Freiling moated castle
The Freiling moated castle is a castle in the Freiling district of the Upper Austrian municipality of Oftering , which was first mentioned in 1170 in a document from Wilhering Abbey . The construction of the facility, which was founded in the Middle Ages , goes back to the Lords of Perg and Machland . It remained in the feudal possession of the Schifer family for a long time before it passed to the Kauthen family in 1669 and was converted into a four-wing moated castle over time . Only remnants of the once mighty moated castle are preserved today. The palace complex is located in the middle of a spaciousLandscape parks . In earlier times, several ornamental and kitchen gardens as well as farm ponds surrounded the property, but they are only partially available today.
The castle is known for the stay of Franz von Lorraine , the later husband of Maria Theresa , who stayed in Freiling for a short time. However, the year of his stay is not known. At times it was used as an asylum and an agricultural school. It is now privately owned and is not open to the public. Its utility wing is partly used by the Freiling volunteer fire brigade .
location
To the west of the village of Oftering lies Freiling, today part of the municipality of Oftering, 12 km northeast of Wels . The district got its name from Frejling Castle (today Freiling Castle). The building is located in the center of the village, but cannot be seen due to the high and dense tree population around the castle. The favorable location between Wels and Linz was decisive for the construction of the former castle complex .
history
After the construction of the moated castle by the Lords of Perg and Machland, the owners of today's castle changed frequently through purchase, exchange and inheritance. In the course of its history, Freiling Castle served various purposes, for example in the 19th century as an insane asylum and as an agricultural school, before the Second World War as a military training area and around 1960 as a location for a collection of flies for the amateur dipterologist Walter Peller. Since then, the palace complex has been used almost exclusively for private residential purposes. Only part of the commercial wing is used by the Freiling volunteer fire brigade.
History up to 1669
Together with the brothers Ortlof and Ulrich von Vriling a moated castle with the name Vrilingen the first time in 1170 in a document of the pin mentioned Wilhering. In 1375 the property was sold by the widow of Dietrich Espan von Lichtenhaag, Margarethe Aspan von Hag, to Jans II. Schifer (also: Schiffer or Schiefer) and his housewife. The Schifer, who had two other possessions, became known through the foundation of the Schiefer's Hospital in Eferding in 1325. The hospital was considered to be the richest hospital monastery with the largest property holdings at that time. A memorial plaque from the Renaissance period , which was created shortly after the marriage of Otto von Traun and Herzelaut von Schifer from Freiling in 1557, shows that the Schifer family was Protestant at the time. An epitaph in the parish church of St. Jacob in Hörsching shows the Traun and Schifer families with their coats of arms. This memorial plaque was created. After his death Otto von Traun was buried in what was then the Protestant parish church in Hörsching.
Freiling Castle, a fief of the Mondsee Monastery , remained in the fiefdom of the Schifer family for almost 300 years, until 1669. During the peasant uprisings in Upper Austria , the fiefdom owner of the castle, Dietmar Schifer, was one of the commanders of the troops that restored order. Because the skippers were particularly strict against peasants, they set the castle on fire in revenge during the Upper Austrian Peasants' War on the night of September 17, 1626.
17th to 19th century
In 1669 Georg Freiherr von Schifer sold the property to the President of the Court Chamber, Georg Ludwig Graf Sinzendorf . In the same year he exchanged the property for the Lords Peuerbach and Bruck , whereby the property came into the possession of Count Georg Kauthen. It was rebuilt and embellished under the Kauthen family. The owl in the coat of arms of the municipality of Oftering still reminds of these castle owners, because the animal was taken from the coat of arms of the Kauthen.
Freiling Castle came into the possession of Franz Wenzel, Baron von Rumerskirch in 1768. However, his family was doing poorly. After the death of Baron Josef von Rumerskirch, his son Julius inherited the property, which Freiling could no longer economically save. Julius threw his family's coat of arms into the castle pond and sold the property to Georg Riedl in 1860. The buildings were then empty before they were leased in 1862 by the Linz insane asylum. The starting point for the new use were space problems in the lunatic asylum in Prunner-Stift, which could not be resolved despite the fact that the building had moved out. After the failed attempt to acquire Hagen Castle in Urfahr and use it as an asylum for cost reasons, Freiling Castle was finally rented in order to counter the lack of space in Prunner-Stift. 40 patients were transferred from there to Freiling. At the same time, the increasing shortage of space was further reduced by the purchase of Gschwendt Castle near Neuhofen an der Krems , which is still a branch today .
The rental was short-lived. As early as September 17, 1862, the sick had to be transferred back to Linz, because the entire building had fallen victim to a fire that broke out in the hunting lodge opposite the castle. The reconstruction in the next few years was very slow and was limited to those parts that still exist today: the northern part of the once four-winged castle and the castle tower, which was only rebuilt in shortened form. In 1868 the still existing villa was built between the three ponds of the castle.
1869 acquired Swiss Eduard Verdan the renovierungsbedürftige castle, followed by the country agricultural school was in the Maierhof moved from Freiling. This use, too, was short-lived, because Freiling Castle offered too little space, so the agricultural vocational and technical school moved to Ritzlhof near Berg in 1876, where classrooms, practice areas and a boarding school were created. The castle, which was acquired by Alfred Prieser in the same year, was empty again.
Recent history
In 1899 Major Josef Peller acquired the property and the associated agricultural land. He reforested large parts of it with spruce so that it could be better used for small game hunting. Several concerts by local singers and the choral society took place in the castle, making it the cultural center of the place. The former kuk Major Peller lived in an outbuilding of the castle and was in command of the local home guard . He insisted that exercises and celebrations of the home guard be carried out in the palace gardens.
Josef Peller bequeathed the system to his son Walter, who was the only amateur dipterologist active in Austria after the Second World War . He built up a large collection of flies that was initially only known to a few contemporaries. It was first mentioned in the specialist literature in 1959. After his death in 1969, his widow donated the collection to the Natural History Museum of the Benedictine Abbey of Admont , where it is in a special cabinet. The collection is in very good condition and participates in international loan transactions. His daughter Ulrike, married Pichler, took over the castle.
Todays use
Schloss Freiling is currently privately owned by Andreas Pichler and - apart from the inner courtyard of the service wing - is not open to the public. Only the partially renovated utility wing can be seen from the street. The castle owners in recent years issued permits to visit the complex for special occasions, for example in 1965 at the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the priesthood of Consistorial Councilor Pastor Michael Furtner and on a related school hiking day. The Freiling volunteer fire brigade is located in one part of the service wing and organized the Moarhoffest from 2003 to 2007 in its premises and the inner courtyard of the service wing . The courtyard is also used for the sale of Christmas trees in the run-up to Christmas. The other buildings in the palace complex are used exclusively for private purposes.
description
architecture
The construction of the former moated castle goes back to the Lords of Perg and Machland. The members of this family called themselves among other things "Lords of Ofthering". Several of the castles they built were within their sphere of influence .
The moated castle, founded around the Middle Ages, has been changed into a moated castle over the years. Today only remnants of the once mighty moated castle and the changed castle are left. The moated castle was in the middle of a pond on an island and was connected to the bank by several wooden bridges. The main entrance to the castle complex was reached through a two meter wide and three meter high Gothic gate. A side entrance at the back of the castle was connected to the bank by a smaller wooden bridge. Outside the moat were the residential and farm buildings with the Meierhof, as well as gardens and wood stocks.
The castle used to be a four-wing complex, the corners of which were occupied by round towers with pointed conical roofs . At the towers only two projecting in the pond remember Estraden and a tower stump on the right side of today's residential tract. The basement of a former corner tower was converted into a viewing platform with an iron grille.
The front and side wings of the castle, which were largely destroyed by fire, were completely demolished in the 19th century, so that only the rear, northern wing with the characteristic high tower remains. The shortened tower is five storeys high and has a simple broken mansard hipped roof . Despite its renovation after the fire, details still point to the old age of the tower, for example, corbels can be seen that support a balcony decorated with basket arches on the top floor of the tower. The former light slits in the tower were bricked up. A window on the fourth floor has been replaced by an ox-eye with a clock built into it. There are still stucco work under the windows of today's entrance front .
Under the owner Johan Constantin von Kauth, an Immaculata statue made of granite was created in 1710 . It bears the year 1710 on the base and the initials of Johann Constantin von Kauth, JCVK. In a small fountain there is a cast metal putti and goose from the later 19th century. The octagonal, open iron salettl still preserved comes from the same period .
In addition to the moated castle, the Freiling residence also included other buildings that were either demolished, burned down or put to another use in the course of time, including the hunting lodge, which was located east of the castle and burned down, and north outside the moat, the accommodation of the Servants who also no longer exist. The southern entrance portal to the former moated castle formed an entrance into the inner courtyard of the partially renovated farm buildings that still exists today. The lettering "Landgut Frejling" can still be seen above the passage. A reference to the former moated castle is the still partially existing moat around the castle.
Gardens and park
The castle is located in a spacious landscaped park, which today is mostly used as a garden and a small part is farmed. Several kitchen gardens and farm ponds used to belong to the palace complex. To the north-west was an ornamental garden, which was connected to the castle by a wooden bridge over the moat. A small farm pond still exists to the east of the castle, another large farm pond is south of it. To the west of the castle, between the ornamental gardens and the farm buildings, there are still old trees.
An artificial watercourse was created for the ornamental gardens. Water lilies adorn the preserved moat around the castle. The large tree population around the palace complex includes red oaks , plane trees, wig bushes, box trees and coastal firs.
Freiling Castle in literature
Freiling Castle was the residence of well-known personalities and was mentioned variously in the literature, for example in Adalbert Stifter's work Witiko . The minstrel Heinrich von Ofterdingen , who is mentioned as a possible poet of the Nibelungenlied, already mentioned the castle.
Adalbert Stifter - Witiko
In his monumental work Witiko, Adalbert Stifter tells of Heinrich von Ofterdingen , a minstrel named after the village of Oftering .
"He's Heinrich von Oftering, the son of old Heinrich von Oftering, who is sitting in Oftering Castle next to the Kürenberg, [think]" said the knight, "just think of the boy with the very blond hair and the red cheeks, who were always ashamed when we brought arms to the [old] Bishop Regimar. ”“ I think of him, ”replied Witiko. "The castle in Oftering has become too quiet for him and he moved to beautiful Vienna."
Heinrich von Hag / Ofterdingen
According to Georg Dattenböck, the castle in Oftering and the village of Oftering are part of the Nibelungenlied . According to his thesis, the Austrian Heinrich von Hag / Ofterdingen wrote the epic hero. Ofterdingen is today's village of Oftering. Heinrich von Hag / Ofterdingen took the place Oftering and the moated castle into his work.
literature
- Eva Berger : Historic Gardens of Austria. Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930. Volume 2. Böhlau, Vienna [u. a.] 2003, ISBN 3-205-99352-7 , pp. 128-129 ( online ).
- Norbert Grabherr : Castles and palaces in Upper Austria. 3. Edition. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, Linz 1976, ISBN 3-85214-157-5 , pp. 162-163.
- Norbert Grabherr: Historical-topographical manual of the fortifications and mansions of Upper Austria (= publications of the Austrian workers' community for prehistory and early history . Volume VII – VIII). Vienna 1975, pp. 78-79.
- Oskar Hille: Castles and palaces of Upper Austria. Ennsthaler, Steyr 1990, ISBN 3-85068-323-0 .
- Oskar Hille: Castles and palaces in Upper Austria then and now . Ferdinand Berger and Sons, Horn 1975, ISBN 3-85028-023-3 , p. 65.
- Gerhard Reichhalter, Thomas Kühtreiber : The late medieval castle building in Upper Austria . In: Gothic treasures of Upper Austria. Linz 2002, pp. 72-73.
- Franz Sekker: Castles and palaces, towns and monasteries of Upper Austria in Georg Matthaeus Vischer's Topographia Austriae Superioris modernae 1674 . H. Pirngruber- Verlag, Linz 1925, pp. 83-84.
- Gerhard Stenzel: From castle to castle in Austria . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-218-00288-5 , p. 174.
Web links
- Entry via Freiling moated castle on Burgen-Austria
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhard Stenzel: From castle to castle in Austria . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-218-00288-5 , p. 174.
- ^ A b Günter Morge: An unknown diptera collection from Austria. From unusual locations . In: Natural History Yearbook of the City of Linz. Volume 19, Linz 1973, pp. 77-78 ( PDF (1 MB) on ZOBODAT ).
- ↑ Exchange agreement between Wilhering Monastery and Gerold von Kürnberg . In: Upper Austrian document book . Volume 2, No. CLXXXVI, p. 277 (“Wlrich de urilingen”, ie “Ulrich von Vrilingen” as a witness).
- ↑ Hans Sturmberger: From the hospital to the hospital. In: Communications from the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives. Volume 11, Linz 1974, p. 235 ( online (PDF; 4.7 MB) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
- ↑ The historical Traun . In: Current & Worth Knowing. The Traun city magazine . Episode 180 September 2012, p. 33 ( PDF ; 3.7 MB).
- ↑ a b Hermann Truschnig: fortifications in Austria , access on February 1, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e Community of Oftering: History of Freiling Castle , p. 2 ( PDF ; 19 kB).
- ↑ Hans Sturmberger: From the hospital to the hospital. In: Communications from the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives. Volume 11, Linz 1974, p. 245 ( online (PDF; 4.7 MB) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
- ↑ a b Entry about Freiling moated castle in Burgen-Austria , accessed on January 30, 2013.
- ^ Chronicle of the MGV Sängerrunde Oftering , accessed on February 1, 2013.
- ↑ Hermann Polz: No, no more song! In: The press . Online edition from June 12, 2009 ( online ).
- ^ Nöbauer Brigitte: School Chronicle. For the 100 year celebration . undated ( PDF ; 884 kB).
- ^ A b Norbert Grabherr: Castles and palaces in Upper Austria . 3. Edition. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, Linz 1976, ISBN 3-85214-157-5 , pp. 162-163.
- ^ A b c d Eva Berger: Historical Gardens of Austria. Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930. Volume 2. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-205-99352-7 , p. 129 ( online ).
- ↑ Wolfgang Wiesmüller: Witiko . Internet Edition Adalbert Stifter. 2008. - Witiko
- ↑ Jochen Berendes: Irony - Comedy - Skepticism. Studies on the work of Adalbert Stifter. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 2009. - Witiko
- ↑ Peter Volk: Anton Ritter von Spauns speculation about Heinrich von Ofterdingen 1839 . Upper Austrian Museum Association. Volume 140 / I. Linz 1995. p. 83ff ( PDF ; 11.8 MB).
- ↑ cf. Anton Ritter von Apaun: Heinrich von Ofterdingen and the Nibelungenlied . Linz 1840, p. 70ff.
Coordinates: 48 ° 14 ′ 11.2 " N , 14 ° 7 ′ 24.3" E
