Diedenshausen is a small village, since 1975 a constituent community of Bad Berleburg

Bad Berleburg

Bad Berleburg is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approx...

 in Siegen-Wittgenstein

Siegen-Wittgenstein

Siegen-Wittgenstein is a Kreis in the southeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Olpe, Hochsauerlandkreis, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Lahn-Dill, Westerwaldkreis, Altenkirchen.-History:...

 district and Arnsberg

Arnsberg (region)

Arnsberg is one of the five Regierungsbezirke of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the south-east of the country. It covers the Sauerland hills as well as the east part of the Ruhr area....

 region in North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

 in the Federal Republic of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is located on the east side of the heavily forested Rothaargebirge

Rothaargebirge

The Rothaargebirge is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany....

 (Red-haired Mountains), immediately on the border with Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

. A few houses lie to the east of the Elsoff creek which forms the state border, and they are technically in Hesse. Diedenshausen is located at 51°4′27"N 8°30′11"E.

History

The small farming village of Diedenshausen was first mentioned in documents in 1194. The great political philosopher Johannes Althusius

Johannes Althusius

Johannes Althusius was a German jurist and Calvinist political philosopher.He is best known for his 1603 work, "Politica Methodice Digesta, Atque Exemplis Sacris et Profanis Illustrata"; revised editions were published in 1610 and 1614...

 was born and raised here. The accepted faith of the people was the Reformed doctrine of Calvinism

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

. Native son, Daniel Womelsdorf was the first from the village known to emigrate to America in 1724.

Today, the village has a large number of restored half-timbered

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

 houses for which reason it was designated by the German government, in 1998, as one of the "Federal Golden Villages".