Raesfeld Castle
.jpg)
.jpg)
The Raesfeld Castle [ ˈraːsˌfɛlt ] is a moated castle in Raesfeld in the district of Borken , North Rhine-Westphalia .
The history of the facility goes back to the beginning of the 12th century. At the end of the 16th century the knight's castle of the Lords of Raesfeld came into the possession of the von Velen . In the middle of the 17th century, the imperial count Alexander II von Velen had the castle expanded into a residential palace in the Renaissance style. In the first half of the 18th century, the von Velen zu Raesfeld family died out; the castle was only inhabited irregularly and gradually fell into disrepair. At the beginning of the 19th century, parts of the complex were demolished or used as an agricultural estate until the 20th century. After the Second World War, the Chamber of Crafts of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia had it restored as the new owner. Today the castle is the seat of the advanced training facility of the chambers of crafts and is used for cultural events and as a restaurant. You can get married here since 2007.
Of the former four wings of the upper castle, the west wing with the striking step-shaped tower and the adjacent old building with a reconstructed round tower still stand today. Moats separate the upper castle from the outer castle and the village freedom of the castle with the castle chapel. The adjacent zoo is one of the few preserved from the Renaissance period. A natural and cultural history exhibition in the modern information and visitor center Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld does justice to this special position. The zoo is part of the European Garden Heritage Network .
Architecture and building history
The castle complex consists of the upper castle, the outer castle and the surrounding castle freedom, including the castle chapel. A moat separates the individual parts, which were originally only connected by drawbridges. The art historian Richard Klapheck wrote: “Seen from the south, the entire complex forms an impressive picture of wonderfully balanced building dimensions. Nowhere a baroque, violent disturbance despite the overpowering tower verticals. Upper castle and lower castle are grouped to each other in such a way that the fortissimo of the struck notes sounds together in harmony and the overall picture only breathes calm and calm. "
The predecessor of today's facility is probably the no longer preserved tower hill castle called Kretier Castle . It stood in the great Esch near the Issel spring about three kilometers north of today's castle. Excavations in the 1950s and 1960s and dendrochronological investigations showed that a wooden hilltop castle with moats was built there around 1117 over a flat settlement from the 9th or 10th century. This is probably the settlement of Hrothusfeld (cleared field) first mentioned in the records of the Werden monastery in 889 AD , to which the name Raesfeld goes back. Probably after 1259 the wooden structure burned down. It was not rebuilt and fell into disrepair.
Instead, a first stone castle was built on the site of today's castle . The castle had the shape of an irregular rectangle with edge lengths of 8.60 m and 9.30 m. Parts of the north-west corner of the north wing of the upper castle have been preserved. It is an approximately 1.80 m thick wall made of rubble and lime mortar with loopholes .
At the end of the 14th century, the castle was expanded to two storeys and about 30.20 m long and about 12.40 m wide. A square tower on the southern corner and a round defense tower on the diagonally opposite corner in the north were also added.
.jpg)
Since the roof structure burned down in 1597, Alexander I von Velen had the castle rebuilt from 1604 to 1606 by the builder Heinrich von Borken. The partially destroyed round tower was rebuilt and given a Welsche hood . The iron numbers '1606' on the south side of the wing attest to the completion of the work. However, the east wall had to be rebuilt in 1614 because a storm had destroyed the wall. The east side was decorated for the first time with ornaments such as cornices and coats of arms on the gable edges. The attached four-part bay window bears the year 1561 and originally comes from Velen Castle . It was removed around 1900 and was back at Velen Castle until 1933, when it returned to Raesfeld Castle.
.jpg)
This brick building was included as the north wing in the expansion to the residential palace from 1643 by Alexander II of Velen . Three additional wings in the Renaissance style enclosed a rectangular inner courtyard with the old manor house. Two of these wings, the low gallery with the arcade to the inner courtyard and the entrance wing to the upper castle, including a magnificent entrance portal, were demolished in the 19th century. Today only the western residential wing with a mansard roof and the tower remain on the upper castle from this construction period . The dominant 50 m high tower joins the west wing in the south. The six-storey tower is crowned by a bronze helmet that tapers steeply upwards and is closed off by an onion structure. The idiosyncratic shape with the triple truncated pyramids is attributed to the early baroque . Klapheck described it as a "trumpet blown stone". In 1959 the tower was re-covered with copper sheets.
The Capuchin and architect Michael van Gent was hired as the master builder in 1646 . He was born Jacobus van Pouke near Gent in 1585 and lived in Münster at the time. When Michael van Gent was called to Rome in 1647, Jacob and Johann Schmidt from Roermond continued the work based on a model by Van Gent. The stone carving was done by Remigius Roßkotten. The outer bailey was completed around 1648 and the upper bailey around 1653, and the construction costs totaled around 80,000 Reichstaler.
Brick bricks were mainly used as building material for the new wings. Light-colored Baumberger sandstone was used for the portals, the beams and frames of the windows, the corner blocks and the jewelry . At the beginning of the 20th century, the then red and white shutters and portals were painted red and yellow, as they probably had in the 17th century, based on the red and gold coat of arms of Velen. Previously, they were probably painted blue and white. The roofs were covered with red tiles , the tower domes with Moselle slate.
The height of the west wing is divided by several cornices . The regular stone cross windows structure it vertically . On the first floor, they are crowned by triangular gables, in the middle of which the heads of angels and shells are depicted alternately. On the second floor flat double relieve arches with fighters of sandstone above the windows one of consoles supported eave . The relief arches above the windows of the basement are designed as simple semicircular arches, as in the higher floors of the tower, but the transoms and keystones are more elaborately made of hewn sandstone. The courtyard side of the west wing has a representative design: the entrance door to the first floor in the south corner is adorned with rich volute ornamentation and an ox eye above it . There are stone cartouches under the windows of the first floor. The Corinthian capitals of the pilasters between the windows are decorated with alternating figures of angels and volutes, they carry an architrave based on the Corinthian model with meandering volutes . The base of the pseudo-pillars are made of stone carved with lion heads .
No comparable models can be found in the area for the expansion of Raesfeld Castle. Klapheck sees Raesfeld in connection with the palace buildings in the Geldrisch-Limburg Meuse valley . He describes Raesfeld as the easternmost branch of a Maastal brick architecture in the 17th century, which includes the castles Hoensbroek and Schaesberg near Heerlen and Leerodt near Geilenkirchen . The castles were known to Alexander II himself because of family ties to the lords of the castle or at least the Dutch builders.
The interior was also beautifully decorated in the course of the expansion. The rooms were adorned with wallpaper made of leather and tapestries , the ceilings were decorated with baroque stucco and pictures. The soffits of the window in the Knight's Hall of the old manor had François Walschaerth from Maastricht with gods and heroes from the Greek mythology painted. Andreas Petersen painted birds and ornaments on the hall doors. Other rooms are the parade room, the count's writing room, the library, the billiard room, the porcelain chamber, the blue and the green room. But there was hardly anything left of the facility during an inspection in February 1772. Some of the inventory came to Velen Castle , while the rest was almost without exception looted or destroyed during the vacancy and the occupations. A harpsichord that Alexander II acquired in 1640 from the well-known Flemish workshop of Ruckers has survived to this day.
Like the portal wing, the stair tower in the courtyard and the gallery wing, the round fortified tower from the 14th century was demolished in the 19th century. In 1959 the remains, which were up to 2.50 m high and 2.70 m thick, were removed down to the foundation of oak piles. A three-legged bronze saucepan (“Grope”) and a Bartmann's jug from the 17th century were found, which were probably walled in when the tower was repaired around 1600. The round tower was rebuilt in 1960.
After the severe decline in the 18th and 19th centuries, the castle was renovated in 1922 and 1930 to 1932. From 1950 to 1957 the war damage was repaired and the interior of the castle was redesigned. As part of the renovation, numerous walls were removed and new windows in the north wing were broken through. In 1951, a kitchen wing for the palace catering was added in the northern corner between the west and north wings and the staircase to the first floor in the inner courtyard was converted.
Outer bailey
The outer bailey is on its own island between Freiheit and Oberburg. The administrative and utility rooms were housed there. The outer bailey was built between 1646 and 1648. The Bauhaus, which was positioned on the north side across the elongated bailey, had stood there since around 1600. It is reminiscent of a Westphalian farmhouse and was also used as a cattle shed and harvesting chamber. In addition to the gateway to freedom in the middle of the outer bailey is the stair tower on the courtyard side, which leads to the upper floor. In the south, the outer bailey is flanked by the so-called Sterndeuterturm. The tower is said to have been used by Alexander II of Velen for astrological research, which explains the name of the tower. During the restoration of the Sterndeuterturm in 2001, indications were found that the southern part of the outer bailey was also built on older, medieval foundations. In 1923 a coach house was added to the south . 1981 to 1983 the outer bailey was completely renovated.
The storeys are divided by circumferential cornices and signs adorn the eaves and gables; but overall the outer bailey is more simply designed than the west wing of the upper bailey from the same construction phase. The stone cross windows have no triangular gables or other decorations, and the relief arches are semicircular, as in the upper floors of the main tower, with hewn spars and keystones. The top floor of the five-story Sterndeuterturm is surrounded by a gallery. Above it begins a Welsche hood , which is repeated after a lantern in a reduced form and with an octagonal floor plan. The stair tower also has a Welsche hood. On the courtyard side, a stone tablet was inserted above the gate passage in 1649, on which the history of the palace was written in Latin prose. A translation of the inscription can be found in the gate passage. Coming from freedom, there is an octagonal floating bay window south of the gate passage. The alliance coat of arms of Alexander II von Velen and his wife Alexandrine von Huyn und Gelen originally hung over the driveway and can be seen today in the exhibition of the visitor and information center.
Freedom and chapel
Wall systems in the north and east and a gatehouse with a wall protected the freedom of the village . Around 1729 there were around 30 houses in which the lords' courtiers and servants lived. In 1817 there were still 233 citizens in freedom. Some of the houses in freedom are now listed buildings . In one house, the Raesfeld Heimatverein is showing the exhibition “Raesfeld 1939–1945” on the Second World War , other buildings are used as restaurants, hotels and shops.
The draft of the castle chapel by the late Michael van Gent was changed into a "modern form". The columns, round arches and the side towers with Welschen hoods, symmetrically arranged to the central axis, form a representative portal, which also has early baroque forms with the curved gable and the coat of arms stone above the entrance. The palace chapel was built by Jacob Schmidt around 1658.
The sculptor Dietrich Wichmann worked as a master stonemason, the interior was done by Andreas Petersen. The unsigned altarpiece “The Adoration of the Lord” and eight smaller, no longer preserved pictures were painted by François Walschaerth. Claes Obermöller created the magnificent baroque altar. Conrad Ruprecht's organ was completed by Pentecost in 1659. Below the choir is the family crypt, in which the locksmith Alexander II von Velen is buried. The black marble death tablet was made during the lifetime of the imperial count; the lines for the dates of death remained blank. Alexander II had a second mortuary tablet made in the same way for his first wife and son Paul Ernst. During restoration work in 1962, the “leaden heart” of Christoph Otto von Velen, who died in 1733, was discovered in the crypt, which is now located in a wall niche on the right side of the choir. In 1901 the last vicar of the castle moved out, today the chapel is owned by the Catholic parish of St. Martin in Raesfeld.
organ
Since 2010 there has been a small organ on the organ stage in the palace chapel , built by the organ building company Stockmann (Werl). The purely mechanical instrument was built in an organ case that was adapted to the style of the interior of the chapel.
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
Castle park and zoo
A regular, geometrically aligned palace park was laid out north of the palace . The work was done by “Welsche gardeners and French fountain makers”. In addition to the representation, part of the palace park also served as a kitchen garden. In the contract with the sculptor Scharp, a fountain made in 1655/56 is described: "The sea god Neptune sitting on a mountain of stones, surrounded by crocodiles, turtles and cave creatures" . In 1668 a fountain with five fountains was also built. Further work in the castle park can be documented up to 1713. An orangery is drawn on the Oßingh map from 1729 and is mentioned in a list from 1770, it probably only disappeared after 1849. The area has been used for agriculture since then.
In 1653, Alexander II von Velen had a zoo laid out in the west of the palace . For this purpose, an approximately 100 hectare site was surrounded by a five kilometer long wall with attached palisades . Local game such as wild boar , roe deer and red deer were kept for hunting within the zoo . But exotic animals were also kept: The oldest evidence of the previously unknown fallow deer in North Rhine-Westphalia comes from Raesfeld from 1664 . Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen gave Alexander II "so that your zoo may be adorned and increased" in 1670 an "American pregnant buffalo cow, since Ew. Lovers a special lover of strange animals and being the best ” .
The landscape design in the Renaissance style was evident in the natural alternation of typical regional landscape elements such as mixed beech forests , mixed coniferous forests and isolated alder quarries , willows, small fields and heaths . Streams and ponds stretched like an organic ribbon from the castle in the east to the south-west. This complex, as a replica of nature, also served as a show of force for the lord of the castle. After the death of Alexander II, Ferdinand Gottfried von Velen continued to expand the garden. This included a fountain with four dolphins built in 1681, which was probably built on the vineyard island. In contrast to most of the palace gardens of the Renaissance, the Raesfelder Tiergarten was not significantly redesigned by modern forms such as the baroque park or the English landscape park. The clearest innovation in the 18th century was the construction of the long pond, which forms a line of sight to the castle, and the drainage of the pond in the south-west.
With the vacancy of the castle, the zoo was forgotten and overgrown. Two thirds of the wall has been preserved, but on a map from 1824 the fence with palisades is missing, so that since then the site has lost its function as a zoo. After that, the publicly accessible forest area was only used for forestry.
In the early 1990s, a map by Johan Reiner Oßing from 1729 was rediscovered. Upon closer inspection of the map, the Westphalian Office for the Preservation of Monuments came to the conclusion that the Raesfelder Tiergarten was one of the oldest preserved palace gardens of the Renaissance in Germany. However, the idea of revitalizing the original zoo was seen as an unaffordable, utopian fantasy. In the context of the Regionale 2004 “left and right of the Ems” the project could finally be implemented. The non-profit sponsoring association Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld was founded in 2003 and concluded a 25-year usage contract for the site with the owner Dietrich von Landsberg-Velen.
The zoo was redesigned according to a framework concept by the renowned landscape architect Gerd Aufmkolk. As he puts it, it was “not about a reconstruction in the conservation sense”, but about “making the essential intentions from the world of ideas of the Renaissance visible” . An orchard with 40 apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, a heather area and wet meadows were created. Some areas were cleared, groups of trees felled, creating open spaces. They serve as a grazing area for the reintroduced roe deer, red deer and fallow deer, which can move freely in the 130 hectare site, surrounded by a modern game protection fence.
The zoo is still open to the public and serves as a local recreation area. The area is made accessible by circular hiking trails. A nature trail provides information about nature and culture along the way, such as the artesian spring of the Welbrockbach, the ponds and a mill ruin from the early 18th century.
Information and visitor center
In spring 2005 the information and visitor center Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld was opened. The modern building, based on a design by the architecture firm Farwick + Grote from Ahaus , is characterized by a wooden structure encased in a glass facade. In the foyer of the center, visitors can get information about tourist offers in Raesfeld and the region, especially in the Hohe Mark-Westmünsterland nature park .
On the upper floor is the natural and cultural history permanent exhibition Appearance of a Cultural Landscape - Raesfeld Renaissance Zoo . It deals with the history of the castle and the zoo and compares them with other facilities. In addition, certificates, models, cards and components are shown. Among other things, the alliance coat of arms of Alexander II von Velen and his wife Alexandrine, which hung over the gateway of the outer bailey, and the restored Oßing map from 1729, which contributed to the discovery of the Renaissance zoo, are on display in the original. But also animal preparations and a miniature model of the zoo made of living plants, based on the example of Japanese garden art , serve as vivid exhibition objects. Other playful information elements put the history of the zoo in context with the protection of historical cultural landscapes .
In the nature workshop on the ground floor, practice-oriented nature and environmental education seminars are offered for all age groups. The neighboring room offers space for the Raesfeld Forum for sustainable regional development, which offers lectures, conferences and seminars, for example on environmental and nature conservation , agriculture and forestry .
history
The lords of the mountain
Between 1168 and 1174 Rabodo was certified by the mountain as the lord of the castle. He came from an influential, noble-free noble family from Montferland in the Duchy of Geldern . The family probably came into possession of the Raesfeld Castle through the marriage of Rabodo's father of the same name with a daughter from the Gemen family . The castle was probably Kretier Castle, which is no longer preserved today . Probably Rabodo had the church consecrated to St. Martinus built, around which the village of Raesfeld was built.
The next lord of the castle was Heinrich von dem Berge, who was mentioned in a document in 1245. His son Adam von dem Berge sold the castle called Raboding-Hof in 1259 together with the jurisdiction and the patronage rights of the village church to his distant relative Symon von Gemen (around 1231 - before 1265), who had probably already administered the castle before. The knight from the von Gemen family then called himself Symon von Rasvelde . Presumably after the purchase, the wooden structure burned down. It was not rebuilt and fell into disrepair, as Symon had a first stone castle built on the site of today's castle.
The Knights of Raesfeld
The descendants of Simon von Raesfeld remained lords of the castle on Raesfeld for around 300 years. First his son Mathias von Raesfeld (around 1245 - around 1318) and later the grandson Johann I von Raesfeld (around 1282 - around 1356) took over the castle. The latter was called in 1336 by the Prince-Bishop of Münster , Ludwig II of Hesse , to the Council of State Estates and there swore allegiance to the Prince-Bishop. As a result of the collapse of the county of Hamaland , the county of Kleve gained influence in the western Münsterland in the 14th century. The feudal system made Raesfeld Castle an open house for the Counts of Kleve.
Bytter I. von Raesfeld (* around 1325; † between 1403 and 1410), the eldest son of Johann I, was known as a warrior. In an alliance with his brother-in-law Heinrich III. von Gemen and Johann and Goswin von Lembeck he defeated the Heiden lord of the castle Wennemar in 1374 . The southern part of its Free County then came into the Raesfeld property. In 1388 Bytter I, his son Johann II and 25 Raesfeld soldiers came to the aid of the imperial city of Dortmund . The city was occupied by the troops of Cologne's Archbishop Friedrich III. von Saar Werden and Engelberts III. besieged by the march and hired knights to defend their freedom. During the raids, the Raesfelder captured the besieging knight von der Horst , but released him for a ransom. In August 1389 they looted Vest Recklinghausen in the Electorate of Cologne . At the end of 1389 the siege was over and Bytter I. von Raesfeld was paid off.
With the war wages and the booty from the looting he had Raesfeld Castle expanded. The new facility was partly built on the foundations of the old stone castle. At the beginning of the 15th century, the property belonging to Raesfeld included the Raesfeld Castle, Empte near Dülmen - parish , Ostendorf near Haltern -Lippramsdorf and Hamern near Billerbeck .
Johann II von Raesfeld (around 1375 - after 1443) became the new lord of the castle after the death of his father. He became known as a robber baron and the Prince-Bishop of Münster, Otto IV. , Openly dubbed him a mugger. Another contemporary wrote in 1408, “It was someone, his name was Johann von Raesfeld, who dragged the street and took a lot of goods from the merchants, their clothes and money and their pockets, and transported them to his house.” In contrast, Emperor Sigismund had Johann II in high esteem. For his loyalty as a vassal in the war, probably in the Hussite War of 1420/21, he received the right to mint . Due to a lack of mint masters, workshops and precious metals, Johann II did not make use of the right to mint coins. In 1427, Johann II concluded an agreement with Adolf IV of Kleve, who was appointed Duke: Johann II was allowed to keep the bailiwick income from the Raesfeld parish for twelve years and in return he promised to help the Duke of Kleve in the feud with the Archbishop of Cologne be. From Kleve, Johann II also received instructions and probably further funds for the fortification of Raesfeld Castle. The work was completed in 1440.
After 1446 Bytter II von Raesfeld (around 1410–1489 / 90) was the lord of the castle on Raesfeld. In 1490 his son Johann III followed. von Raesfeld (around 1450–1500). In 1487 he married Frederike von Reede († 1536) who took control of the castle after his death. Johann III. had decreed on his deathbed that his eldest son Bytter should become lord of the castle, but Bytter left the Raesfeld castle to his brother Johann .
Inheritance dispute
From 1523 Johann IV. Von Raesfeld (1492–1551) was the sole lord of the castle, because his mother Frederike moved into her own house. In the summer of 1532 Johann IV was elected commander-in-chief of the cavalry army of the imperial army and moved to Vienna to defend the imperial city in the Turkish war . In 1535 he supported the Prince-Bishop of Münster Franz von Waldeck as commanding field captain in the siege and capture of the city of Münster and the smashing of the Anabaptist Empire of Münster . As a reward, Johann IV received the right to build a mill in his parish, the Drostenamt in Ahaus as a fief and 13,000 gold florins . His third wife, Irmgard von Boyneburg, gave birth to a boy in November 1550 and thus Johann IV. An heir. In the summer of 1551, Johann IV died "a hasty death" when he was hit by a heavy iron bar falling down.
His widow married Goswin von Raesfeld (1494–1579 / 80), a distant relative of her late husband, in 1558. Irmgard moved with the young Johann zu Goswin to Twickel Castle near Delden ; there, in Twente , was Goswin Droste . Johann attended the Latin school in Deventer , but he died in 1559. Concerned about losing Raesfeld Castle and associated property and rights to the relatives of the Lords of Velen and Heiden without the heir , Goswin's stepfather quickly occupied the castle and took the inheritance for him a. On behalf of the lords of Velen and Heiden, who were actually entitled to inheritance, the Prince-Bishop of Münster, Bernhard von Raesfeld , filed a lawsuit against his relative Goswin at the Imperial Court of Justice in Speyer . In 1585 the highest German court awarded the Raesfeld Castle to the Lords of Velen by court order and ended the inheritance dispute. Irmgard, who had ruled Raesfeld again since the death of her second husband Goswin in 1579/80, now had to leave the castle with her children.
The Lords of Velen
Hermann VIII von Velen zu Velen († 1521) had married Margarethe von Raesfeld zu Raesfeld, a sister of Johann IV von Raesfeld . Hermann's and Margarethes son, Hermann IX. von Velen zu Velen (1516–1584), was governor and Droste in the Emsland , to Rheine and Bevergern and served the prince-bishop as court marshal. His sons became heirs of Raesfeld Castle after the ruling of the Imperial Chamber Court in 1585. In order to secure the Münster monastery from the Eighty Years War , Raesfeld was to be expanded as a border castle in 1589, but Spanish troops occupied the castle in 1590 and prevented it from being expanded.
In 1595 Alexander I. von Velen (1556–1630) received the property when his father Hermann IX, who died in 1584, was divided. the Raesfeld property. Alexander I had previously fought against the Turks in the service of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Crown of Bohemia , albeit without great success. While Alexander I was staying at the Viennese imperial court as diplomatic representative of the Prince-Bishop of Münster in 1597, the roof structure of Raesfeld Castle burned down. On this occasion, Alexander I had the two-storey manor house rebuilt for residential purposes from 1604 to 1606. He had earned the funds for this with the saline divine gift belonging to him near Rheine , and he also received a loan of 5000 thalers from the state parliament of the Münster monastery and the state councils. In 1612, on the fringes of the celebrations for the coronation of Emperor Matthias , Alexander I received the title of Roman Imperial Majesty Appointed Colonel and was knighted. In 1613 an emergency building had to be built because a violent storm had destroyed one wall of the large hall. With diplomatic skill, the lord of the castle was able to prevent further destruction by the Spanish mercenaries who occupied the castle under the command of Don Loys de Velasco in 1615/16. In 1619 Alexander I was given general command of the entire Münster army. The Thirty Years' War reached Raesfeld when the Hessian troops under the Count von Mansfeld occupied and sacked the castle in late autumn 1622. In 1628 Alexander I was raised to the status of an imperial baron by Emperor Ferdinand II . Two years later, on August 8, 1630, Alexander I of Velen died.
Expansion into a residential palace
His son Alexander II von Velen (1599–1675), later also called the Westphalian Wallenstein , took over the castle, which he had managed independently for a long time. He had entered the army at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War and had achieved a high reputation on the imperial side in the united army of the Counts of Anholt and von Tilly . From 1632 onwards, Alexander II fought against the Hessian occupiers of Westphalia on behalf of the Elector and Bishop Ferdinand . In 1634 Alexander II was promoted to general sergeant of the Catholic League and was given command of the entire armed forces of the duchy. As thanks for his military successes, he was assured of special neutrality for Raesfeld Castle. In the summer of 1641, together with Count von Hatzfeld , he succeeded in taking the town of Dorsten near Raesfeld, which was occupied by Hessian troops . On October 11, 1641, Alexander II became the hereditary imperial count of Emperor Ferdinand III. awarded. From him he received in 1644 with the "privilegium exemptionis fori" a separate jurisdiction for his imperial county. At his own request, Alexander II resigned from military service in 1646.
.jpg)
Fairy tales were told in the country about the wealth accumulated during military service. The Prince-Bishop Ferdinand said of Alexander II: “The graeffe von Vele had a good war in Westphalia. He probably enjoyed a few million. ” From this, he had the damaged Raesfeld Castle expanded from 1646 to 1658 into a representative residential palace as the focal point for the imperial principality he was aiming for . The extensions included three additional wings on the main house with a tower, an outer bailey with the so-called Sterndeuterturm, a chapel as well as lush parks and a zoo. During the construction period, the family and their staff lived mainly on the Hagenbeck an der Lippe house .
Alexander II was appointed field marshal and imperial war council in 1653, maintained his relations with the imperial court and represented the emperor at celebrations. At that time, many high-ranking personalities stayed at Raesfeld Castle, for example the Strasbourg Bishop and Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich Wilhelm or the Prince-Bishop Christoph Bernhard von Galen . In addition to the Raesfeld Castle, Alexander II owned the houses Krudenburg and Hagenbeck an der Lippe, Horst an der Ruhr , Megen in the Duchy of Brabant , Engelrading Castle near Marbeck and Bretzenheim Castle with his imperial rule , which gave him his seat and voice Reichstag brought in.
Fall of the imperial county
Alexander II wanted to bequeath his property to his younger son Paul Ernst so that it would not have fallen into the hands of the financially clumsy son Ferdinand Gottfried, but Paul Ernst died in Reims in 1657 . In order to bring his only remaining heir to his senses, Alexander II soon gave him the management of the castle. But as early as 1664 he secretly sold the Hagenbeck property to the Lembeck lord of the castle, Burghard von Westerholt, in order to pay off his own debts. After the death of his father in 1675, Ferdinand Gottfried von Velen (1626–1685) was the sole owner of the castle and was the first to sell Engelrading Castle. As the imperial chamberlain and colonel of a regiment, he did not have a large income, but with his lavish lifestyle he squandered a large part of his fortune in the ten years of his rule.
After the death of Ferdinand Gottfried and his wife Sophie Elisabeth von Limburg-Styrum in 1685, their eldest son Alexander Otto von Velen (1657–1727) became the new lord of the Raesfeld castle. He became imperial general of the cavalry, but the claims of the creditors and the arrears in the wages paid for the servants also exceeded Alexander Otto's income. In addition there was an inheritance dispute with his younger brother Christoph Otto and claims by his sister Charlotte Amalie. In 1708 Alexander Otto was promoted to general commander of the entire imperial cavalry and in 1726, a year before his death, to field marshal. Two of his sons, Hyacinth Joseph and Gabriel Phillip, fell as soldiers in front of Belgrade in 1717 and Alexander IV of Velen (1687–1733) should inherit in 1727.
Alexander IV. Left the indebted inheritance to his uncle Christoph Otto von Velen (1671–1733). In the imperial military in 1708, he became a colonel field master and later a general. Christoph Otto was often in the Austrian Netherlands for work and so he probably used his nephew Alexander IV and the Walloon Phillip Mouvé as administrators. In May 1733 the unmarried and childless Christoph Otto died in Brussels . There he was buried in a funeral crypt, but his heart was preserved in a lead capsule and brought to Raesfeld and buried in the family crypt of the castle chapel.
Alexander IV of Velen took over the inheritance after all. In 1716 he married Maria Charlotte von Merode (1698–1753), who gave birth to the boy Alexander Otto Carolus von Velen (1717–1733) a year later. But father and son also died in 1733, with which the lineage of the von Velen auf Raesfeld became extinct in the male line. For this case, Alexander IV had negotiated an inheritance contract with the distantly related master of the Gemen castle, Otto Ernst Leopold, Count of Limburg-Styrum . Raesfeld Castle came into the possession of the Gemen rulership . Maria Charlotte, the widow of Alexander IV, lived occasionally in Raesfeld Castle until her death in October 1753 and took care of courtly affairs. After that, however, the palace complex remained almost uninhabited and gradually fell into disrepair, as the Gemener did not care much about the palace complex.
In 1800, with the 15-year-old Ferdinand August, the Gemener line of the Limburg-Styrum family died out. The Gemener property including the Raesfeld Castle fell to the Baron von Boyneburg-Bömelsberg from Erolzheim in Swabia . Nor did he care about the empty and decaying castle.
During the Wars of Liberation in the winter of 1813/14, Cossack soldiers who chased the French troops after the Battle of Leipzig were quartered in Raesfeld Castle. The state of the castle can be guessed at, as the mayor found more appropriate accommodation for the Cossack officers.
Agricultural estate
In 1822 Baron Ignaz von Landsberg-Velen bought the Westphalian property of the distant Baron von Bömelsberg-Boineburg. The new master used the building as an agricultural property. The overgrown park was converted into farmland and the wall was used to fill in the swampy moats. Dilapidated buildings such as the harness chamber and the gatehouse fell victim to the demolition. The northern round tower of the complex was also demolished with the exception of the remains of the base. The grain stores were now stored in the venerable knight's hall and the rooms in the outer bailey became cattle sheds. Between 1879 and 1895, the chief administrator Friedrich Bonhof had the outer bailey renovated.
After the end of the First World War , parts of a Bavarian division occupied the rooms of the castle in December 1918 and made Raesfeld a garrison for weeks. In March 1920, during the advance of the Red Ruhr Army in the course of the Ruhr uprising, there was a battle with the Loewenfeld Freikorps , in which 50 fighters of the Red Ruhr Army lost their lives.
In 1927 the farmer Heinrich Albermeier leased the Raesfeld estate. With financial support from the provincial government, the castle owner Max von Landsberg-Velen had urgently needed repairs done.
Federal castle of the federal New Germany
The federal Neudeutschland that bündische organization of Catholic students at institutions of higher education, in 1929 leased the castle Raesfeld. After renovation work and new furnishings in the spring of 1930, the Bundesburg's inauguration ceremony took place on the day of Pentecost in 1930. A tent city for 500 visitors was set up on the surrounding meadows. The head of the castle, student J. Hasebrink, wrote "The home has 80 beds and enough rooms with facilities for large tent camps and meetings of our Catholic youth." Several hundred boys from the youth movement met regularly in front of the castle at Whitsun. The DC circuit of youth associations with the Hitler Youth , but in 1936/37 led to the dissolution of the federal New Germany.
Garrison, first aid station and prisoner of war camp
The Second World War prevented the castle from being converted for use as a district training castle for the NSDAP . When in October 1939 parts of the Wehrmacht moved from the attack on Poland to the western campaign , Raesfeld became a garrison for almost 1,000 soldiers. Five years later, in the autumn of 1944, the Wehrmacht withdrew from the western front and parts of them moved into the castle again.
In March 1945, Raesfeld Castle became the main first aid station for the retreating Wehrmacht. The Red Cross sign on the roofs prevented major damage to the castle from Allied aerial bombs. With Operation Plunder near Wesel, the front moved within a few kilometers of Raesfeld until the British Army finally took over the castle on March 28th. The English military staff set up an office in the outer bailey, while families who had fled from the cities of the Ruhr area were housed in the main building and in the tower . From April 1945 to March 1946, the knight's hall of the palace served as a prisoner-of-war camp for a company of Wehrmacht soldiers. In the post-war years, the castle buildings served as emergency accommodation for people who were expelled from the East and four classes at the Raesfeld elementary school.
Craftsman's Castle
As early as 1942, the Raesfeld e. V. acquired the castle. He had the facility, which was damaged and dilapidated during the war, restored, mainly from 1950 to 1951.
today
Today, Raesfeld Castle and around 14 hectares of land are owned by the seven chambers of crafts in North Rhine-Westphalia and the West German Chamber of Crafts . Since 1952 the main palace has been the seat of the state-recognized training institution Academy of Crafts . The educational offer is aimed primarily at managers of craft businesses. The outer bailey was restored in the 1980s and from 1982 onwards it housed the advanced training center for handicraft preservation . Today also Academy of Crafts. Craftsmen from the construction and finishing trades can learn historical craft techniques there as part of the preservation of monuments . In total, around 7,000 people use the services of the Chamber of Crafts each year. The Sterndeuterturm in the outer bailey has been used as a competence, information and advice center since the restoration in 2001. Both the association that supports the castle as a building ("Schloss Raesfeld Bildungsstätte des Handwerks eV") and the academy are currently chaired by the chairman Hans Hund, who is also president of the West German Chamber of Crafts, and the executive board member Reiner Nolten, who at the same time Chief Executive of the West German Chamber of Crafts is represented.
The knight's hall has been owned by the Kulturkreis Schloß Raesfeld e. V. is regularly used for concerts and literary events, but can also be rented for private celebrations such as weddings. The basement of the main castle is used as a restaurant.
swell
The older history of Raesfeld Castle lies in the dark of history and is partly based on hypotheses due to a lack of sources . In addition to the mention of the "Hrothusfeld" settlement in the Werden register of the main Scirenbeke ( Schermbeck ) farm in 899, the oldest documents come from the Xanten monastery library and the library of the Münster diocese . The most important sources for history from the 15th century onwards are the files, contracts, correspondence, orders and invoices that are in the Münster State Archives (Landsberg-Velensches Archive, war files of the Münster Landesarchiv, Kohl repertory).
literature
- Ludger Fischer : Raesfeld Castle (= DKV art guide, No. 587/1). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2001 ( online ).
- Adalbert Friedrich: Raesfeld Castle - from a knight's castle to a craftsman's castle. Tourist office Raesfeld e. V., Raesfeld 1990.
- Günter Kalesky: Raesfeld Castle. In: From moated castle to moated castle. Architectural and art history study trip in Westphalia. Rademann, Lüdinghausen 1976, pp. 53-55, ISBN 3-9800113-0-5 .
- Karl Emerich Krämer : Raesfeld Castle. In: Castle tour through the Münsterland. Dr. Wolfgang Schwarze Verlag, Düsseldorf 1975, pp. 11-13.
- Wilhelm Avenarius: Raesfeld. In: Old castles beautiful castles. A romantic trip to Germany. Abridged special edition. Verlag Das Beste, Stuttgart 1980, pp. 168–169, ISBN 3-87070-278-8 .
Web links
- Document registers from the general archive of Landsberg-Velen with holdings for the Raesfeld house / digital Westphalian document database (DWUD)
- History of the castle ( memento from October 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Hometown club
- Information and pictures about the castle history
- Gallery to the castle
- Tourist information about Raesfeld Castle
- Video bells ringing in the castle chapel
- Pictures of the castle in the picture archive of the LWL media center for Westphalia
- Regional Association Westphalia-Lippe: Raesfeld zoo in LWL geodata culture
- West German Chamber of Handicrafts
- 360 ° panoramic image of Raesfeld Castle in the Westphalia Culture Atlas (requires Flash player )
- Association "Schloss Raesfeld Bildungsstätte des Handwerks eV"
Individual evidence
- ^ R. Klapheck: The castle buildings to Raesfeld and Honstorff. Heimatverlag, Dortmund 1922.
- ↑ A. Friedrich: The past does not lie as a dead residue ... A contribution to the medieval castle history of Raesfeld. In: Westmünsterland. Yearbook of the Borken district. 2005. Borken 2004, pp. 105-111. ISSN 0937-1508
- ↑ A. Friedrich: Building history notes on the earlier defense tower of the Raesfeld castle. In: Westmünsterland. Yearbook of the Borken district. 1995. Borken 1994, pp. 249-253. ISSN 0937-1508
- ↑ A. Friedrich: The altarpiece in the Raesfelder Schloßkapelle: "... a remarkable work in rich colors." In: Westmünsterland. Yearbook of the Borken district. 1998. Borken 1997, pp. 187-190. ISSN 0937-1508
- ^ Orgelbau Stockmann: Reference Castle Chapel Raesfeld, II / 9, built in 2010. Accessed on January 19, 2013.
- ↑ a b Basis of the project. In: Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld e. V. (Ed.): Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld. A project by the Regionale 2004. Raesfeld 2005, pp. 10–14.
- ↑ Quoted from R. Klapheck: Die Schloßbauten zu Raesfeld and Honstorff. Heimatverlag, Dortmund 1922, p. 35.
- ↑ a b c d e conception and sustainability. In: Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld e. V. (Ed.): Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld. A project by the Regionale 2004. Raesfeld 2005, pp. 16–26.
- ↑ Quoted from H. Knust: Alexander von Velen (1599–1675). A contribution to Westphalian history. Diss. Phil. Muenster. Bochum 1938, p. 38 f.
- ^ A. Friedrich: Beginning and end of the new German federal castle Raesfeld Castle (1929-1937). In: Westmünsterland. Yearbook of the Borken district. 2001. Borken 2000, pp. 265-269.
Coordinates: 51 ° 45 ′ 50 " N , 6 ° 49 ′ 38" E