Lorraine occupation resulted in the immediate expulsion of all Reformed pastors in Nassau-Saarwerden. From 1635 to 1648, the political jurisdictions (and official religions) changed several times. Many of the early Huguenot families fled from the area; others died from hunger, pestilence and the evils of warfare.
In 1649, the Lorraine troops returned to the area. Many of the Huguenot families fled to Bischweiler, fifty miles to the east, the closest settlement with a Reformed congregation. In 1670 the Lorraine occupation ended and Sarrewerden County was returned to the Counts of Nassau. Peace did not last, and King Louis XIV of France again occupied the region in 1676. In 1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes which led to a mass emigration of Huguenots from the French occupied territories. A new edict stated that the Reformed people should convert to Catholicism, and this edict was also applied by the local commanders to the Lutheran inhabitants of the Grafschaft of Nassau-Saarwerden. This edict also threatened the death penalty to those who attempted emigration. Louis XIV of France withdrew from the Nassau-Sarrewerden territory in 1697, but parts of the area remained under Lorraine influence and Protestant services were still not permitted, although forced conversions to Catholicism ceased.
At the time of the emigration the county of Nassau-Sarrewerden was German territory. This county was annexed to Alsace on 23 Nov. 1793.
There is no connection between the old Lallemand and the various Allemand, Alliman, Allimang families that suddenly appear in the Reformed Church records of Diedendorf and Rauweiler after 1698.
The Vautrin and Balliet families were Reformed and had to walk large distances to participate at a Reformed Holy Supper. One of the oldest Reformed congregations at that time was in the city of Hornbach in the Duchy of Phalz-Zweibrucken, thirty miles north of Diedendorf. The French armies were already retreating at that time, though peace did not come until the end of 1697.
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