Boetzelaer Castle
The Burg Boetzelaer is in Appeldorn , a district of Kalkar in Kleve . Its origins go back to the 13th century. The moated castle is located on an arm of the old Rhine south of the so-called Boetzelaerer Sea on the Lower Rhine . Its builders, the lords of Boetzelaer, were one of the most powerful knight families in the region in the 13th and 14th centuries and were able to maintain their independence against the county of Kleve for a long time .
History of the owners and residents
In 1256 a Wessel van den Boetzelaer and his sons are mentioned in a document. His family descended from the Counts of Galen and was a very influential family in the Lower Rhine in the 13th and 14th centuries due to their extensive possessions - partly free property, partly fiefdom .
The glory of Appeldorn was allodial property of the family and their castle of the same name was one of the largest in the region. The facility was first mentioned in documents in 1265 and was located in the heart of what was then the county of Kleve, which resulted in constant tension between the Lords of Boetzelaer and the Counts of Kleve. In order to preserve their independence and not to be incorporated into the Klevian territories, the alliances that changed from Boetzelaer were entered into; sometimes with the Grafenhaus in Kleve, sometimes with its direct competitor, the Archdiocese of Cologne .
As Rutger III. However, von Boetzelaer gave his castle to Cologne Archbishop Friedrich III in 1379 . von Saar Werden became a fiefdom, he was involved in the feuds between Cologne and Kleve and taken prisoner by Klever Mannen in 1380. From the peace treaty negotiated a year later between the two feuding parties, Rutger III. but explicitly excluded at the instigation of the Klever Count. He had to swear primal feuds to both Kleve and Cologne . When he was accused ten years later of inciting the murder of a Klevian rentmaster , he holed up in his fortified castle to avoid arrest. In 1395/96, Adolf von Wylich therefore besieged Boetzelaer Castle and was able to take it. Rutger's son Wessel received the complex back as a Klevian fief, but the family never fully recovered from this defeat, although in 1417 they even received the inheritance of the Duchy of Kleve.
In the 15th century, the von Boetzelaer family split into two lines, one of which settled in the Netherlands . Their descendants still live there today. The other line remained in the possession of the castle complex. When it died out in the 17th century, the castle came to the barons of Wylich zu Kervendonk and from 1702 to the lords of Hertefeld through female succession and the marriage of Anna Katharina von und zu Boetzelaer with Johann Albert von Wylich . The later Prussian baron Johann Wilhelm von Gülcher bought Boetzelaer Castle from their descendant Friedrich Leopold Samuel von Hertefeld in 1806
In order to save the old building stock, the current owner, Maximilian Freiherr von Wendt- Papenhausen, bought the dilapidated facility in 1978 and had it rebuilt in sections. After securing the old building stock and partially rebuilding it, Boetzelaer Castle opened its gates to the public in November 2003. The fore and core of the castle offer overnight accommodation for visitors, and cultural events take place there regularly. In addition, rooms can be rented for conferences and seminars, and the castle chapel is available for civil weddings.
Building history
The exact founding date of Boetzelaer Castle is unknown. In the 13th century, it consisted of a square residential tower on the southeast corner of the main castle island and an elongated outer bailey to the south with access to the east.
In the first half of the 14th century, an irregular circular wall with three round towers at the outer corners of the main castle was built around the castle area . She wrapped a large Palasbau and at the same time the seven-story castle keep spiked residential tower. The castle gate was moved from the east to the south side at the same time.
In 1316, two new, well-fortified houses for the younger brothers Ruttgers II were built in the area of the outer bailey. However, they fell back to the main line of the family in the 14th century.
During the siege of the complex by Klevian troops from 1395, the castle was partially destroyed; among other things by fire damage. Reconstruction began a short time later at the beginning of the 15th century. During this work, new extensions were added, so that the system then experienced the greatest expansion in its history. It was now located on three islands, and in 1439 a second outer bailey was mentioned.
Around 1560, Boetzelaer Castle was modernized and rebuilt in the Renaissance style . For example, a representative gate hall was built. Another remodeling measure concerned the inner courtyard of the core castle, which was mothballed. As a result of this work, the former ground floor of the hall became a cellar. Construction researchers see these changes as being due to possible previous flood damage.
Largely spared from the Thirty Years' War , the castle was subsequently further modified in the Baroque style in the 17th century . Demolitions of some components opened the main house to the outer bailey. A third wing was built on the south-west side and an open gallery with a central projection was created in the inner courtyard .
In the first quarter of the 19th century, the facility was first reduced as part of a massive renovation that had become necessary due to the dilapidation. Subsequently, from 1830, it was redesigned into a classicist castle . The demolition of the keep and the eastern half of the palace gave Boetzelaer its current size, and the installation of steam central heating in the 1920s brought "modern technology" into the building for the first time.
The castle was badly damaged during the Second World War , and the rest was looted . Despite the emergency backup, the gradual decline followed. Since 1950 only the outer bailey has been used for residential purposes, the core bailey, however, increasingly degenerated into ruins .
After the remains had passed into the possession of the Barons von Wendt in 1978, security measures and partial reconstruction work were carried out from 1997 onwards, which were completed in 2003.
description
Boetzelaer Castle is a two-part complex, consisting of a horseshoe-shaped outer bailey and the core castle to the north-west of it, the size of which is only a small part of the former core castle dimensions.
The three-winged outer bailey has only one storey, which is closed off by a high, pan-covered , half-hip roof . The two side wings each have a length of about 30 meters, but are not the same width. At the eastern corner of the former farm building is a massive, square tower with a flat tent roof . Its two floors rise on an approximately 7 × 7 meter floor plan. The middle section of the outer bailey is about 38 meters long. The opposite side, not occupied by a wing of the building, is bordered by a low wall, in the middle of which there is a two-winged gate between two simple pillars .
Boetzelaer's main castle is a three-storey, brightly plastered brick building , the three storeys of which stand on a high basement and are covered by a gable roof. The building is essentially the west wing of the former main castle with dimensions of around 20 × 9 meters. A part of the former south wing joins it at right angles at the southern end. A modern glass front on its short side makes it clear that this tract, measuring around 9 × 9 meters, is a partial reconstruction. Of the remaining part of the south wing that has not been rebuilt, only the outer wall of the ground floor remains. The western corner of the main castle is marked by a four-storey round tower with a diameter of about six meters, which used to be a corner tower of the extensive castle complex. Inside, it houses the castle chapel on the first floor. At the northern end of today's core castle is the stump of another former corner tower.
The interior of the main castle can be entered on the east side through a simple arched portal with a double-leaf door. It leads into a two-storey porch, which today serves as a vestibule . On the ground floor of the building is the so-called knight's hall with a brick floor, cross vault and a large fireplace. From there, a tall, Western outside vorgebauter can Erker be entered brick, the roof of the first floor as a balcony can be used and a parapet of Haustein has.
literature
- Paul Clemen (Ed.): The art monuments of the district of Kleve (= The art monuments of the Rhine Province . Volume 1, Section 4). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1892, p. 435 ( digitized version ).
- Gregor Spor: How nice to dream away here. Castles on the Lower Rhine. Pomp , Bottrop, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-89355-228-6 , pp. 74-75.
- Jens Wroblewski, André Wemmers: Theiss-Burgenführer Niederrhein . Konrad Theiss , Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1612-6 , pp. 32-33 .
Web links
- Site of Boetzelaer Castle
- History of Boetzelaer Castle and its owners ( Memento from January 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
Remarks
- ↑ Sale on August 11, 1806 in front of the Xanten notary Houben for 384,600 Francs in file number 466. The furniture in the castle was sold on the same day with file number 467 for 11,250 francs. Source: Landesarchiv NRW, Duisburg - Notare Rep 326/3 Repertory.
- ↑ a b c d e f Information according to the online cadastral map for Kalkar-Appeldorn
Coordinates: 51 ° 43 '43.4 " N , 6 ° 20' 53" E