Reichersbeuern Castle

Reichersbeuern Castle
Alternative name (s):	Sigriz Castle
Creation time :	before 955
Castle type :	Niederungsburg
Conservation status:	receive
Place:	Reichersbeuern
Geographical location	47 ° 46 '3 "  N , 11 ° 37' 31.2"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 46 '3 "  N , 11 ° 37' 31.2"  E
Height:	710  m above sea level NHN

Schloss Reichersbeuern , also called Schloss Sigriz , is a moated castle in the municipality of Reichersbeuern . It stands at the foot of the foothills of the Bavarian Alps , six kilometers east of Bad Tölz . It was built as a moated castle before 955, and its current appearance corresponds to the changes that were made from the 16th century onwards. Today it houses the Max-Rill-Schule , a high school with all-day school and boarding school .

history

Reichersbeuern, the name of the castle, is derived from the Middle High German "Richerispuira", like the associated place, and thus describes the "House of the Richer". The original place name “Puron”, from the Old High German “burrion”, simply meant “at the houses”, a component of the name that can also be found in other places such as Benediktbeuern or Beuerberg. Who the eponymous Richer was, who probably had his sovereign residence on site, can no longer be determined with certainty today. The name simply referred to a "rich man", meaning rich man. Presumably this came from the family of the Huosi , one of the Bavarian nobility, who were at the head of Bavaria before the Aribones .

After the establishment of the Tegernsee Monastery in 746, Reichersbeuern was given to it as a fief . Under the leadership of the monastery, the residents were to continue clearing and settling the Isar valley. The Altenpraeche-Untermberg fortress was founded as a further center, as a forerunner of the Hohenburg , which later developed into the most important seat of power in the region. After Baiern was incorporated into the Carolingian Empire in 788, the Tegernsee monastery became an imperial monastery , headed by a Vogt who was directly under the emperor. After the defeat at Pressburg , at the time of the Hungarian invasions , it was secularized by Duke Arnulf the Evil , and the treasures and lands of the monastery were distributed to impoverished landed aristocrats, some of them also sold in order to raise a powerful cavalry army. As a result, Reichersbeuern came into the possession of the Rapotons , the ancestors of the Counts of Dießen and Andechs .

Rasso had a moated castle built in Reichersbeuern for this family , primarily to protect the population from the Hungarian invasions and as a military base. This was built on a raised headland, surrounded on three sides by four ponds . In addition, the village stream was diverted into the pond in order to further increase the defense force. Since Rasso died before the battle on the Lechfeld , it can be deduced that the castle was built before 955.

Reichersbeuern Palace, woodcut by Jost Amman , published in Philipp Apian's country tables in 1568

A Count Meginhard de Richersspuren was mentioned as a witness in a codex of the Tegernsee Monastery in 1045. This came from the family of the Counts of Gilching on Lake Starnberg and was related by marriage to the Counts of Dießen. From these he received the Reichersbeuern Castle as a fief of the Tegernsee Monastery. This led the panther in the coat of arms, which adorns the Reichersbeurer coat of arms to this day. In the course of the investiture controversy , the monastery regained the castle and from then on sent knightly ministerial families there to exercise the bird's eye view. As residents of the castle, they exercised personal and property rights in the monastery. From the monastery they received the office of the custodian . As ministerials they were freelance officials, but had to do service and obedience. In 1209, Alban von Reichersbeuern was in charge of the monastery, which was besieged by Ludwig the Kelheimer in the Andechs war. This fiefdom was passed on by the von Reichersbeuern lords, as was the duty to serve.

These ministerial families ruled the Reichersbeuern until they died out in the 14th century. The last of them, Knight Albanus IV., Fell out with the monastery due to the rights of use and driving rights of the Reichersbeurer and Greilinger farmers to the forests on the Kehrberg. This happened when Emperor Ludwig der Baier confirmed the freedoms of the monasteries in 1321 and 1330 and granted them legal dispositions as well as the lower jurisdiction in their monastic districts. A reconciliation between Albanus IV and the Tegernsee Monastery did not come about, since in 1353 the latter no longer transferred the office of the chief executive to Albanus. Instead, the monastery transferred the office of truchess to the Hohenrainer family, who did not come from Reichersbeuern. The childlessness of Albanus IV caused him to sell all his possessions in Reichersbeuern from 1358 onwards. He sold the castle to the Pienzenauer .

The new owner of the castle was Otto I. von Pienzenau, who was already the keeper of Aibling and district judge of Kufstein and Kitzbühel . He came from one of the richest and most powerful families in the duchy and is named as one of the three imperial-ducal arbitrators . As a very pious man, he donated a benefit to Reichersbeuern in 1388 , also so that Reichersbeuern received a permanent clergyman, a vicar , and was no longer dependent as a diaspora community on Oberwarngau , a monastery of the Tegernsee monastery. He had previously acquired the church in Reichersbeuern from the monastery. The imperial power was largely extinguished and meanwhile the Wittelsbacher exercised the rule over Bavaria. These reformed the entire judicial organization. This was previously in the hands of bailiffs and counts, but was now also passed on to civil servants. So Reichersbeuern Castle also received a Hofmark , to which Reichersbeuern, Greiling and Sachsenkam belonged, in which the landowner or the specially appointed judge exercised the lower jurisdiction. In 1384 a Duke Stephan the Younger of Reichersbeuern is mentioned. This Hofmark ensured the continued existence of the castle.

Reichersbeuern Castle, copper engraving by Michael Wening (1701)

Due to the dense forests and numerous swamps, cattle breeding in Reichersbeuern turned out to be difficult due to less pastureland. The main food of the castle residents was mainly fish that were bred in the surrounding ponds. Due to the shallow depth, however, many fish froze to death in winter, so hunting was another important source. Duke Stephan III also traded because of the hunting grounds . 1388 the castle, the Hofmark and the Burgstall Hoheneck . Otto II von Pienzenau, who took over the castle in 1371 when his father died, received Hartmannsberg Castle for it .

In 1341 began a decade-long dispute over hunting and logging rights on the Karberg, between the respective court lords of Reichersbeuern and the court clerk of Tölz . The Lords of Reichersbeuern, Eckprecht and Alban IV, reached an agreement in a court of law against Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria. They sold the mountain forest belonging to the castle to the Tegernsee Monastery, on the condition that the residents of Reichersbeuern and Greiling could continue to use the wood for their own use. When the castle fell to the Wittelsbach family, they took advantage of their right to cut wood on the mountain. After the destruction of the first Tölz castle in the "Great Fire", Duke Albrecht III. from 1454 build a new castle in Tölz . He had the wood removed from the Karberg. After decades of building activity, Jakob Tänzl von Tratzberg, the new owner of Reichersbeuern Castle, objected to this logging. The Tölzer nurse, who represented the Duke's interests, referred to customary law. Tänzl von Tratzberg, on the other hand, relied on existing ownership rights. However, the court chamber court rejected Tänzl von Tratzberg's request.

Out of gratitude for the loyalty in the fight against the Löwlerbund , Duke Albrecht IV enfeoffed Kaspar II. Winemakers with the Hofmark. The deposit remained with Wittib Christina Maxlrainer von Hohenburg, Wolfgang von Schellenberg's mother-in-law. Due to financial problems, Kaspar III sold. Winemaker passed the castle to Veit Jakob von Tratzberg, but the purchase agreement came about between him and Wolfgang von Schellenberg. The Tänzl family came from Innsbruck, where grandfather Jakob II Tänzl was a knight, councilor, church provost and mayor (1437–1477). His son Christian Tänzl (1448–1491), the father of the later Reichersbeurer palace owner, gained great wealth through silver mines on Falkenstein in Schwaz and acquired numerous properties. After his death, his sons Jakob and Simon Tänzl inherited an impressive fortune. Jakob Tänzl, carer at the Rottenburg , zu Rattenberg and zu Aibling is mentioned in a document between 1490 and 1530. In 1498 the brothers exchanged Burg Berneck and the Fischweid des Kaunerbach for Tratzberg Castle with Emperor Maximilian I. After this castle was devastated by a fire in 1480, they began extensive restoration work and renovations. After 1500 they continued this in the now rather neglected Reichersbeuern Castle, remodeling it into a moated castle in the style of the early Renaissance. The furnishings corresponded to that of Tratzberg Castle, as shown by the chapel that has been preserved to this day, the coffered ceilings and the furnishings in the two corner towers. Today's main entrance was added later. The entrance to the castle at that time began on the spiral staircase in the center of the castle, which is one of the oldest existing parts of the castle. Tänzl had the palace chapel built and in 1516 received indulgences from several cardinals.

Reichersbeuern Castle, another copper engraving by Michael Wening (1701)

Veit Jakob von Tänzl was still considered a thorn in the side of the Wittelsbach family due to his Tyrolean origin. Initially granted fishing rights on Lake Walchensee, he was quickly revoked. With the acquisition of Reichersbeuern Castle, he also received rights to use flocks and the right to collect taxes, but he never appeared as a signatory of documents relating to the Hofmark. Therefore, jurisdiction does not appear to have been granted to him. His efforts to build another castle also failed. His business acumen showed, however, that he bought mills and the Nagelbach near Tölz, that in 1519 he had the Stallauer Weiher laid out for fish farming and that he massively promoted rafting, for which he mainly hired raftsmen from Lenggries. Since he had no children of his own, his nephews, his brother's sons, inherited his property after his death on April 16, 1530. Since they were hopelessly divided over the division of the goods, the existing wealth quickly declined. In the 1550s all possessions in Tyrol were sold. From 1573 they lived in Unterwallbach, near the Swabian town of Burgau , as a completely impoverished country nobility, the family moved back to Oberbechingen around 100 years later .

In 1519, the Munich patrician family Rudolf acquired Reichersbeuern Castle and other goods from Veit Jakob von Tänzl, who continued the dispute over the Karberg. The owner at the time, Georg Rudolf, complained about the timber crime of many Tölz citizens in his forest and also cited the fact that some of them were sentenced to imprisonment for it. The Tölz care judge, however, pointed out that the course of the Langen Gaißach brook was the border of the Tölz area. Since this flows around the Karberg, the Karberg is under the care of Tölz, which is why the Tölz alone have the right to wood, hunting and fishing in this area. However, Georg Rudolf asserted the Ruhrgasse as the border, which was under his influence. With increasing duration, these disputes became more differentiated and complex. The Reichersbeurer also referred to the first settlements in the area, the Tölzer repeatedly referred to customary law . Also Kaspar II. Winzerer instructed the Greilinger to fetch wood for Toelz from Karberg. Kaspar III followed this example . Vintners after the wood on Reutberg became scarce due to heavy clearing. The dispute lasted until 1553 and ended in a Munich court with a victory for the Reichersbeurer Hofmarks. The Hofmarks border was determined as it still corresponds to the municipal border today. Although the Tölzer were no longer allowed to use wood from the Karberg, the Greilingen farmers were granted this right, who on the one hand belonged to the Hofmark Reichersbeuern and on the other hand to the Tölz district court.

Georg Rudolf's son Augustin made massive changes to the financial and legal situation. His exercised patrimonial jurisdiction came into conflict with the duke, who had awarded the lower jurisdiction over individual farms to the Tölzer district court. In addition, the duke was annoyed that Augustin Rudolf restricted his hunting in the Hofmark. As a result of the quarrels with the Wittelsbach family, the once rich Rudolf family became increasingly impoverished. In 1558 Augustin sold the Stallauer Weiher to Abbot Ludwig von Benediktbeuern. The last Rudolf died completely destitute in 1592.

Apparently the purchase contracts between Christina von Maxlrain-Hohenburg, or Wolfgang von Schellenburg and Veit Jakob Tänzl, were not fully concluded or at least a right of first refusal was granted. After Augustine's death in 1562/63, the Hohenburgers made claims to Reichersbeuern Castle. Grandson Dionys von Schellenberg, ducal keeper of Haag , acquired the property of the Rudolfs' heirs in the 1560s. As a supporter of the Counter Reformation under Albrecht V , he proceeded severely as Reichersbeurer Hofmarkherr.

Dionys von Schellenberg died childless in 1577, and the Pienzenau family regained the castle and Hofmark. The pledge between Kaspar II. Winzerer and Christina von Maxlrain was also redeemed. Already in 1570 Christoph II. Von Pienzenau inherited the Hofmark Sachsenkam, because the previous owner, Kaspar III. Vintner died due to injuries from a knight tournament. His sons had already died and his daughter Cordula was married to Hanns Kaspar von Pienzenau at Schloss Zinneberg . Christoph II von Pienzenau was the second son of this marriage, from 1561 court master of the ducal princes of Bavaria, 1567 treasurer of the Tegernsee monastery and in 1573 also feudal and court master of the bishop of Freising. In 1575 he was appointed the country's highest official and chaired the Secret Council of State. In 1577 he finally acquired Schloss Reichersbeuern and the Hofmark, which merged with the Hofmark Sachsenkam. Christoph II died on July 26, 1578 and was buried in the family crypt in Ebersberg next to six of his seven children.

The only survivor from his marriage to Sophie von Closen , an old noble family from Gern bei Eggenfelden , was his daughter Anna von Pienzenau. She married Baron Johann Baptist von Guidoboni-Cavalchini in 1579. This was an Italian nobleman from the area of Genoa and as a gentleman on the Bavarian court under William V employed. From this he received Lichtenberg in 1578 as a fief. Christoph II was a friend of the Duke, so he knew his daughter Anna well. After marrying Anna von Pienzenau, Johann Baptist von Guidoboni-Cavalchini was confirmed in 1581 as the successor to his mother-in-law Sophie from the Tegernsee Monastery as a fiefdom of the Reichersbeuern Castle and Hofmark.

In 1585 Johann Baptist received the Tölz Nursing Office, but he did not exercise jurisdiction. In the parish church of Tölz, he had a burial place built for himself and his wife in the winegrower's chapel. He died on May 13th, 1603, his widow and heiress of all court brands donated an anniversary with a Quatember Mass in 1612 , accompanied by generous, mild gifts to old people and poor children of Saxony. Anna married again in 1604, this time Jakob Papafaba Count of Carrara and Aquilara, the duke's cupbearer , who came from a noble family from Padua. The Duke viewed with displeasure that she was remarrying an Italian, a Welschen . Jakob Papafaba was considered an unpleasant person, and he was forbidden to wear the title Count of Carrara and Aquilara. Disputes with other aristocrats, such as Hofrat Hans Christoph von Preysing in 1607, also shaped his reputation, as did the fact that his wife complained to her about "acts that had occurred", which the Hofrat in Munich even discussed on July 4, 1609. According to the protocol of the court councilor of August 17, 1609, Jakob Papafaba fled hastily to Italy with his wife stolen treasures. He is said to have planned, along with accomplices, to murder his wife and escaped arrest. He never returned to Bavaria and his fate remained unclear. From then on, Countess Anna was designated as the owner of the Hofmark. After her husband's flight, however, the Duke's negative attitude towards her did not change. He did not want to tolerate a woman as the owner of a Hofmark if she is married to a foreigner or an incompetent and revised Duke Albrecht's noble liberties.

The then widespread enthusiasm for the Loreto pilgrimage followed Count Papafaba and his wife Anna in 1605. On the Reutberg should be a place of pilgrimage to this pattern emerge. Permission from the Bishop of Freising and the Duke was obtained and the chapel, a full-scale replica of the Santa Casa , was consecrated in 1606. The building was built against the will of the peasantry, who felt they were being exploited by the count for their crowd, too badly treated and cared for. They therefore filed a complaint with the Duke. In 1615, Anna arranged for the Reutberg Monastery to be built . After the stressful events of 1609, she made a pledge to the Virgin Mary to build a monastery with her resources.

After her death, Anna Papafaba was buried next to her first husband in the winery chapel in Tölz. In 1617 she was given back her noble liberty by decree. Her cousin Christoph von Closen and Guidiboni's cousin Albrecht Niklas Guidiboni inherited the castle and the Reichersbeuern and Sachsenkam court brands in equal parts. Due to the high debt of both court brands, they were forced to sell both on November 12, 1627. So it came into the possession of Baron Johann Christoph von Preysing auf Hohenaschau.

The purchase of the castle by Christoph von Preysing ushered in a new era, since the castle remained in family ownership for more than 200 years, and they played an important role in maintaining the castle.

In May 1938, the pedagogue Max Rill moved into the castle with 43 schoolgirls in order to realize his humanistic, reformist pedagogy of living and learning together. Max Rill had been a member of the NSDAP since 1937 . In 1943 the school was nationalized and Rill was made civil servants, a military hospital was set up in the castle in 1944 and the school was temporarily closed. In the course of denazification after the war, Rill was classified as a follower . Due to an anonymous complaint, there was a retrial in 1947 that was supposed to clarify whether Rill should not be classified more as a "victim". However, before the court proceedings responsible for the Bad Tölz district , witnesses Rill confirmed that teaching was free of politics and that the conduct was impeccable. Parts of the indictment referred to the fraternization of the schoolgirls with members of the Tölzer SS Junk School , as in regular dance lessons together. Jewish mixed race children were secretly registered at the school, but also children of high-ranking National Socialists, such as Rudolf Hess's niece and, as the most prominent student, Gudrun Himmler .

The castle is still used by the Max-Rill-Schule as a high school including boarding school and in 2018 the Max-Rill-Schule celebrated its 80th anniversary.

Legends and ghost myths

Widow Sophie von Pienzenau donated a salvation of the soul for her deceased husband Christoph II von Pienzenau on May 18, 1580 . Daughter Anna and her husband Johann Baptist committed themselves to the future execution. After the daughter's death in 1627, also due to the turmoil of the Thirty Years War , this duty was neglected. Because of this sin of omission, Sophie von Pienzenau should now find no rest and haunt the castle as a ghost. Due to the gullibility of the time, also among aristocrats, these rumors were given a certain amount of attention, so that the later castle owner Maximilian I von Preysing had a “necromancer” and a bricklayer come from Munich in 1644 to investigate possible events. From December 26th to 28th, 1644 exorcisms were carried out at midnight, in the presence of keepers and farmers. Castle administrator Conrad Rueff kept a detailed record of this. This took place in the mansion of the castle, only the necromancer Rosina is said to have revealed the spirit. This asked to have a mass read in the castle chapel every year so that they could be redeemed. After this evocation, Father Christian from the Franciscans in Tölz held a service and sprinkled the castle with holy water in many places.

In the course of time, other variants of this legend emerged. Sophie, who loved her daughter Anna beyond measure, is said to have given her 100 guilders on her death bed so that she can have a mass for her every year on the day of her death. But after just a few weeks Anna began to spend the money on clothes and jewelery to please Count Johann of Carrara and Aquira. Soon after their wedding, however, she had a fatal accident on a hunting trip. As a punishment, she is now supposed to wander around as a knocking spirit and plead miserably for help. Another version of this legend is based on a child murder. Sophie von Pienzenau is said to have locked her only child in the watch tower and starved to death there. As a punishment, her soul should find no rest and every year at the time of the first snow, wandering through the castle as a white woman complaining.

In 1627 Christoph von Preysing took over the castle, who was regarded as the eerie lord of the castle. Strange things are said to have happened in the castle at night after his death. A maid claims to have observed lights on the windows that jumped from window to window. At night a dog with red-hot eyes ran towards a farmhand on the spiral staircase and passed between his legs. There were also reports of dragging noises in the corridors. Such stories were passed on by the villagers of Reichersbeuern. After the acquisition of the castle by the Sigriz, these became popular in 1884. Farmers want to have seen both the ghost dog with the red-hot eyes and other ghosts, which is why the area around the castle was increasingly avoided at night.

Another legend tells of a treasure that is said to be hidden in the castle, in a buried vault. This chest, filled with gold, is said to be guarded by the Norns , who repel any intruder. In the 1930s, a chimney sweeper came across a supposed treasure that he found in the chimney room of the gatehouse. He excitedly reported about it to Baron von Sigriz. The dome of the tiled stove could evidently be removed, and it contained over 100 silver plates. His grandfather hid these in it during the First World War, but the plates were then forgotten.

Another legend is about a tunnel that is supposed to connect the stables on the ground floor of the castle with the Reutberg monastery about 5 km away. Depending on the variant, this tunnel should be intact or completely or partially collapsed.

literature

• Schloss Reichersbeuern - history and tour in pictures , Munich 1988, Landerziehungsheim Reichersbeuern / Max-Rill-Schule (ed.)
• Georg Paula , Angelika Wegener-Hüssen: Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district (= Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation [Hrsg.]: Monuments in Bavaria . Volume I.5 ). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-87490-573-X , p. 387 .
• Werner Meyer : Castles in Upper Bavaria - A manual . Weidlich Verlag, Würzburg 1986, ISBN 3-8035-1279-4 .
• In the matter of Max Rill - The girls' school in Reichersbeuern 1938 to 1945 and its relationships with the SS Junk School Bad Tölz , 2018, Nikolaus Frei and Georg Kwossek (self-published)
• Schloss Reichersbeuern - history and stories , 2013, Hermann Schmid, text - Klas Stöver, layout and image design, Max-Rill-Gymnasium (ed.)

Web links

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

• Entry on Schloss Reichersbeuern in the private database "Alle Burgen".
• Official website of the Max Rill School

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.max-rill-gym.de/schulprofil/schulchronik/
2. ↑ http://www.reichersbeuern.de/fileadmin/Dateien/Dateien/Aktuelles/Gmoablattl/epaper-2017-12-01_104226/index.html#58
3. ↑ https://www.ovb-online.de/bayern/himmler-t Nahrungsmittel-gestorben- 10001748.html
4. ↑ Rosi Bauer: Max-Rill-Schule: How was it in the times of tyranny? In: Merkur.de. July 25, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018 . 
5. ^ Christoph Schnitzer: New book and play: Max Rill and the SS Junker School. In: Merkur.de. July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018 .