Raaf Castle

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Raaf Castle, view from the northeast

Burg Raaf , also spelled Burg Raaff , is the ruin of a residential tower in the Berlotte district of the Belgian town of Eynatten . The castle was built at the end of the 14th century and is in very poor condition. Since June 6, 1986, she is under monument protection .

history

Raaf was a fiefdom of the Aachen Marienstift and was probably owned by the Rave family, who gave the complex its name, until the middle of the 14th century. The first owner known by name was Johann Crümmel (also Krümmel) von Eynatten, who was mentioned in a document from 1380. He also owned Ruyff Castle in Henri-Chapelle . He bequeathed the property to his son Diederich, who succeeded his father as lord of the castle in 1439. When he died in 1452, part of the castle passed to Diederich's daughter Jutta and her husband Johann von Eys, called Beusdael. Another part went to Jutta's brother Johann. His son of the same name from his marriage to Katharina von Schwarzenberg had a daughter: Maria, who married her second cousin, Heinrich von Schwarzenberg. For a long time, the von Schwarzenbergs fought with the Krümmels about Raaf Castle before an agreement was finally reached in 1531: The von Schwarzenberg family renounced Raaf, while the Krümmels, in return, renounced a house and goods in Raeren . In the end, however, Marie's son Johann von Schwarzenberg acquired Raaf Castle. His daughter Anna married Engelbert von Etzbach for the second time and gave him her part in the castle.

The daughter Christine emerged from their marriage and passed the property on to her husband from the von Moers family by marriage. But Christine's brother Reinhard also owned part of Raaf Castle for a time, because in 1570 he appeared as the owner in a document. Ultimately, however, the property came completely into the possession of von Moers. In 1647 200  acres of land belonged to the castle, and three years later the children of Wilhelm von Moers, Johann, Kaspar, Anna Margaretha and Christina, were registered as owners. Later Johann von Moers appeared as the sole owner. Through the marriage of his sister Anna Margaretha, the castle passed to the family of her husband, the Junker Karl von Lamboy zu Croenendael , who was registered as the owner for 1668. The property came to the eldest grandson Engelbert von Lamboy through his son. After his death, his widow Françoise de Flamige lived in the castle alone.

Later the property was on the Walhorner aldermen Arnold Schmetz sold his widow Katharina her niece Maria Katharina Pael bequeathed him. Through her he came to the family of her husband Jakob Andreas Coenen. Around 1891 his daughter Maria Katharina inherited the castle and brought it to her husband Friedrich Hertzog. At that time the old residential tower was already half a ruin, because after it had only been inhabited until the beginning of the 19th century, its roof was dismantled for tax reasons in 1832 and the building was left to decay. Maria Katharina's and Friedrich's children Adolf and Alwine inherited the property in 1907. Adolf Hertzog was deputy mayor of Aachen and also brought his sister's share into his possession, in order to sell it in 1912 to the brothers Heinrich and Nikolaus-Wilhelm Jennes. The two had previously been tenants of the property belonging to the castle .

description

Site plan of Raaf Castle based on the cadastre from 1826

The property consists of a medieval residential tower and a farmyard to the east. This consists of two parallel, elongated buildings which flank the entrance to the tower. They originally date from the 18th to 19th centuries, but were later heavily modified. In the past, a drawbridge led over the protective moat to the four-story residential tower, which was built from quarry sandstone . The bridge was later replaced by a high flight of stairs , which is no longer preserved. It led to the main entrance with a skylight and a strongly profiled wedge , which is located in the middle of the northeast facade facing the farm yard. While this front has three axes, the two narrow sides are only two-axis. Most of them show arched windows that were broken out in the second half of the 18th century. Older, smaller rectangular windows are walled up. On the northwest side are the remains of a lavatory dungeon . The residential tower has a footprint of around 8 × 12 meters and is around 12 meters high. In addition to the remains of a from bricks existing blocks frieze than the upper end of the tower still has the remains of four cantilevered at all four corners flock guard turrets that on heavy consoles rest. In its interior remains of chimneys and the ceiling brackets are preserved.

literature

  • Alfred Bertha: Could Raaff have looked like this? In: In the Göhltal. No. 57, August 1995, ISSN  2032-4154 , pp. 105-108.
  • Luc-Francis Genicot: Le grand livre des châteaux de Belgique. Volume 1: Châteaux forts et châteaux fermes. Vokaer, Brussels 1975, pp. 98-99.
  • Martine Joway-Marchal: Raaf Castle. In: Ghislaine de Bievre (ed.): Province de Liège: Arrondissement de Verviers, Part 3: M – S (= Le patrimoine monumental de la Belgique. Volume 12/3). Mardaga, Lüttich 1985, ISBN 2-8021-0069-6 , pp. 1163-1164.
  • Manfred Nimax: Castles, palaces, mansions in East Belgium. 3. Edition. Nimax, Aachen 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-020297-1 , pp. 22-25.
  • Guy Poswick: Les Délices du Limbourg . Self-published, Verviers 1951, pp. 313-318 ( digitized version ).
  • Heribert Reiners (ed.): The art monuments of Eupen-Malmedy. Pedagogical Verlag Schwann, Düsseldorf 1982, ISBN 3-590-32117-2 , pp. 119-121.
  • Administration of the German-speaking Community: Raeren (= directory of monuments. Volume 8). Administration of the German-speaking Community, Eupen 1990, pp. 311–312.

Web links

Commons : Burg Raaf  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Raaf Castle on the cultural heritage website of the German-speaking Community , accessed on May 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c Administration of the German-speaking Community: Raeren (= list of monuments. Volume 8). 1990, p. 311.
  3. ↑ a b c d G. Poswick: Les Délices du Limbourg . 1951, p. 314.
  4. ^ H. Reiners: The art monuments of Eupen-Malmedy. 1982, pp. 119-120.
  5. ^ A b G. Poswick: Les Délices du Limbourg . 1951, p. 317.
  6. ↑ a b c Burg Raaf on trois-frontieres.be , accessed on May 9, 2016.
  7. ^ A b c Christian Quix : Contributions to a historical-topographical description of the Eupen district, along with an appendix: The former rule of Mesch; with 35 certificates. Mayer, Aachen 1837, p. 192 ( digitized version ).
  8. ↑ a b H. Reiners: The art monuments of Eupen-Malmedy. 1982, p. 121.
  9. ^ G. Poswick: Les Delices du Limbourg . 1951, pp. 317-318.
  10. ↑ a b Administration of the German-speaking Community: Raeren (= list of monuments. Volume 8). 1990, p. 312.
  11. ^ G. Poswick: Les Delices du Limbourg . 1951, p. 318.

Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 52.2 ″  N , 6 ° 6 ′ 9 ″  E