Stein (Thuringian noble family)

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Coat of arms of those von Stein

The Lords of Stein are an ancient noble family that was based in Thuringia . The original seat was Altenstein Castle near Bad Liebenstein in the Thuringian Forest . Some of their possessions were also in the neighboring Landgraviate of Hesse . The branch of the barons von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld still exists today.

They are not to be confused with the Thuringian Stein zu Lausnitz , which can also be traced back to a Dudo von Stein (documented 1117), as well as with the Lower Franconian knight family Stein zu Altenstein from Altenstein Castle near Maroldsweisach .

history

Stein zu Altenstein

Altenstein Castle (around 1500)

The family is first documented in 1116 with the castle man Dudo von Stein (Duodo de Steyn), who named himself after his seat, the castle Stein (later Altenstein ). He sat there as a feudal man of the Fulda Abbey . The location was on the edge of the Breitungen mark at the beginning of Schweinaer Strasse , a transit route across the Thuringian Forest . Both gave the castle a strategic importance.

An alleged descent from the Frankish knightly family of those von Frankenstein , who wield a lion in a silver shield, has not been proven. However, the Altensteiners were subject to the Frankensteiners in the 12th century and had to leave the Altenstein to them. Opposite the Stein Castle, the Ludowingers forced the construction of another castle, also known as the "New Stone", on the Bonifacius rock in the 13th century . The name " Markgrafenstein " indicates that the later Landgraves from the House of Wettin were also Margraves of Meissen at the time the name was created. (In 1736 the dukes of Saxony-Meiningen built Altenstein Castle as a summer residence at the foot of the two castle ruins .)

In 1257, the family is documented with the widowed Gertrud von Stein ( de Lapide ), who with the consent of her sons Poppo, Heinrich and Tuto as well as her heir Hermann von Stein sold her property in Rudolfsleben (now Rudisleben ) north of Arnstadt to the Ichtershausen monastery . It is unclear whether Otto von Stein, 1303 Kevernburger Burgmann zu Kevernburg, belongs to this family .

In the 13th century, the power interests of the Landgraves of Thuringia , the Counts of Henneberg , the Würzburg diocese , the Archdiocese of Mainz and the monasteries Fulda and Hersfeld, which were still represented with rich property, overlapped in the area between Eisenach and Breitungen / Werra . This resulted in the construction of numerous castles and fortifications. The disturbed balance of power was also a reason for the outbreak of the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession (1247–1264).

Stein zu Liebenstein

Liebenstein Castle (Wartburg district)

After the handover of the Altenstein, the Knights of Stein can be found from 1386 at Liebenstein Castle above Bad Liebenstein , thus establishing the Liebenstein line "from stone to love stone" . The castle was built between 1360 and 1375. In 1406 the name "Lybinstein" appears for the first time. From 1330 the Liebenstein belonged to the Counts of Henneberg as feudal lords and later fell to the Wettins .

In the Peasants' War in 1525, the Liebenstein Castle was saved, as the lord of the castle Lips von Stein submitted to the peasants for pretense and was able to save his property from destruction and looting. A fire mentioned in 1567 destroyed parts of the castle. It came into being when the Reich Execution Army captured the Liebenstein, which was set off to Thuringia with the settlement of the Grumbach trade in order to restore peace in the country. Hermann von Stein repaired the castle until 1599 and recommended the newly discovered mineral spring to his liege Casimir (1610), and the Sauerbrunnen settlement was built around this spring . After the von Stein castle owners died out , the Liebenstein served as a widow's residence until 1667. With the extinction of the Liebenstein line of the Lords of Stein, all property fell in 1673 as a settled fiefdom to Ernst the Pious .

Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld

Steinsches Castle (Barchfeld)

The Stein family had in the meantime acquired extensive further fiefdoms and allodial property, including in Schmalkalden , Benshausen , Brotterode and in Barchfeld , where they had had a seat since 1318 as a tenant of the Counts of Henneberg. In Barchfeld, from 1360 Stein's fiefdom of the Landgraviate of Hesse ( Herrschaft Schmalkalden ), they owned a moated castle, first mentioned in 1387, in the place of which they built Stein's Castle from 1571–1581 .

A large part of the family fiefs was lost in 1567 after Asmus von Stein had stood on the side of the defeated Ernestines in the Grumbach trade between the Ernestines and Albertines . His two sons shared the remaining property of their father: Georg received Barchfeld, Hermann received Liebenstein. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Stein zu Liebenstein line died out in the male line. The castle still served as a widow's seat and later fell into disrepair.

In 1721 Barchfeld also became the seat of the Landgraves of Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld , a branch of the Hessian Landgraves that emerged in 1721 from the Hessen-Philippsthal branch line . They built Wilhelmsburg Castle right next to Stein's Castle between 1690 and 1732 , so that the Lords of Stein lived almost next door to their feudal lords and sovereigns.

The Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld line had belonged to the followers of the Hessian landgraves and to the Saxon-Meiningen knighthood since 1375 . In 1845 she was confirmed as a baron by Sachsen-Meiningen and in the following year by Hessen-Kassel . She was also a member of the Althessian knighthood, which still exists today . However, this has been suspended since the land reform in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945 expropriated the Barchfeld family's property.

Hereditary funeral

The Hereditary Cemetery (2007)

The hereditary burial of the von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld family is located in a small forest halfway between Bad Liebenstein and Barchfeld near the Raboldsgrube . It was established in 1835 after burial in the old Barchfeld Church, where members of the Landgrave's branch line from Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld had also been buried, had not been allowed since the end of the 18th century. Initially, the deceased of the house were buried in a separate corner of the community cemetery, but then the approximately 2200 m 2 hereditary cemetery was created in the forest belonging to the family. A total of 29 recognizable grave sites are located there today. The last burial took place in the 1930s. The small cemetery fell into disrepair in the war and post-war years and was only bought after 1989 by a distant relative of those von Stein-Liebenstein and gradually restored.

coat of arms

The coat of arms shows two black slanted bars in silver . On the helmet with black and silver helmet covers an open (also closed) flight with the inclined beams.

  • Coat of arms of the Thuringian von Stein

  • Coat of arms of those von Stein zu Liebenstein

  • Coat of arms of those von Stein zu Liebenstein

  • Coat of arms of those von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld

Famous pepole

  • Dudo von Stein (around 1100) - Burgmann am Altenstein
  • Wenzel von Stein - 1378–1379 was the lien holder of Frankenberg Castle near Helmers
  • Asmus von Stein (around 1550) served two masters and ended up as a tragic figure in the Grumbach trade . His two sons each received part of his property - Georg received Barchfeld, Hermann Castle Liebenstein.
  • Hermann von Stein zu Liebenstein (around 1600) - made his master, Duke Casimir, aware of the Liebensteiner Heilquelle and is therefore considered to be the founder of the village of Sauerbrunnen , which was later merged with the neighboring Grumbach to become today's town of Bad Liebenstein.
  • Ferdinand von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld (1832–1912), Prussian lieutenant general
  • Alexis von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld (1864–1928), Prussian major general
  • Ferdinand-Wilhelm von Stein-Liebenstein zu Barchfeld (1895–1953), German Major General in the Air Force in World War II
  • Wilm Freiherr von Stein-Liebenstein (1869–1954), German judge and politician (DNVP)

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Ernst Heinrich Kneschke: New general German adels-lexicon: in an association with several historians (=  New general German Adels-Lexicon . Volume 8 ). F. Voight, 1868, p. 619 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Karl August Eckhardt, Das Fuldaer Vasallengeschlecht vom Stein, Marburg 1960, p. 16
  3. ^ Johann Siebmacher: The coats of arms of the Hessian and Thuringian aristocracy (= Johann Siebmacher [Hrsg.]: J. Siebmacher's grosses Wappenbuch . Volume 20 ). Bauer and Raspe, Neustadt an der Aisch 1977, ISBN 3-87947-020-0 , p. 29 (565 p., Limited preview in the Google book search - reprint of the Nuremberg edition 1856 ff.).
  4. ↑ Werner Mägdefrau , Rainer Lämmerhirt , Dana Lämmerhirt: Thuringian castles and fortifications in the Middle Ages . Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2001, ISBN 3-934748-43-0 , p. 184 .
  5. ↑ Manfred Salzmann (Ed.): Between Ruhla, Bad Liebenstein and Schmalkalden (=  values ​​of our homeland . Results of the local history inventory in the areas of Ruhla and Schmalkalden . Volume 48 ). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000378-2 , pp. 81–90: Chapter:  Bad Liebenstein .
  6. ↑ Grumbach'sche Handel on the website of Heimatfreunde
  7. ↑ Raboldsgrube on the website of the Heimatfreunde
  8. ↑ Barchfeld - The last resting place of those von Stein ( Memento from August 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )