Starting from 1480, Berendal passed through the hands of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg and followed their fate. In 1606 milestones were placed which separated the duchy of Lorraine and the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg from the hamlet of Melch to that of Bannstein. In 1648, Baerenthal was a part of the "baillage" of Lemberg, near the "Pirmasens dans le Palatinat", in the landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. Its landgrave, Louis VIII, was the son-in-law of count Johann-Reinhardt of Hanau-Lichtenberg and became his heir in 1786. In 1793, Baerenthal, as well as the neighboring territory of Philippsbourg in the canton of Bitche, were detached from Alsace and became part of the district of the Moselle. It was the Convention that made this decision during the French Revolution.