Königshof Palace

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Royal Court, painting by Theodor Festorazzo (1800–1862)

Königshof (Hungarian: Királyudvar , Latin: Aula regia ) was the administrative center of the Hungarian possessions of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey until 1912 . Subsequently it came into the possession of the Austrian Federal Treasury and self-administered by the Royal Court of the Army . The castle has been privately owned since 2010 and has been restored piece by piece since then.

Roman castrum

Colonel Groller

Near the chapel ruin on the Klosterwiese west of Kaisersteinbruch , the archaeologist and Colonel Maximillian Groller von Mildensee conducted excavations on behalf of the “ Carnuntum ” antiquity association in 1903 , which confirmed that Cistercian living quarters were located here . The antiquity association had excavations carried out here because it was assumed that a Roman castrum had existed at this point . The assumptions were confirmed because building remains with a well-preserved hypocaust (heating system) were found. It has been proven that the Roman road passed here, which led from Carnuntum on the lake shore via Winden, Eisenstadt to Ödenburg ( Scarabantia ). For the purpose of monitoring this road this Roman Estate (was mansion ) built, the similarities with the Eisenstadt mansion shows the Gölbesäckern. It was a fortified camp for the guards .

Epitaphs

The Roman city of Ulmus was located in Upper Pannonia , it is mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana , a Roman road map . She suspected Groller at the royal court. Their exact location is still being researched today.

This place is located on the Bruckneudorf-Kaisersteinbruch military training area , so excavation is prohibited.

Scheme of a Frankish royal court
last Gothic window of the ruin

Franconian royal court

In Carolingian times, an earth fort of 109 × 130 m was built across the Roman foundation walls , a royal court fortified with a corner tower and entrenchments, such as the one that served the emperors, who did not yet have a permanent residence, as quarters and refreshment points on their travels in the empire. Later the area became the property of the Hungarian kings .

Such royal courts, which no longer had any military necessity, were often given over to the church.

Desolate monastery

The stretch of land between Leitha and the north bank of Lake Neusiedl was assigned to the Heiligenkreuz Abbey as a colonization area by King Imre in 1203 . This property, which covers almost the entire municipality of Kaisersteinbruch, was once the hunting ground of Hungarian kings. The hunting lodge itself was located on a hill near the so-called Öden Kloster and was called the royal court for short. It should not be for sale and only serve the higher honor of God and the well-being of the subjects . "We are lending the Heiligenkreuz Monastery the land that the Bissener once owned for eternity ."

In 1673 Abbot Clemens Schäffer determined monthly masses and spiritual offices for the major benefactors of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey. In July for Emerik, King of Hungary, who, in agreement with his wife Konstanze von Aragón, gave the Königshofen estate to the monastery .

The monastery was more wealthy through foundations in Hungary than in Austria, so it considered moving to western Hungary from 1206 to 1209 . The monks, true to their rule of the order ora et labora (“pray and work!”), Transformed the wilderness around Lake Neusiedl into a cultural landscape . Destruction of the tartars is documented around 1300 (1272, 1317). The large-scale Königshofer church remained unfinished. Six yokes of the nave without transept and east choir come from this system .

Documented monks of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Königshof

In 1239 and 1248 the brothers Ulrich, Wulfing, Konrad Suevus and Heinrich are mentioned as converse in this grangie . The court masters Rudolf (1278, 1285), Thomas (1326), Seyfried (1338), Dietrich (1348), Leopold (1352), Albert (1366) and Andreas (1371, 1372) testify to the life there . The Königshofer Mühle was built by the Cistercians, which is first mentioned in a document from 1285.

The quarry-stone-walled chapel ruin from the 14th century with windows and buttresses as well as the foundations of a third facility, which partially used the earth fort, belonged to a monastery that the Cistercians of Heiligenkreuz began to build. This old royal court was destroyed by the Turks in 1529 , and the settlement next to it was plundered and burned down in the forest quarry. A large number of residents managed to flee to the Hermit Quarry. The monastery got into such hardship that Abbot Johann V pledged the property for 50 years in 1531 . During this time the settlement fell into disrepair except for the church ruins mentioned.

Hermitage at the desolate monastery

At the desolate monastery near Kaisersteinbruch there was a hermitage that was connected to the Heiligenkreuz monastery. The respective hermit was supplied with food and fuel by the abbey .

The hermitage was built by Johann Baptist Regondi . It was located near a St. John's Chapel , where masses were celebrated several times a year. After the abolition of the hermits under Joseph II , an old man settled in the hermitage , a beggar who lived there with his wife.

Königshof near Wilfleinsdorf - Aula Regia

Today's royal court was built at the beginning of the 17th century near the mill near Wilfleinsdorf am Leithaufer. It was rebuilt as a castle-like manor and burned and devastated by the Bethlen Gábor rebels in 1621 .

Tower clock

On December 16, 1636, Abbot Christoph Schäffer (1614–1637) ordered a tower clock with four dials for 180 guilders from the clockmaker Martin Schmidt in Mödling .

Kastner

As historical administrative officials, the Kastner , have been handed down:

Johannes Loher, Schneider 1617–1620; Vitus Mayr 1669–1673
Ignaz Frisch, Sattler 1693–1695; Jakob Gegenberger, shoemaker 1695–1698
Christoph Schmidt 1698-1700; Ignaz Frisch 1709–1717 again after 1721
Sebastian Siebenbürger 1735–1736 (†) buried in a quarry; Andreas Maystaller 1765-

Trinity Chapel

Abbot Clemens Schäffer (1658–1693) commissioned the construction of the great Trinity Chapel in Königshof Palace in 1676 . Thomas Rueff, court carpenter from Vienna, delivered the altar on June 30th, the statues of St. The sculptor Georg Niclas Mayr made Benedict and Bernard . A large and a small picture were placed on the altar, for which the painter Matthäus Managetta received 60 guilders on October 16  .

The estate was again plundered and devastated by the Turks in 1683 . Hardly restored, in 1703 wandering Kuruzzen inflicted severe damage on it.

Abbot Gerhard Weixelberger (in office 1705–1728) had the damage repaired. His coat of arms is located above the main portal of the building. His relationship with the royal court went back to the time from 1693 to 1696, when he was parish administrator in the area of ​​the quarry.

Monastery administration in Königshof Palace

From January 1, 1601 to 1912, the royal administration for the surrounding properties of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey was located in Königshof Palace, the administrator acted as the abbot's representative. The names of all administrators from January 1, 1601 to January 7, 1913 are documented in the monastery archive.

Honor column for Elias Hill

Honor column

After the death of the lordly administrator of the royal court, Father Raymund Vitali, on September 13, 1740, the Kaisersteinbrucher brotherhood was freed from severe pressure. He acted in the spirit of an inquisitor and had dishonorably removed Elias Huegel as judge. As a carpentry master of the stonemasonry trade, Johann Paul Schilck arranged for an honorary column to be erected for master Elias Hügel. Due to the war events , the abandonment of the Kaisersteinbruch community, this column is not in its original place in the area of ​​the quarries, but in front of the Königshof Palace. Only remnants have been preserved; an exact copy was made in 1996 in Gemünden am Main , Hügel's native town , based on an existing drawing .

Stonemason's invoice by Elias Hügel, written by hand

In 2016 the column was erected on the church square in Kaisersteinbruch.

New construction of the castle chapel

Court stonemason master Elias Hügel was also the stonemason of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey. When the main chapel was rebuilt in Königshof in 1745, he was in charge of the stone carving. The external plinth, 3 shoe high all around, cornice all around, a door, four windows, stone to which Capitelern and two shield plates.

1789 Establishment of an indigo factory

The estate with the meadows, meadows and fields on the Leitha was supposed to be sold to an interest group in 1789 for the purpose of building a factory . And the remaining larger part of the property, consisting mainly of meadows, forest and fertile arable land , was to be divided between the municipalities of Kaisersteinbruch and Winden. The idea of mercantilism , the pursuit of self-sufficiency , also caused many factories to grow out of the ground in Austria and Hungary. This is how the first indigo factory came into being under Counts Rumpf, Kurzböck and Friedrich Kaut. After the Leitha floodplains at Königshof had been recognized as excellent soil for the indigo plant, the entrepreneurs approached Emperor Joseph II in 1789 with a request from the monastery Heiligenkreuz to claim the Königshof estate for these purposes. Which the emperor was all the more ready to do, since he intended to secularize the monastery anyway .

On October 31, 1789, Abbot Maximilian Mayla received a very high request to announce the value of the Königshof rule, as an expansion of the indigo culture factory was planned. The abbot pointed out that the royal court as the indispensable center of the monastery rule in Hungary, where all administrative business is carried out, could not possibly be ceded. A sale would only be considered if their properties in Wilfleinsdorf, Arbesthal, Höflein, Kaisersteinbruch and Winden were also acquired. The owners agreed to replace everything.

The value was estimated at 336,000 guilders 29 Schilling 28 Pfennig, whereby the monastery reserved the patronage over the parishes and other freedoms. The emperor's death († February 20, 1790) changed the situation. The successor Leopold II did not intend to intervene in church affairs.

The Königshof estate was merged with the Kaisersteinbruch community in 1903

The royal court near Wilfleinsdorf (bottom left) and its location in relation to the military camp of Bruckneudorf / Kaisersteinbruch around 1873 (recording sheet of the state survey )

The Hungarian state decreed that the Königshof estate, which is larger in terms of area, should be united with the small community of Kaisersteinbruch as the seat of government. In the same year the Cistercians celebrated the 700-year rule on the Good Royal Court in the presence of the county authorities and the owner of the neighborhood, Count Theodor Batthyány .

Sale of Kaisersteinbruch to the military

On October 31, 1912, the sales negotiations for which Abbot Gregor Pöck was responsible came to an end and the quarry area that had been donated “for eternity” was handed over to the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry . The monastery received 3,500,000 crowns and Styrian forest areas. The demands of the Bruck camp for more training ground were met.

The desolate monastery on the military training area

Remnants of the Öden Kloster, as of 1990

The heavily drawn lines on the sketch show parts of the wall with sharp edges in the entrance area as still existing in 1990. The Ministry of Defense refused to put up a notice board in this area for military reasons. Years later this became superfluous, and nothing of these remnants could be recognized either.

literature

  • Günther Buchinger - Doris Schön: Building and functional history of the royal court in Burgenland , in: Analecta Cisterciensia 63 (2013), pp. 402-515.
  • Malachias Koll, The Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria ... (Vienna 1834) as a PDF scan in full
  • P. Adalbert Winkler : The Cistercians at the Neusiedlersee and the history of this lake . Mödling near Vienna, 1923; New edition 1993.
  • Burgenland State Archives : Topography of Burgenland, Neusiedl am See administrative district , 1955.
  • Edit B. Thomas : Roman villas in Pannonia, contributions to the Pannonian settlement history , Budapest, 1964
  • Alfred Schmeller : Burgenland, its works of art, historical forms of life and settlement . Salzburg 1965.
  • HG Walter: Where was the ulmo of the Tabula Peutingeriana? Barren monastery? In: Heimatkundliche Nachrichten, supplement Official Journal Bruck an der Leitha No. 6, 1967.
  • Helmuth Furch : A desolate monastery, scanty remains! In: Communications from the Kaisersteinbruch Museum and Culture Association , No. 35, 1994.
  • Harald Prickler: The Cistercians as landlords in the Burgenland-Pannonian region . In: State exhibition 1996. 800 years of the Cistercians in the Pannonian region.
  • Helmuth Furch: Historisches Lexikon Kaisersteinbruch , 2 volumes, 2004. ISBN 978-3-9504555-8-8 .
  • Herbert Brettl: From Albrechtsfeld to Ziegelhof - The Meierhöfe in the Neusiedl am See district, Königshof , 2009, pp. 205–211.
  • Werner Richter , The Sale of Königshof in 1912 , in: Sancta Crux 72 (2011), pp. 191–195.
  • Gunnar Strunz: Burgenland, nature and culture between Lake Neusiedl and the Alps, Königshof Palace , S 113. Trescher Verlag , Berlin, 1st edition 2012 ISBN 978-3-89794-221-9 .

Web links

Commons : Schloss Königshof  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Schmeller: Das Burgenland , p. 130
  2. ^ Adalbert E. Winkler: The Cistercians on Lake Neusiedl , p. 48f.
  3. Max Groller: "The Ulmus fort near the royal court (Királyudvar) and the branches at the same" . In Roman Limes in Austria VI. 1905, column 5ff
  4. ^ Josef Stern: " The Roman Amber Road and the Roman Road System in Burgenland " in: The Amber Road . Evolution of a trade route (WAB booklet 123), Eisenstadt 2008 and “Paths around the Amber Road” from the Burgenland homeland sheets booklet 4/2008. In both, among other things, he deals with the possible location of Ulmo.
  5. ^ Eduard Benninger : Germanischer Grenzkampf , 1939. S. 121
  6. ^ Archives Stift Heiligenkreuz: Donation deed from 1203
  7. Malachias Koll : The Heiligenkreuz Abbey , p. 72
  8. Harald Prickler : Cistercians as landlords in the Burgenland-West Hungarian area
  9. Hermann Watzl : The plan to relocate the Cisterce Heiligenkreuz from the Vienna Woods to western Hungary in the years 1206 to 1209. in: Yearbook for regional studies of Lower Austria. New series 34, 1958–1960, pp. 106–119 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ). Reprinted in: Hermann Watzl: "... in loco, qui nunc ad sanctam crucem vocatur ..." Sources and treatises on the history of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey. Heiligenkreuz 1987, pp. 431-444.
  10. Florian Watzl : Die Cistercienser von Heiligenkreuz , 1898
  11. Josef Grubmüller: Heimatbuch, p. 414
  12. ^ Abbot Christoph Schäffer , contained in: Mitteilungen des Alterthums-Verein zu Wien, Volume XVIII. Crafts and art in the Heiligenkreuz Abbey, 1879. p. 131.
  13. Florian Watzl : Die Cistercienser von Heiligenkreuz , 1898
  14. Abbot Clemens Schäffer , contained in: Mitteilungen des Alterthums-Verein, p. 139.
  15. Matthäus Managetta painted the altarpiece in the chapel of St. Petrus von Alcantara of the Franciscan Church in Vienna, which was donated by Emperor Leopold I. ( Franziskanerplatz (Vienna) No. 4)
  16. ↑ Read also in the "Small Chronicle" by Helmuth Furch, From Heiligenkreuzer Steinbruch to Kaisersteinbruch , Kaisersteinbruch 1981 ISBN 978-3-9504555-0-2 .
  17. ^ "Elias Hügel-Kreuz" attempt at a return . In communications no.11, September 1991, p4f.
  18. What happened so far: Elias Hügel-Kreuz , statements by Dipl.Ing. Kellner, director of the horticultural school in Schönbrunn, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, from the Ombudsman Board . In Mitteilungen No. 53, March 1999, pp. 48-50 ISBN 978-3-9504555-3-3 .
  19. Opinion on the "Ehrensäule" (honorary column) by Ombudsman Horst Schender , June 14, 1999. In communications no. 55, September 1999.
  20. ^ Archives Stift Heiligenkreuz: New construction of the main chapel in Königshof , 1745
  21. General state topography of Burgenland, administrative district Neusiedl am See , state archive 1954, The shares of the Stiftsherrschaft Heiligenkreuz , p. 77f.
  22. Adalbert E. Winkler: The Cistercians on Lake Neusiedl .. P. 51
  23. Werner Richter, The Sale of Königshof in 1912 , in: Sancta Crux 72 (2011), pp. 191–195; see also: Vienna War Archives : 1912 sale of the royal court to the military archer .
  24. Historisches Lexikon Kaisersteinbruch, November 2, 1990: Discussion of the desolate monastery with Colonel Alfred Petznek, master stonemason Friedrich Opferkuh and teacher Helmuth Furch, p. 486.

Coordinates: 48 ° 0 ′ 38.7 "  N , 16 ° 43 ′ 7.4"  E