The area was settled first by the Celts, then after the turn of the Christian Era by Ubii and later by Mattiaci. In the first century, the Romans pushed forth to the Taunus. In Bingen they built a castrum, and on the other side, near what is now R�desheim, lay a bridgehead on the way to the Limes.
The Romans were followed by the Alamanni, and along with the Migration Period (V�lkerwanderung) came the Franks. Archaeological finds of glass from this time suggest that there was already winegrowing in R�desheim even then. The town�s origin as a Frankish Haufendorf (roughly, �clump village�) can still be seen on today�s town maps.
R�desheim had its first documentary mention in 1074. Its livelihood came mainly from winegrowing and shipping, particularly timber rafting.
On 1 January 1818, R�desheim received town rights.
After Prussia annexed the Duchy of Nassau in 1867 and divided the area into districts (Kreise), R�desheim became a district seat in the newly founded Rheingaukreis. This status it held for 110 years until 1977, when in the course of municipal reform in Hesse the districts of the Rheingaukreis and the Untertaunuskreis were merged into the new Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, and R�desheim had to yield the district seat to Bad Schwalbach. However, owing to its widespread recognizability, the old car licence designation R�D came through the shift in district alignment unchanged, despite all the existing rules that would have seen SWA become the new district�s designation.
In 1877, the first foundation stone for the Niederwalddenkmal, which would be finished in 1883, was laid. This patriotic monument drew a great many tourists, who at that time reached the site high above the town on a cog railway, although today it is a gondola lift that brings visitors up to the monument. Tourism is more and more displacing shipping as a source of income.
In 1970, a single was released under the title R�desheim liegt nicht an der Themse
