Kerpen Castle (Eifel)
| Kerpen Castle | ||
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 Aerial view of the castle (2017) |
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| Creation time : | around 1150 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | Preserved essential parts | |
| Place: | Kerpen | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 18 '40 " N , 6 ° 43' 57.4" E | |
| Height: | 500 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Castle Kerpen is a Spur castle on a dolomite spur in 500 m above sea level. NHN in the Eifel place Kerpen in Rhineland-Palatinate .
history
The exact beginnings of Kerpen Castle lie in the dark of history. It is very likely that its builder was Sigibertus de Kerpene, first mentioned in a document in 1136, or his son Heinrich I (1142–1177). However, an exact date of construction cannot yet be given.
In 1265 Theodoric II von Kerpen gave the castle to Cologne Archbishop Engelbert II von Falkenburg as a fief. The property was later shared between him and his brother Wilhelm II.
In 1299 a "Theodoric III" was mentioned as Herr von Kerpen. His sons later founded the three family lines Kerpen-Linster, Kerpen-Mörsdorf and Kerpen-Illingen ( Lit .: Losse, 2003), each of which remained the owner of the family castle and made it the Ganerbeburg .
In 1446 Konrad von Kerpen-Mörsdorf sold his share in the castle to his cousin Wilhelm II von Sombreff, who in 1448 acquired another share. Together with his family inheritance, Wilhelm became the sole owner of the facility. After his death, ongoing disputes over the castle Kerpen began, which lasted more than 200 years.
Wilhelm's son Friedrich died childless, so that the castle fell to his sister Margarete. Through her marriage to Count Dietrich von Manderscheid-Schleiden, the castle came into the possession of the counts of the same name.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Dietrich IV von Manderscheid-Schleiden had a castle chapel built in the Gothic style. When he died childless in 1593, his brother-in-law, Philipp von der Mark, had Kerpen Castle occupied by his loyal followers in order to claim ownership of the complex. The dispute between him and Philip's widow ended in a settlement in 1611 and he bought Kerpen from the widow.
But that was by no means the end of the ownership disputes. In 1653, Count von Löwenstein-Wertheim tried to enforce his claim to ownership by occupying the castle. The dispute between the various aristocratic families over Kerpen was not ended until 1674 , when the Imperial Court of Justice of Speyer awarded the rule of Kerpen including the castle to the Duchess of Arenberg. The Arenbergs remained owners until 1794, but they never realized their initial plans to convert the castle into a palace.
In the wars of reunion, some buildings on the complex were destroyed by French troops in 1682. During the Thirty Years War , soldiers of the French army under General Bouffleur blew up the castle and village and razed them to the ground.
After the left bank of the Rhine was taken by French revolutionary troops (1794), the French administration sold the ruins to the municipality in 1803 for demolition.
In 1893 Johann Heinrich Dün took on the run-down facility. He let them free of debris, built the present house and sat the dungeon a new battlements on.
From 1907 to 1911 Kerpen Castle was owned by Clemens Manstein.
In 1911 the Eifel painter Fritz von Wille bought the castle from Clemens Manstein and had urgent security and repair work carried out. When the artist died in 1941, he was buried on the hill behind the castle.
In the same year, DEMAG bought the castle to use it as a training home. In the 1950s, the company carried out further security measures as well as renovation and expansion measures.
From 1969 to 2007 Kerpen Castle was owned by the Neuss district , which used it as a country school home. Then a Dutch family bought the facility and underwent an extensive renovation in 2010.
Last used (2016) as refugee accommodation, the castle was sold to an entrepreneurial family from Bonn in January 2018 and will be used for private residential purposes in the future.
description
Kerpen Castle is a three-tier spur system that is secured in the north by an approximately 15-meter-wide neck ditch towards the mountain. The crenellated , 23-meter-high keep stands on the first, highest terrace. There used to be a dungeon on its top floor .
On the middle terrace there used to be ancillary and farm buildings that no longer exist today. The only relic from medieval times is the 35-meter-deep fountain in a circular building.
The lowest terrace is surrounded by a wall that is supported by strong pillars. In the 17th century it still housed a few side houses and Burgmannen houses before they were destroyed by French troops in 1682.
Kerpen Castle seen from the southwest (1999)
Burghof (1999)
Kerpen Castle seen from the Eifelsteig
literature
- Olaf Wagener: Kerpen Castle . In: Michael Losse (Ed.): Theiss Burgenführer Hohe Eifel and Ahrtal . Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1775-0 , pp. 82-85.
Web links
- Michael Losse's entry about Kerpen Castle in the " EBIDAT " scientific database of the European Castle Institute
- Entry on Kerpen Castle in the private database "Alle Burgen".
- Reconstruction drawing by Wolfgang Braun
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sold: Kerpen Castle in the Vulkan-Eifel region , accessed on February 9, 2018.