Grebenhausen Castle

Grebenhausen Castle
Alternative name (s):	Grebenstein, Grevenhaus
Creation time :	1335
Castle type :	Niederungsburg
Conservation status:	Wall remains
Standing position :	Count
Place:	Weilmünster - Möttau
Geographical location	50 ° 28 '9 " N , 8 ° 25' 55" E Coordinates: 50 ° 28 '9 " N , 8 ° 25' 55" E
Height:	235 m above sea level NN

The castle Grebe Hausen is the ruins of a moated castle in the district of Möttau the community Weilmünster in Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse .

location

The remains of the castle are now surrounded by forest in the Häuserbachtal am Pechbach on a small island in a pent-up meadow and flow into the Solmsbach after a few kilometers . The ruin is located a few meters to the north near the Möttau forester's house and south of the 372 district road, almost exactly in the middle between Altenkirchen (Braunfels) and Niederquembach ( Schöffengrund ).

history

Historically, the moated castle is associated with the southern villages of Möttau and Kraftsolms . In the early Middle Ages , the Mönchshof Hausen was in between , looked after by monks from the Fulda monastery . In the middle of the 11th century the manor came to the lords of Gleiberg , who were probably bailiffs of Fulda. He was succeeded by the Counts of Solms . It is possible that a small castle already existed at this time to secure the monk's court and the control of the Hauserbach valley and its road.

In 1335, Count Gerlach I von Nassau acquired the land and in the same year had the moated castle built in the forest near today's forester's house to protect the border against the Counts of Solms . In 1338 Gerlach gave the castle to his second wife Irmgard von Hohenlohe.

In 1358, the castle was formally divided on the Katharinentag von Eltvill as heir to his son Johann I in 1355 , Johann's brother and Archbishop of Mainz Gerlach von Nassau gave the castle to the knight Johann Merz von Kriftel as a fief he had previously occupied Kriftel's own property, Hamershusen Castle , and handed it over to his brother Johann, as Merze von Kriftel wanted to sell to the Landgraves of Hesse . Around 1361 Gerlach took Grebenhausen away from him without a replacement. A legal dispute about it is documented in 1363. Presumably Johann Merze von Kriftel was entrusted with the fiefdom of the moated castle again, because the Nassau house bought the castle back in 1439 (the Merze von Kriftel were deeply in debt and died out on the male side as early as 1441). It is not clear whether an enfeoffment of the Hausen area in 1453 by Count Philipp von Nassau-Weilburg to Georg von Sulzbach still had something to do with the moated castle. The castle was mentioned for the last time in 1562 due to the division of inheritance.

Only small remains of the wall have survived from the former castle.

Todays use

Today's pond-like facility is privately owned and designated as a cultural monument for historical reasons ( ground monument ).

literature

Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 429 f.
Christian Daniel Vogel: Description of the Duchy of Nassau , Beyerle Verlag, Wiesbaden 1843, p. 325 ff. And p. 809

Web links

Grebenhausen Castle at www.weilmünster.de
State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Hrsg.): Wasserburgruine Grebenstein In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
Image of the moth on Wehrbauten.de

Individual evidence

^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Forsthaus Möttau In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
↑ ^a ^b Rudolf Knappe: Medieval Castles in Hessen , p. 430
^ Christian Daniel Vogel: Description of the Duchy of Nassau , p. 327
↑ Renamed from Mainz to Burg Gerlachshausen and located in the Rockenberg district.
↑ Vigener, RggEbMz No. 1411 , in: Die Regesten der Mainz Archbischöfe ; Accessed September 28, 2017

^ Wrong in Knappe, p. 430 as Philipp von Nassau-Saarbrücken; in the Nassau division of 1442, however, his brother Johann Nassau-Saarbrücken got and founded this new line, which existed until 1574.

^ Entry on Wasserburg Grebenhausen in the private database "Alle Burgen". Retrieved September 28, 2017.

[1] State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Forsthaus Möttau In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse

[Knappe-2] Rudolf Knappe: Medieval Castles in Hessen , p. 430

[BdHN-3] Christian Daniel Vogel: Description of the Duchy of Nassau , p. 327

[4] Renamed from Mainz to Burg Gerlachshausen and located in the Rockenberg district.

[5] Vigener, RggEbMz No. 1411 , in: Die Regesten der Mainz Archbischöfe ; Accessed September 28, 2017

[6] Wrong in Knappe, p. 430 as Philipp von Nassau-Saarbrücken; in the Nassau division of 1442, however, his brother Johann Nassau-Saarbrücken got and founded this new line, which existed until 1574.

[7] Entry on Wasserburg Grebenhausen in the private database "Alle Burgen". Retrieved September 28, 2017.