Deudesfeld  Deudesfeld (in Eifel dialect: "Deisseld") is an "Ortsgemeinde" – a municipality belonging to a "Verbandsgemeinde", a kind of collective municipality – in the southwest Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the "Verbandsgemeinde" of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town. In Deudesfeld, Moselle Franconian is spoken. The municipality lies in the Vulkaneifel, a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth. The municipality is made up of the main centre, likewise called Deudesfeld, and the outlying centre ("Ortsteil") of Desserath, as well as the homesteads of Mausensmühle and Turnermühle. Deudesfeld, formerly Dudensvelt, Dudenesfelt or Dudesfeld, gets its name from the Frankish given name Dedin with the placename ending "—feld" (“field”). The customary dialectal name Deisselt is actually a corruption of the name Desserath (formerly Deissilrod), an outlying centre. Finds of golden coins, potsherds and bits of tools dating from Roman times have led to the conclusion that there was already a settlement of some kind here as early as the 3rd century. Deudesfeld had its first documentary mention in 1171 when the knight Ludwig von Deudesfeld was mentioned by name as a witness. Among other things, the founding of the Cistercian Saint Thomas's Convent on the Kyll can be traced back to him in connection with an extensive donation that brought Deudesfeld a dependence lasting centuries. Only when the convent's holdings were sold off under French rule, which began in 1794, was the bond with the ecclesiastical order broken. Deudesfeld's allegiance to the Electorate of Trier also ended with the coming of the French. Over the centuries, Deudesfeld was not spared the evils that afflicted other communities. Witches were persecuted and the Plague swept through. In particular, though, the secular and ecclesiastical authorities led to exploitation and repression. Sackings and atrocities in mediaeval wars only made the suffering keener. In the 17th century, the village was even emptied for seven years as the villagers hid themselves in the woods to survive.