Rheinland-Phalz was involved in the "Thirty Years' War" from 1818 to 1648 during which time the country was turned from prosperous to a wilderness of uncultivated land.In 1621 the country was under Spanish rule. All of the rulers of northern Europe...Spain, England , Holland,and the Germans were united against King Louis XIV of France. The French king could not cope with such a force,so he was quoted as saying about the Rhineland," If the soil of the Palatinate was not to furnish supplies to the French, it should be so wasted that it would at least furnish no supplies to the Germans."Whole villages were set ablaze,crops were plowed under,And orchards and vineyards were destroyed. Research indicates that the damage suffered during World War II in that area was minimal compared to this. The population of the region decreased from 17 million to just 4 million during this period. The war finally ended with the treaty of Rhyswick signed in 1697. The great William Penn visited the area both in 1671 and 1677 and offered residents a home in his Province in America. There they could live without war and persecutions and under laws they would share in making. Several thousand acres were sold, and one of the first settlements was Germantown, Pennsylvania. Mattheies Riegell,b.abt. 1613, d. abt.1670 Married Maria Werner,b.abt 1616, d. abt.1669. This couple were the forebearers of many, if not most of all Riegels(or such variants as Riggle, Reigel, etc.)who came from Germany to Pennsylvania.The next generation was Jost Riegell,1635-1688) and his wife Maria Elizabetha Hoenen (1635-1689). Their son Johannes Cornelius Riegel, would establish his family in Pennsylvania. The next journal will address the beginnings of life in Pennsylvania