 The Lords of Leyen had their roots in the lower Moselle area, and by the High Middle Ages, they already resided at their castle near Gondorf on the Moselle.They were mostly in the service of the Archbishop of Trier, and Johann von der Leyen-Safﬁg was even chosen to fill that office in 1556.Alongside the Leyens, their kin, the Mauchenheims took turns being enfeoffed with parts of the monastery's holdings in the Münchweiler valley, but as of 1533, only the Barons – later Counts – of Leyen were fiefholders there.