Vlatten Castle
| Vlatten Castle | ||
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 Vlatten Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection |
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| Creation time : | before 1331 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | Received or received substantial parts | |
| Place: | Vlatten | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 39 '4 " N , 6 ° 32' 57" E | |
| Height: | 279 m above sea level NN | |
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The moated castle Burg Vlatten is located in Vlatten , a district of Heimbach (Eifel) in the Düren district , North Rhine-Westphalia .
history
In the vicinity of today's parish church there was a Carolingian royal palace in which Ludwig the Pious and 846 Lothar I can be shown to have stayed. In the Middle Ages , two castles were built in Vlatten , each a few hundred meters north and south of the royal palace on the Vlattener Bach. The Palatinate itself, which for centuries was the center of a forest administration, lost its importance through the donation of the southern and most valuable part of the forest district by Heinrich IV. To Archbishop Anno of Cologne .
Johann I von Vlatten- Merode acquired the upper castle in 1331, the southern of the two castles. After purchasing this line, the von Merode were only called "von Vlatten" after their new headquarters.
Johann or one of his heirs built a castle in the 14th century, remains of which are still preserved today. It must be a case a rectangular towers reinforced main castle with an irregular outer ward have acted. The entire complex was surrounded by moats . Today, as remains of the old main castle, parts of the surrounding walls , towers at a moderate height, a two-story round tower and the barrel-vaulted basement of a short wing on the west side are still preserved.
The upper castle remained in the exclusive possession of von Vlatten-Merode until the 15th century. After Reiner I von Vlatten's death in 1448, his widow Ida Schall von Bulich married Sybert von Schwarz-Bongard for the second time in the same year. The couple signed an inheritance contract with Ida Schall's children from their first marriage. The upper castle was divided between the von Vlatten and von Schwarz-Bongard families.
Through the marriage of Katharinas von Vlatten, Sybert von Vlatten's only child, with Werner von Gymnich , the Vlattensche part of the upper castle fell to this family in the first half of the 16th century. In 1705 Anna Maria Amalia von Gymnich married Johann Arnold von Bocholz zu Lobberich and in this way he came into the possession of part of the upper castle. The other half were owned by von Syberg at the time.
Bocholz's share came to von Mirbach- Harff through marriage in 1729 . The other half fell to von Bentinck in 1739. Johann Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff and Maximilian von Bentinck sold the upper castle in 1787 to Clemens August von Syberg zu Eicks, who thus reunited the property. In 1808 Peter Brewer from Cologne acquired the property, which he sold back to Clemens August von Syberg in 1833.
In 1834 Heinrich Floer from Düren and Johann Engelbert Hahn from Merzenich bought the upper castle. Floer has been the sole owner since 1835. In 1882 the indebted property was bought by Julius Rütgers from Berlin . Rütgers gave the upper castle to his daughter Emilie, who was married to Major General Ernst Freiherr von Gagern . The Oberburg is still owned by the von Gagern family today.
The main castle of the upper castle from the 14th century seems to have fallen into ruin as early as the 18th century. Until the 19th century, the medieval complex remained in place without any profound changes, although it was in disrepair. Then, in the first half of the 19th century, the castle was converted into a representative manor . Parts of the outer bailey were included in the new courtyard. The estate's house was on the southwest corner. Since the upper castle was no longer inhabited by its owners, the building served as a tenant apartment until the end of the 19th century.
At that time, the von Gagern family, who wanted to live in the upper castle again, began redesigning the complex. The house and farm yard were separated again. The tenant house was converted into a representative two-wing residential building and in 1908 received a square, historicizing tower on its east side. In 1913 a dividing wall was drawn between the farm yard and the house. A new tenant apartment was created on the site of the farm yard.
Of the second Vlatten castle, the so-called lower castle, only the remains of a tower wall have survived. The lower castle is mentioned in a document in 1401. It probably owes its creation to an inheritance from the older upper castle. In the 14th century, Baldwin von Vlatten shared his Vlatten fortune among his children Konrad and Margaretha. Margaretha marries Johann Muyl von Sinzenich . In 1605 the lower castle fell to Adam von Gymnich, who was also the owner of the upper castle. The lower castle seems to have lost all meaning and fell into ruin as early as the 17th century.