Merten Castle

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Merten Castle
Merten Castle over the victory

Merten Castle over the victory

Creation time : First mentioned in 1247
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Standing position : Noble
Place: Merten
Geographical location 50 ° 45 '56.4 "  N , 7 ° 23' 43"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 45 '56.4 "  N , 7 ° 23' 43"  E
Merten Castle (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Merten Castle
Merten Castle seen from Schloßstraße
Merten Castle from a bird's eye view

The Castle Merten was first mentioned in 1247. It is located in the Merten district of the Eitorf municipality opposite the Merten monastery .

history

Lords of Kappenstein

The old castle , like the old Merten monastery, was located near the current railway cut. The monastery was first mentioned directly in 1217. A document confirms that no house inhabited by lay people is allowed to stand within the monastery walls and that Otto von Kappenstein is to hand over the building to the monastery in return for compensation. Eberhard von Arenberg had left the parish of Wissen and the bailiwick of the Benedictine abbey in Werden to his brother Otto . Otto took his seat on the Kappenstein farm and called himself Otto von Kappenstein in 1217.

Lords of Wildenburg

Merten Castle was first mentioned in 1247. His son Gerhard built a new castle in the parish of Friesenhagen , the Wildenburg, after a division of the estate around 1230 and named himself after this Gerhard von Wildenburg from 1239 . The sons Eberhard and later Heinrich III. took over the burgrave office in Cologne , son Arnold was provost of Zeitz in 1218 , there was also a son Bruno.

The son of Heinrich III., Hermann, in turn had two sons, Hermann and Johann, the latter mentioned as Lord of Wildenburg from 1396 to 1411 and in 1383 as a knight. In addition, Hermann had a sister Jutta, who married Johann zu Hatzfeld in 1354 and had a son with him, whom they called Godhard von Hatzfeld den Ruwen (Gottfried der Rauhe) and who owned Merten Castle.

Count of Sayn

When the male Wildenburg tribe died out, the Counts of Sayn made claims to Merten Castle and got Godhard von Hatzfeld to give up his property. He later revoked this, but died over the dispute. His widow, Lückel von Erfertzhausen, took him back in and a 17 or 18 year long war broke out, in which Jülich and Kassel were also drawn. Finally the property was returned to the Hatzfeldern.

Lords of Hatzfeld

In 1414 Godhard and Craft von Hatzfeld signed a contract with the Archbishop of Cologne, Dietrich II , to soon move with him against Duke Adolf von Berg . In 1420 Gotthard von Hatzfeld, called the Rough, was enfeoffed with half of Wissen , the village of Merten, the wine tithes of Blankenberg and the previous fief of the Lords of Wildenburg.

Godhard's son Johann, called the Rauhe, married Katharina in 1441, daughter of the burgrave Johann von Drachenfels . Her son Johann married Maria von Nesselrode , daughter of Johann von Nesselrode zu Ehreshoven , in 1481 . From this marriage there were four daughters and eleven sons. Franz I von Hatzfeld († 1555), one of the younger sons of Johann von Hatzfeld and Maria von Nesselrode, married Elisabeth von Wylich for the second time in 1541 . He came into sole ownership of Merten Castle and became the founder of the Hatzfeld-Merten line.

Archbishop Salentin enfeoffed Frantz von Hatzfeld (Franz II.) In 1572, mentioning the predecessor Jürgen von Hatzfeld (Georg von Hatzfeld). 1616 enfeoffed Archbishop Ferdinand Wilhelm von Hatzfeld and named Sebastian von Hatzfeld zu Croddorf and Franz Wilhelm von Hatzfeld as predecessors . The guardian and cousin Johann Adrian von Hatzfeld zu Wildenburg is also mentioned.

In 1575 Hermann von Hatzfeld fought against the resistance of the Counts of Sayn for the imperial immediacy of Wildenburg.

Messrs. Scheiffart von Merode and Spies von Büllesheim

In 1681 the Merten line went out with Daniel von Hatzfeld in the male line. Lucie Christine von Hatzfeld, the daughter of Franz Wilhelm von Hatzfeld and sister Daniels, had married Bertram Scheiffart von Merode , son of Walraff Scheiffart von Merode and Elisabeth Spies von Büllesheim in 1643 . It was settled after a long process and the castle went under contract to the Scheiffart von Merode and Spies von Büllesheim families, but disputes arose due to an inheritance contract. Already in 1598 the cousins ​​Hermann, Franz, Wilhelm, Johann Gerhard, Bernhard and Sebastian, Herren zu Hatzfeld and Herren zu Wildenburg and Schönstein zu Werden and the son of Löwenstein von Hatzfeld zu Fleckenbühl had signed an inheritance contract, who excluded female inheritance and promised mutual inheritance to the castles of Hatzfeld, Wildenburg, Schönstein and Merten, Gut Crottorf and possessions in Kurköln, formerly Nassau and Amt Freusburg. It came to a process that lasted 99 years until 1780. The assignee of Scheiffart Merode, the Spies of Büllesheim, lost the case against Clemens August von Hatzfeld and lost next to Castle Merten also lock Allner one for the legal costs.

Counts and princes of Hatzfeldt

Before the Merten succession, the rule of Melchior von Hatzfeldt , Sebastian's son, had increased to include the Silesian rulership of Trachenberg for services in the Thirty Years' War , and when he died without an heir, it was solely owned by Count Hermann von Hatzfeld. Its Crottorfer line also died out in 1794 with Prince Friedrich Franz Karl Kajetan. He was inherited by Franz Ludwig von Hatzfeldt from the Schönstein line, who was also raised to the rank of Prussian prince in 1803. Merten came to Edmund von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg-Weisweiler, who in 1846 as Count Edmund von Hatzfeld as owner of the Merten manor was invited to vote for members of the state parliament.

In 1859 a settlement was reached to end the family disputes. Three inheritances were determined: The Trachenberger (Werther-Schönstein-Linie), the Mertener and the Wildenburger (Weisweiler). Merten's property included Merten Castle, Merten monastery and property in Merten, Halft , Höhe , Dattenfeld , Derenbach , Velken, Lauthausen , Blankenberg and Bülgenauel . After Count Edmund von Hatzfeldt, who doubled the holdings of the castle to four and a half thousand acres, Merten Castle went to Prince Hermann von Hatzfeldt zu Trachenberg from the Schönstein line. He owed 70,000 thalers to banker Landau and the castle was lost after two years.

Count Droste zu Vischering von Nesselrode-Reichenstein

In 1909, Count Felix Droste zu Vischering von Nesselrode-Reichenstein bought the cloister courtyard and castle. Merten Castle was set up in the monastery and initially served as a summer residence. After the First World War, Merten became the family seat. In 1930, the count also bought the east wing, which had previously served as the local school. After the severe destruction in the war, Merten Monastery was given up and sold. Today a retirement and nursing home is housed here. Merten Castle remained in the family's possession.

literature

  • Gabriel Busch (ed.): Merten (victory). His dear home. Reckinger & Co., Siegburg 1978.

Web links

Commons : Burg Merten  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Entry about Merten Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute