Woffenbach Castle

Woffenbach Castle around 1850

The Woffenbach Castle is a abgegangenes castle in the formerly independent Upper Palatinate municipality Woffenbach , now a part of the district town of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate .

history

Woffenbach was a fiefdom of the Landgraves von Leuchtenberg , which was issued to the Reichsministerial Wolfstein-Sulzbürger , who also held the Sulzbürg Reichslehen . Wolfsteiner ministers sat in Woffenbach . In a sales deed on November 16, 1265, a Wolvelinus de Wofenbach was named as a witness in a sales letter from Konrad von Sulzbürg, and in a document dated January 28, 1268, the Wolfram and Heinrich brothers were named as guarantors for the daughter of Konrad von Sulzbürg, who was still under age. In 1283 Ulrich von Sulzbürg handed over his goods in Woffenbach to the Teutonic Order House in Nuremberg . On June 15, 1294, Landgrave Ulrich von Leuchtenberg confirmed the handover of an estate at Woffenbach to the Order of Teutonic Knights , which Hartungus Swepherman had received in 1287 and Siegfried Schweppermann in 1294 as a fief from Landgrave Gebhard von Leuchtenberg. These were already located here before 1300. The Schweppermen followed in 1329 Ulrich the Ginchinger and 1348 Heinrich the Rieter.

For the next 100 years, Woffenbach came to the Freudenbeck family. In a letter of purchase from 1432, an Emeram von Freudenbeck is mentioned. Other members of this family who had their seat here were Hermann (1434) and Georg von Freudenbeck (1484, 1499). On July 10, 1503, Johann von Freundebeck zu Ruperstein sells the Woffenbach headquarters to his uncle Sebastian Spiegel zu (A) Ullersdorf. But on March 20, 1539, the brothers Hans-Jörg and Martin von Freudenbeck bought back the half of Woffenbach. In 1582, Hans Leonhard B (P) ocksteiner sat here; he and his wife Anna Maria Woffenbach sold on July 14, 1603 to the Palatinate Council and Nerumarkter mayor Hannß Georg von Rumroth; it is said, "The estate had come down completely, the land sucked, the fish ponds silted up and the buildings collapsing". Ten years later Paul Sigmund Castner von Schnaittenbach acquired the country estate and after his death it came to his father-in-law, the Nuremberg patrician Sigmund Holzschuher. Because he did not want to profess the Catholic religion either, an administrator was appointed in 1640 and the seat was sold, after which Johann Christoph Zeiler can be found here in 1660 and David Haun in 1694. The estate of Friedrich Anton Albrecht von Löwenthal came from the Tänzl von Tratzbergs , who had married the widow of Hainns, in 1735. His granddaughter married Baron von Boslarn and the latter gave the property to his daughter Josefa, married Countess von Spreti in 1796 . Their daughter Luise von Spreti was the wife Dr. Johann Baptist Schrauth.

In the 19th century, different owners of the castle estate are named, so in 1873 a Dr. Schrauth the owner, Georg Tischner from Rittershof acquired the palace chapel in 1879 and donated it to the community, from 1877 to 1895 the estate became the property of the knight Eduard von Pessl. After that, owners changed quite quickly and often. The names Keppner, Löhe and Kommerzienrat Meusel can be found and finally Alfred Bischoff is registered here as the owner of the castle estate from 1897 to 1927. Then Heinrich Capito took over the estate.

Castle chapel St. Margaretha in Woffenbach

Todays use

In 1937 Ludwig von Gemmingen-Hornberg acquired the castle estate from Heinrich Capito and moved to Woffenbach with his wife Ilse on January 1, 1937. The family lived in the castle from 1937 to 1950. In 1950 the family moved to an adjoining building and in May 1950 rented the castle to the Bavarian Red Cross , which operated a retirement home here. In 1955 the BRK bought the castle building. In that year the Gemmingen-Hornberg family gave up farming and a riding club moved into the empty stable building. In 1964 Ludwig von Gemmingen-Hornberg sold his entire property and moved with his family to Lautersheim in the Palatinate.

The castle building was demolished in 1965 in order to build a new senior citizens' residence and this stone witness to Woffenbach's history was lost forever; The palace chapel, sections of the palace garden wall, the palace courtyard, farm buildings and the palace stadel have been preserved. The buildings are now used for cultural events. The surrounding castle park was redesigned in 2014 and is now open to the public.

literature

Herbert Rädle: Castles and fortress stables in the Neumarkt district - A guide to historical sites. District of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate (Ed.), Undated