Herzogschloss Wesel

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The Herzogschloss in Wesel , built between 1438 and 1443, was located on the Kornmarkt and was the local residence of the Kleve dukes . It later served as the commandant's office for Wesel Fortress and was destroyed in 1945.

location

The castle was on the edge of the Kornmarkt and the Ritterstrasse branching off from it . Today there is an education center with the Wesel city library and the Wesel-Hamminkeln-Schermbeck adult education center .

history

Wesel was under the Kleve dukes in the late Middle Ages and had city rights since 1241. In 1255 the city had received assurance that the Kleve dukes would not build a permanent house in Wesel , i.e. a castle-like building with military purposes. Compliance with this promise was a prerequisite for building the palace. Adolf I, Duke of Kleve, was responsible for the construction of the castle, and construction was originally assumed to have started around 1417. Primary sources indicate, however, that the construction was only completed between 1438 and 1443. The castle was built on the edge of the small square uppen Brink (on the Brink), which became a market square around 1500 and the grain market developed over centuries in its current size. In the immediate vicinity was a branch of the Order of St. John with the St. John's Church belonging to it. Due to the financial repercussions of the Soest feud , the incumbent Klever Herzog sold the new castle to the city of Wesel in 1445 in order to obtain urgently needed funds. In 1464 the Duchy of Kleve bought it back. It is believed that the castle could be used by the ducal family between 1445 and 1464 without any problems. The castle served particularly representative purposes, including when Emperor Maximilian I visited the city in 1502 and 1512.

After the death of Duke Johann Wilhelm in 1609, Wesel and with it the castle fell to the Electors of Brandenburg . In fact, however, there was initially an occupation by Spanish troops and the castle served a Spanish governor as a residence from 1616 at the latest. This was followed by changing rulers, in 1629 Wesel was conquered by Dutch troops and since then has been under Brandenburg rule with a still existing Dutch garrison. In 1672 French troops took the city and ruled there until the peace of Nijmegen in 1678/79. After that, Wesel came under Prussian-Brandenburg rule again and was increasingly developed into a fortress town in the 18th century. This went hand in hand with the fact that the castle was used as the command post for the fortress, even if it remained without military equipment. It was visited many times by well-known people, also from the arts and science. Among them was the wife of the Russian Tsar Catherine I at the end of 1716 and the French philosopher Voltaire in 1750 . After Frederick II of Prussia wanted to flee to England in August 1730 due to a conflict with his father and this plan failed, he was brought to Wesel. On August 12, 1730 the first interrogation took place in Wesel castle where it another heated argument between Frederick and his father Frederick William I to have come.

In the early 19th century, Wesel was under French rule for a few years and then belonged to Prussia again. It was not until 1886 that the city began to be de-fortified. This meant that the building was no longer used as a command post. At the beginning of the 1930s, the palace building was extensively restored and brought back closer to its original late Gothic construction. From 1936 it was the location of the Lower Rhine Museum for Local and Local History. In 1945 the building was completely destroyed during the Second World War.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Günter Warthuysen : The Castle of the Dukes Klever in Wesel In: Wesel Yearbook 2009, p 35
  2. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 42f.
  3. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 35
  4. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 33f.
  5. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 34
  6. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 35
  7. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 36
  8. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 40
  9. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 36f.
  10. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 38f.
  11. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 42
  12. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 40
  13. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 41f.
  14. ↑ Discover Wesel - Wesel as a fortress city (wesel-tourismus.de)
  15. ↑ Warthuysen 2009, p. 35
  16. ↑ History of the Municipal Museum (wesel.de)

Coordinates: 51 ° 39 ′ 29.8 "  N , 6 ° 36 ′ 42.2"  E