In the green spaces on the banks of the Rhine outside the city, goods are traded, fights are held and music is played as in the Middle Ages. In the course of the 14th century, four communities formed the "Gefreiter Thäler" (freedmen) of an area formerly owned by the archbishops of Cologne. The town of Bacharach as well as Steeg, Diebach (Rhein- and Oberdiebach) and Manubach belonged to the "four valleys". The constitutional term "valley" meant the elevation of the village to a legal status similar to that of a town by means of a manorial charter of liberation.