Langendorf Castle

Langendorf Castle
Aerial photograph (2016)
Creation time :	12./13. century
Castle type :	Niederungsburg
Conservation status:	Preserved essential parts
Construction:	Quarry stone, brick, half-timbering
Place:	Langendorf (Zuelpich)
Geographical location	50 ° 40 '22.3 "  N , 6 ° 36' 44.7"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 40 '22.3 "  N , 6 ° 36' 44.7"  E

The castle Langendorf , on the edge of the village with the same three kilometers west of Zülpich in Euskirchen located, is a late Gothic water castle , whose origins in the 12-13. Go back to the century. It is one of the best preserved moated castles in the Rhineland , but is only accessible to the public as part of pre-booked group tours.

description

Exterior

The Niederungsburg used to be a two-part complex, consisting of a three-winged outer bailey and a manor house , which were separated from each other by a moat until the 18th century . After the moat was filled in and the outer bailey buildings have been connected directly to the main house since 1882, the castle presents itself as a four-wing complex that surrounds a rectangular inner courtyard.

The manor house of Langendorf Castle, seen from the north

At the eastern corner of the area is the two-storey mansion made of quarry stone, measuring around 8 × 25 meters, on a high basement. Like the round corner tower, its south-east half dates from the 15th century and is therefore one of the oldest structures in the complex. The younger part of the building includes its north-western half with a half-timbered upper floor , chapel bay windows and the former courtrooms in the basement. It stands out clearly from the older half with a corner block. The round tower on the eastern corner of the building has small, rectangular windows and is closed off by a kink helmet . The roof structure of the manor house is one of the best preserved from the late Middle Ages . Until the 19th century, the building was a two-winged angular structure, which the basement of the former north wing, which is still preserved today, shows. Its upper floors could be entered through a stair tower with a spiral staircase . Together with two defensive walls on the west and south sides of the core castle island , which had battlements , the building delimited a rectangular inner courtyard.

The outer bailey was built in the 16th century. In the original, only the west wing with outer walls made of quarry stone and a roof structure from 1568/69 is preserved, the other wings of the building date from the 1880s. Above the portal from 1892 on the southeast side are the coats of arms of Wirich von Gertzen and his wife Anna von Vlatten, which come from around 1530 and probably from the broken mansion wing.

inside rooms

The northern part of the main building basement has unusually elaborate ceilings, which consist of a two-aisled cross - ribbed vault . They date from around 1500 and were used for the representative decoration of the rooms that were used as a court.

The first floor above was used as a representative main living area and initially consisted of just one large room that could be heated via a fireplace on the south wall. With the installation of a second chimney, which shows the coats of arms of Johann von Palants and Anna von Gertzens and the year 1580, the room was divided into two. The second floor was used exclusively for living and, like the first floor, has a toilet bay . It is believed to have been divided into several small rooms in the 15th century. Today, however, it only comprises one large room.

The upper floor of the round tower was always used as a normal room. There was access to the dungeon-like room below , the height of which was two storeys. Since the 19th century it has been divided into two rooms by a vaulted false ceiling.

history

As early as the 12th century, a noble family called "von Langendorf" is guaranteed, which is why a permanent house can be assumed for this time , from which today's complex developed. A castle courtyard belonging to Count von Jülich was first mentioned in a document in Langendorf in 1240 . A ministerial family resided there until the 14th century , whose members were Jülich feudal people : the Lords of Langendorf. They were succeeded as owners by the von Gertzen gentlemen. In 1447 Hubert von Gertzen, married to Sophia von Nesselrode , was mentioned in a document as the owner of the castle. His son Wilhelm, married to Beatrix von Merode-Rummen, was bailiff of Münstereifel, hereditary bailiff of Frauenberg, feudal man of Prüm for their Niderevelnich estates and since 1498 owner of the Langendorf district court. This abundance of power was probably the reason for him to convert and expand the castle into that late Gothic knight's seat , partly including the existing building fabric, whose representative character has been preserved to this day. In the period from 1495 to 1505, he had a three-story angular building erected instead of an older, multi-storey residential tower , which now makes up the northeastern part of the manor house.

Illustration of the castle in the Codex Welser , around 1723

When the family died out with Wirich von Gertzen in the male line in 1535, Wirich's heiress Anna brought Burg Langendorf to her husband Johann von Palant, Herr zu Nothberg and Laurenzberg . Under the couple in 1568-69 the outer bailey was renovated and in 1580 the interior of the manor house was rebuilt. Anna von Gertzen survived her husband and her sons, so that in 1611 she bequeathed the knight's seat, which was suitable for the state assembly, to her nephew Johann von Binsfeld . His daughter Elisabeth married Arnold von Wachtendonk and brought the castle into their marriage. Arnold sold Langendorf in 1659 to Baron Damian Salentin von Harff zu Dreiborn . The von Harffs managed the facility as a lease until the 19th century.

After the lordly status of Langendorf was lost in 1794, it was only an expensive and uninteresting property for the owners, because the von Harffs lived mainly in their larger and more modern Dreiborn Castle . Clemens Wenzelslaus Philipp von Harff zu Dreiborn therefore sold the castle and the associated land in 1834 for 21,500  thalers to Franz Georg Weckbecker. He had the land partially parceled out and demolished the north wing of the manor house and the east and south wings of the outer bailey. He then sold the remaining buildings with around 200  acres of land. After several changes of ownership, Johann Pohl acquired the facility in 1880 and had the farm buildings completely renovated by 1882. Since then they have been directly connected to the manor house. Before that, Langendorf Castle was a two-part complex, the outer bailey of which was separate from the main building. The property passed from Johann's son Eduard in 1957 to his great-nephew Manfred Vetter, who had the building extensively restored for decades from 1958 onwards.

literature

• Paul Clemen (ed.): The art monuments of the district of Euskirchen . L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1900 ( Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz . Volume 4, Section 4), pp. 110–111 ( online ).
• Harald Herzog: Langendorf Castle in Zülpich . 2nd Edition. Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-88094-756-2 ( Rheinische Kunststätten . Nr. 398).
• Harald Herzog: walls, towers and ruins. A hiking guide to castles and palaces in the Euskirchen district . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7927-1153-2 , pp. 15-18.
• Dirk Holterman, Harald Herzog: The Euskirchen Castle Tour. Cycling between Erft and Eifel . Rau, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-7919-0750-6 , p. 101 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Burg Langendorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ kreis-euskirchen.de , access on 10 May, 2010.
2. ^ H. Herzog: The Langendorf Castle in Zülpich , p. 13.
3. ↑ ^{a b} H. Herzog: The Langendorf Castle in Zülpich , p. 6.
4. ↑ ^{a b} H. Herzog: walls, towers and ruins , p. 17.
5. ^ H. Herzog: The Langendorf Castle in Zülpich , p. 11.
6. ↑ H. Herzog: Walls, Towers and Ruins , p. 16.
7. ↑ Harald Herzog: Castles and Palaces. History and typology of the noble seats in the Euskirchen district . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7927-1067-6 ( publications of the Association of History and Home Friends of the District of Euskirchen eV, Series A, Volume 17), p. 361.
8. ↑ Harald Herzog: Castles and Palaces. History and typology of the noble seats in the Euskirchen district . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7927-1067-6 ( publications of the Association of History and Home Friends of the District of Euskirchen eV, Series A, Volume 17), p. 362.
9. ^ H. Herzog: The Langendorf Castle in Zülpich , p. 5.
10. ^ H. Herzog: The Langendorf Castle in Zülpich , p. 7.