The municipality lies in the Hunsrück some 18 km west of Oberwesel and one kilometre east of Gödenroth.

In 1098 came Castle Dudenroth's first documentary mention; at this time it belonged to Gandolf von Braunshorn.

In the 17th century, Braunshorn and Dudenroth both lay in the territory governed by the “Three-Lord Court”, whose seat was in Beltem (Beltheim).

Before the Thirty Years' War, there were three hearths (for this read “households”) in the village of Braunshorn, according to records.

In 1798, Braunshorn and Dudenroth found themselves in the French Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Gödenroth, itself in the Canton of Castellaun within the Arrondissement of Simmern, which lay in the Department of Rhin-et-Moselle.

On the night of 1 January 1814, Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher advanced across the frozen Rhine near Kaub, freeing the lands on the Rhine's left bank from French rule; they declared it officially Prussian territory on 1 June 1815.

The lands on the Rhine's left bank, and thereby the Hunsrück, too, were neglected in the 19th century as a border area, which showed up in the lack of trade and industry.

Besides the provincial road from Boppard to Simmern, there were only poorly developed tracks linking individual villages with each other.

This was not enough, though, to ensure a good family income by itself, for agricultural operations were usually quite small, and the soils were middling to poor in quality.