Rhenish Knight Academy

Exterior view of the Rheinische Ritterakademie

The Rheinische Ritterakademie was originally a noble educational institution in Bedburg and forerunner of today Silverberg - Gymnasium and the Erft school in the district town of Bergheim .

prehistory

In 1837 King Friedrich Wilhelm IV confirmed the Rhenish Knighthood (Cooperative of the Rhenish Knight-born Nobility) as a public corporation. The prerequisite was a foundation for the education of the sons of the member families. The first knight captain, Johann Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff , chairman of the " Genossenschaft des Rhenish Knight-born Nobility " founded the Knight Academy at Bedburg Castle with the aim of educating aristocratic sons for university entrance. The school's regulations were officially confirmed by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV on June 22, 1841.

The school

Academy and Palace, 1854

The knight academy was initially only intended to educate the sons of the German nobility . From 1851, however, bourgeois Catholic students were also admitted, and in the course of the next few years their number far exceeded that of the nobles.

On May 1st, 1842 the knight academy was opened in Bedburg Castle; However, the scheduled lessons did not begin until October 15 with 13 pupils and eight teachers under the headmaster Peter Joseph Seul. Count Johann Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff was knight captain and chief director of the school. At that time it was the only school in the Bergheim (Erft) district that led to the Abitur .

In 1922 the knighthood withdrew from school, and the result was the “municipal high school ” , which only bore the name “Rheinische Ritterakademie” in one subline. In 1939, during the Nazi era , the grammar school was relocated to Bergheim , and only a five-class feeder school remained.

lock

The vacant castle, which the knighthood could acquire cheaply, functioned as the school building.

During the French occupation of the Rhineland , it served as a residence for war veterans and, after the expulsion of the French, for some time as a hospital for eye patients from the Brauweiler prison . Then it fell into disrepair. The cooperative bought it from the Prussian government in 1839 and renovated it, adding the four-storey school wing with boarding rooms.

Bedburg Castle , in the foreground the square of the demolished Knight Academy

Since the funds for the necessary maintenance measures in the amount of 12 million euros could not be raised, the Bedburg city council decided in August 2010 not to make a takeover offer to the owner of the building. The demolition of the academy and the chapel began on July 25, 2011.

Personalities

Teacher

Philipp Krementz (1819–1899), Bishop of Warmia , Archbishop and later Cardinal of Cologne

Heinrich Bone (1813–1893), philologist and teacher , composer of numerous hymns

Franz Jakob Scheuffgen (1842–1907), Provost of Trier

Eduard Arens (1866–1935), literary historian

student

Philipp von Arenberg (1848–1906), Cathedral Chapter in Eichstätt
Heinrich von Droste zu Hülshoff (1827–1887), district administrator of the Münster district, member of the Westphalian provincial council, co-founder of the German Center Party
Friedrich Clemens von Ketteler (1839–1906), politician (Center Party), member of the Westphalian Provincial Parliament, the Prussian House of Representatives and the Reichstag
Walter von Loë (1828–1908), Field Marshal General and Adjutant to the King of Prussia and German Emperor
Wilderich Graf von Spee (1830–1890), District Administrator of the Düsseldorf district
Maximilian Gereon von Galen (1832–1908), auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Münster.
Stephan Graf von Spee (1866–1956), district administrator of the Borken district, member of the Westphalian provincial council
Josef Graf von Spee (1876–1941), district administrator of the Schleiden district
Friedrich von Spee (1882–1959), District Administrator of the remaining Merzig-Wadern district
Hermann Wirtz (1896–1973), soap manufacturer and founder of Grünenthal GmbH

literature

Peter Josef Seul: XII. Program of the Rheinische Ritter-Academie zu Bedburg. Cologne 1854
XXV. Program of the Rhenish Knight Academy in Bedburg. Cologne 1867
XLIX. Report on the Rheinische Ritterakademie zu Bedburg for the school year 1891-1892. Düsseldorf 1892
Bedburg Gymnasium (Ed.): 150 years of Bedburg Gymnasium. 1992

Remarks

↑ An early “forerunner” was the Augustiner Gymnasium, which was run by the Augustinians from 1623 until the order was dissolved in 1805.
↑ The date was also Friedrich Wilhelm's birthday.
↑ Among other things, the hunter gave the Count von Mirbach-Harrf swimming lessons.

Web links

Commons : Rheinische Ritterakademie - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 5./6. July 2008, Rhein-Erft local section, p. 44
^ Markus Clemens: Bedburg Castle - construction work on the castle finished. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . June 11, 2013, accessed April 8, 2019 .

[1] An early “forerunner” was the Augustiner Gymnasium, which was run by the Augustinians from 1623 until the order was dissolved in 1805.

[3] The date was also Friedrich Wilhelm's birthday.

[4] Among other things, the hunter gave the Count von Mirbach-Harrf swimming lessons.

[2] Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 5./6. July 2008, Rhein-Erft local section, p. 44

[5] Markus Clemens: Bedburg Castle - construction work on the castle finished. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . June 11, 2013, accessed April 8, 2019 .