Electorate of Cologne
The small town had only 124 plots for houses. The parish Zons comprised also the village Stürzelberg, part of the village Horrem and the village of Haus Bürgel, which is nowadays located on the opposite banks of the river Rhine. Regarding church and court of justice matters Haus Bürgel and Zons originally belonged together. The canon law for the parish Bürgel/Zons was governed by Brauweiler Abbey. Already in 1374 Bürgel was moved from the west banks to east banks of the Rhine, probably due to a shift of the river. Zons, the Rhine toll town of the Prince-elector of Cologne is regarded as one of the best preserved Lower Rhine planned towns of the Late Middle Ages. Until 1794 the parish Zons belonged to the Electorate of Cologne and was bordered in the south by Dormagen, an enclave ruled by the Duchy of Jülich; in the south-west by Hackenbroich, a lordship within the Electorate of Cologne; in the west by Nievenheim, a parish within the Electorate of Cologne; in the north-west by Uedesheim, another lordship within the Electorate of Cologne. On the opposite banks of the Rhine were Urdenbach and Baumberg, "Honschaften" (lowest level administrative units similar to hundreds in England and Wales) within the Duchy of Berg.