Genovevaburg js a castle standing on the southwestern side of Mayen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The castle is the symbol of Mayen and has been rebuilt several times since first being destroyed in 1689. Its name comes from a legend, according to which the seats of counts palatine, Siegfried and his wife, Genevieve of Brabant (German: Genoveva), were supposed to be on the same hill in (or above) Mayen. The earliest references linking the legend to this region date to the 17th century. Since when the castle and its bergfried, the so-called Golo Tower (Goloturm), have been linked to the legend is unknown.

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Bürresheim Castle is a medieval castle northwest of Mayen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is built on rock in the Eifel mountains above the Nette. Bürresheim Castle, Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed. It was inhabited until 1921 and is now a museum operated by the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate.

Schloss Bürresheim has been frequently used as a filming location. The castle's exteriors stood in for "Schloss Brunwald" in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), where Indiana Jones' father (played by Sean Connery) was being held captive by the Nazis.



Schloss Bürresheim

Virneburg Castle is a ruined hill castle on a slate hill, 430 m above sea level (NHN), around which the Nitzbach stream flows. It stands above the village of Virneburg in the county of Mayen-Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

History

The castle was probably built in the second half of the 12th century as a fief of the count palatine. The first record of the castle can be found in an 1192 document, in which the brothers Godfrey and Frederick of Virneburg gave their castle Vernenburgh together with the county and all its estate to the Archbishop of Trier, John I, as a fiefdom. This document is not preserved in the original, the 16th-century copy is either a faulty translation or a forgery due to the wording contained therein, which was not yet customary around 1200.

The lords of Virneburg, later elevated to the rank of count, are first mentioned in a document by the Archbishop of Trier, Poppo, in 1042 where a certain Bernhardus de Virneburch is recorded. At that time, feudal sovereignty had passed to the counts of Sayn, but John of Sayn relinquished it in 1358 to the counts palatine, with the exception of the castle, which was still mentioned in 1506 as a male fief to the counts of Sayn, even though the counts of Virneburg no longer recognised their feudal sovereignty.

In 1339, Count Rupert of Virneburg gave part of the castle to the Elector of Trier, Baldwin to pay off a debt. It refers for the first time to the hoechste thurn ("highest tower"), probably the old bergfried built when the castle was constructed.

In 1414, the counts of Virneburg had to hand over the rest of the castle to the Archbishop, Werner of Falkenstein, to whom the county had always been a thorn in the side. Only a few years later, however, the people of Virneburg succeeded in redeeming their castle from being an enfeoffment of Trier. On the death of Count Cunos of Virneburg in 1545, the Virneburg family died out.

Its heirs were the counts of Mark-Arenberg and then the counts of Manderscheid-Blankenheim before being confiscated a little later by Trier as a terminated fiefdom. Following an objection by the counts of Manderscheid-Schleiden, however, it was returned to them in 1549 as a fiefdom. The property was acquired in 1600 by Löwenstein-Wertheim.

An inventory of the castle made at that time lists twelve rooms. The bergfried had been replaced and was given a new chemin de ronde in 1623, but by 1663 the castle was described as being very dilapidated, especially "on the sides with the high walls and well". A restoration was postponed at that time and, in 1665, the walls in the front and upper courtyard of the castle had "completely fallen down and unrestored". In 1670, the dilapidated bergfried was demolished and rebuilt the following year. The dilapidated enceinte was repaired and the most necessary construction work was carried out in the castle.

When the French invaded the Eifel, the castle was blown up in 1689, the tower was completely destroyed, its residential buildings went up in flames, and the enceinte was slighted.

On the initiative of the Royal District Court of Adenau, the castle ruin was sold publicly on 19 January 1914 for 1,080 Marks to the Rhenish Society for the Preservation of Monuments and Landscape (Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz). 

Virneburg

Pyrmont Castle (German: Burg Pyrmont) stands west of Münstermaifeld near Roes and Pillig on a slate rock outcrop above a waterfall on the Elzbach in the southern Eifel mountains in Germany. It is on the parish of Roes in the county of Cochem-Zell.

History

The rock castle was built at the end of the 12th century on count palatine territory by Cuno of Schönburg, whose son Cuno II called himself "Lord of Pyrmont", the first member of his family to use the title. The castle is first recorded in 1225.

In 1441, Cuno VI of Pyrmont laid down by his will and testament how his inheritance (and thus also Pyrmont Castle) should be divided between his three quarrelsome sons, Henry VI, John and Frederick, in order to protect the ancestral seat of the dynasty from division by inheritance. But this did not prevent the squabblers from fighting over the castle after their father's death. Henry VI of Pyrmont had the Reichsacht imposed on him as a result of the inheritance dispute and the administration of his share of the castle was transferred to his brother Frederick.

The castle did not witness more peaceful times until the second half of the 15th century, when Emperor Maximilian I elevated Henry IV, Lord of Pyrmont, to the status of a Freiherr. Although his marriages were blessed with two sons, his daughter, Elisabeth, was eventually to inherit the Pyrmont estate. Since she married Philip of Eltz, the castle fell to this important comital dynasty.

But even the Eltz family did not always agree on the distribution of their inheritance. In 1652, one of the Eltz heiresses sold her share to members of the family of Waldbott of Bassenheim because of the ongoing disputes who, two years later, were appointed imperial Freiherren thanks to their ownership of this estate.

In 1695, another Eltz share in Pyrmont Castle went to the Electorate of Trier and was also acquired by the Waldbott of Bassenheim family in 1710.

In 1712, the Waldbotts began to convert the medieval castle into a prestigious schloss. For example, the palas was increased in height to three storeys and fitted with large windows. The present perron, on the south side of the castle, dates to this period.

In 1789, during the French Revolution, the owners fled from French troops to their estates on the right bank of the Rhine, and just five years later the castle was seized as French national property. She suffered the fate of many castle estates west of the Rhine: in 1810, she was auctioned off by the French, with seven hectares of land, for 4,550 francs. Its new owner, Franz Georg Severus Weckbecker from Münstermaifeld, sold everything of any value. The remains of the buildings then gradually deteriorated.

In 1818, Count Friedrich Waldbott von Bassenheim bought back the castle. Under his son, Count Hugo Waldbott, it was forcibly auctioned in 1862. Many owners were to follow him, but none rebuilt the ruins. Only the family of the architect, Franz Krause, who worked as a draughtsman for The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province, made part of the dilapidated castle complex habitable again from 1912 onwards. However, there was a lack of money for further major restoration.

In 1963, two Düsseldorf architects, Helmut Hentrich and Hubert Petschnigg, bought the remnants of Pyrmont Castle. After its purchase, they began with safety work and a gradual reconstruction, especially of the inner bailey. In 1990, the castle grounds were opened to visitors. In the interior rooms, old furniture and furnishings can nowadays be seen, which fill the rooms with history and partly recall the former owners of the castle. In the rebuilt outer bailey is a souvenir shop.

Pyrmont Castle 

Wernerseck Castle, also called the Kelterhausburg, is a late medieval hill castle in the municipality of Ochtendung in the county of Mayen-Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It owes its name to its founder and lord of the castle, the Archbishop of Trier, Werner of Falkenstein (1388–1418). "Wernerseck" means "Werner's corner".

History
The Trier 
prince-elector and archbishop, Werner of Falkenstein, began building the castle in late 1401 as part of his expansion policy in the Pellenz area. Thus, the site was not in the district of Ochtendung, which belonged to Electoral Trier, but in the feudal area of the counts of Virneburg. The castle was intended to act as a border fortress, guarding it against the principality of the Archbishop of Cologne. However, the castle never fulfilled this purpose, as the borders were realigned whilst it was being built. Later the castle was used as an administrative centre. Conrad Colbe of Boppard was probably appointed as the first Amtmann (bailiff) in 1412. From the 16th century onwards, the castle was enfeoffed to the lords of Eltz, who owned it until the 19th century. From 1966 to 1969 there was a falconry at the castle.  A preservation society has set itself the task of securing and renovating the dilapidated castle and, between summer 2006 and November 2007, the tower house was renovated.

Phases of construction

In the first construction phase at Wernerseck, the tower house was built as part of a simpleenceinte. The protruding bricks on the north side of the main tower, which used to join it firmly to a wall, can be seen as evidence of this. Furthermore, on the south and east side, there is a band of basalt stones in the brickwork, which could have been decoration on the outside of the castle. The curtain walls largely follow the line of the wall of the older, Ottonian castle, including its gateways. In a later extension, the surrounding wall was extended and provided with corner towers.

Older castle remains

The remains of an older castle, which were used in the construction of Wernerseck, can be found in various parts of the castle and which have thus survived the ravages of time. The masonry at these points differs from that of the later castle in that smaller slate stone was employed. Particularly noteworthy are the half of a gate system next to the tower house, part of the later inner gateway, and the remains of a building in the centre of the castle. Its predecessor probably followed the uninterrupted rocky hillcrest at that time and included the plateau in the area of the later outer bailey. Since there are no definitively dateable finds from the time before the new castle was built, its date of construction can only be estimated from the structural evidence. In the inner gateway, the remains of an older gateway have survived that is almost identical to that of the Waldschlössel at Klingenmünster. This suggests that the original castle should be regarded as an Ottonian build of the 10th to 11th century. There are no written records of the old castle, but it is not unreasonable to attribute its construction to the counts palatine of Laach.




Burg Wernerseck

Die Burg Olbrück, umgangssprachlich oft als die Olbrück bezeichnet, ist eine in der Osteifel bei Hain im rheinland-pfälzischen Landkreis Ahrweiler gelegene Burgruine.

Mehr als 15 Familien waren seit der Burggründung um 1100 Eigentümer der Anlage. Mehrmals wurde sie zerstört und immer wieder – zumindest teilweise – aufgebaut. Die Höhenburg ist eine der ältesten sowie größten ihrer Art in der Eifel. Sie steht seit dem 24. Juni 1980 unter Denkmalschutz und ist das größte sichtbare Wahrzeichen des Brohltals.

Geschichte

Die Bergkuppe, auf der sich die Burgruine befindet, wurde schon von Kelten und Römern zur Überwachung des Brohltals genutzt. Die mittelalterliche Wehranlage war Mittelpunkt einer zehn Dörfer umfassenden Herrschaft, die in den ältesten Urkunden als Oleburg und Holebriche erscheint.

Bereits in der ersten Stiftungsurkunde der Abtei Laach (heute Maria Laach) von 1093 wird ein Burchardus von Ulbrucke (Burkhard von Olbrück) erwähnt. Zahlreiche Indizien weisen darauf hin, dass es sich bei dieser Urkunde um eine Fälschung aus dem 13. Jahrhundert handelt. Erst die zweite Stiftungsurkunde der Abtei von 1112, in der ein Burghardus de Oreburch Erwähnung findet, ist ein verlässlicher Hinweis auf eine Adelsfamilie, die ihren Sitz auf der Burg Olbrück hatte. Burkhard von Olbrück stammte aus dem Geschlecht derer zu Wied, in dessen alleinigen Besitz sich Olbrück bis 1244 befand, ehe die Hauptlinie der Familie erlosch.

Um 1190 trug Dietrich I. von Wied die Burganlage dem Kölner Erzbischof Philipp I. von Heinsberg für 400 Mark zu Lehen auf.

Als die ältere Linie des Hauses Wied 1244 ausstarb, fiel eine Hälfte Olbrücks an die Brüder Bruno II. von Braunsberg und Dietrich von Isenburg, während die andere an deren Vettern Gottfried und Gerhard von Eppstein ging. Die Eppsteiner verkauften ihren Anteil 1271 an einen Ritter namens Peter I. von Eich, der darüber hinaus auch die Hälfte des Isenburgischen Besitzes erwarb.

Ein Restteil Olbrücks befand sich bis 1306 immer noch in Eppsteiner Besitz, ehe dieser an den Grafen Rupprecht II. von Virneburg veräußert wurde. 1318 wurde der Eich’sche Anteil an der Burg zwischen den einzelnen Familienlinien aufgeteilt, womit Olbrück endgültig den Status einer Ganerbenburg erhielt. Der Virneburger Anteil an der Anlage wechselte ab 1319 mehrmals die Besitzer, ehe Agnes von Virneburg im Jahr 1329 Wilhelm I. von Isenburg-Braunsberg heiratete und dieser die Burg seiner Frau zum Hochzeitsgeschenk machte, womit die Anlage wieder in Virneburger Besitz kam.

Durch Heirat geriet ein Teil der Olbrücker Burganlage 1373 an Friedrich und Philipp von Schöneck, während die Erbtochter Katharina von Eich 1390 heiratete und ihren Erbteil an der Burg an die Familie ihres Mannes, Wilhelm von Orsbeck, brachte. 1422 erfolgte eine weitere Zersplitterung der Besitzanteile durch die Heirat Elisabeths von Eich mit Godart von Drachenfels. Dessen Sohn veräußert seinen Teil 1469 an die Familie von Wied.

Im ersten Viertel des 16. Jahrhunderts hatten sich die Besitzverhältnisse an der Burg Olbrück durch Kauf, Verpfändung, Heirat, Erbe und Übertragung derart weit unter den verschiedensten Familien verzweigt, dass es schwer fiel, einen Überblick darüber zu behalten. Mehr als ein Dutzend Adelsgeschlechter konnten mit Anteilen an Olbrück aufwarten, und so ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass sich Streitigkeiten über die Besitzverhältnisse jahrzehntelang hinzogen. Dies änderte sich erst am 22. April 1555, als nach zähen Verhandlungen, familiären Kleinkriegen und diversen Schiedsgerichten, Burg und Herrschaft Olbrück für 15.000 Goldgulden in den alleinigen Besitz der Familie Waldbott von Bassenheim kamen.

Während des Dreißigjährigen Kriegs wurde die Anlage 1632 von schwedischen Truppen unter Wolf Heinrich von Baudissin eingenommen und verwüstet. Doch schon im Januar 1633 konnten sie spanische und kurkölnische Truppen unter dem Befehl von Graf Ernst von Isenburg-Grenzau zurückerobern. 1660 teilweise eingestürzt, wurde die Burg anschließend unter Leitung des Kapuzinerpaters Bonitius aus Linz wiederhergestellt.

Im Zuge des Pfälzischen Erbfolgekrieges lag eine französische Garnison aus 26 Dragonern und 52 Soldaten in der Burg. Als diese am 30. April 1689 endlich abrückten, erreichte der Burgverwalter Engelbert von Keiffenheim durch eine Zahlung von 236 Gulden, dass die Anlage nicht wie üblich geschleift wurde. Doch die Erleichterung der Burgbewohner darüber hielt nicht lange an, denn als der französische General Marquis Henri d’Escoubleau, comte de Montluc mit seinen Truppen am 3. Mai an Olbrück vorüberzog und die Anlage unversehrt vorfand, erteilte er den Befehl, sie doch noch zu zerstören. Große Teile der Bausubstanz wurden abgerissen und an mehreren Stellen Feuer gelegt. Aber die Bewohner Olbrücks verzagten nicht und begannen bereits 1690 mit dem Wiederaufbau. Aus jener Bauzeit stammten die Kapelle und der repräsentative, oft fälschlicherweise als Palas bezeichnete Wohnbau im Stil des Barocks.

Als französische Revolutionstruppen das Rheinland besetzten, wurde die Burg Olbrück 1797 als Wohnsitz aufgegeben. Die Anlage wurde konfisziert und zu Nationaleigentum erklärt, ehe sie 1804 von der französischen Verwaltung auf Abbruch verkauft und anschließend als Steinbruch genutzt wurde. Ein erneuter Reigen von wechselnden Eigentümern setzte ein. 1878 erwarb der von der Ostseeinsel Oesel stammende deutsch-russische Adlige Freiherr Oskar Otto von Ekesparre die Anlage, deren Hauptturm 1874/75 durch den Ahrweiler Kreisbaumeister Hermann Cuno renoviert worden war. Im Zuge dieser Maßnahmen hatte der Bau einen neuen Zinnenkranz und eine Holztreppe im Erdgeschoss erhalten. Eckesparre ließ die vier Räume des Turms wohnlich ausbauen und herrichten. Als er aber durch familiäre Bedingungen das Interesse an der Burg Olbrück verlor, verkaufte er sie wieder.

Ab 1956 war dann der Düsseldorfer Architekt Rainer Maria Schlitter Eigentümer der Anlage. Wegen fehlender Mittel und behördlicher Auflagen konnte er seinen Plan, eine große Wohnanlage oder ein Hotel zu errichten, nicht verwirklichen. Trotz einiger Restaurierungsarbeiten und Erneuerungsmaßnahmen verfiel die Burganlage – auch durch Vandalismus – zusehends. Nachdem die Verbandsgemeinde Brohltal die Ruine im November 1998 auf Betreiben des damaligen Bürgermeisters Hermann Höfer in Pacht übernommen hatte, wurde sie in das Konzept des Vulkanparks Brohltal/Laacher See als Museum und Denkmal einbezogen und mit erheblichen finanziellen Mitteln in der Zeit von 1999 bis 2001 saniert. Dabei wurden auch archäologische Untersuchungen durchgeführt. Seit dem 1. September 2001 ist die Burganlage mit Restaurant für die Öffentlichkeit gegen Entgelt zugänglich und hat jährlich etwa 20.000 Besucher.

Im Jahr 2012 veräußerte Schlitter die Burg Olbrück, nachdem Verkaufsgespräche zwischen ihm und der Verbandsgemeinde gescheitert waren, an den slowakischen Finanzberater Pavol Pavlovic.

Burg Olbrück

Schloss Burgbrohl liegt oberhalb der Gemeinde Burgbrohl im Landkreis Ahrweiler in Rheinland-Pfalz.

Geschichte

Zum ersten Mal taucht Burgbrohl urkundlich im Mittelalter auf, als Volcoldus von Brule 1093 bzw. 1112 als Zeuge in der Gründungsurkunde des Klosters Laach durch den Pfalzgrafen Heinrich II. genannt wurde. Möglicherweise hatten die Herren von Brule als Beamte des vom Kaiser eingesetzten Gaugrafen einen befestigten Hof auf dem Burgberg und überwachten die strategische Stelle der sich kreuzenden Wege im Tal.

Ihre Bedeutung muss zugenommen haben, denn in einer Urkunde von 1289 wird schon von einem Schloss gesprochen. Im Jahre 1338 „trugen die Herren von Brohl mit Turm, Pforte, Vorburg mit dem Gericht im Tal und um die Burg dem Markgrafen Wilhelm von Jülich zu Lehen auf“. Die Lehenstätigkeit hat bis zur völligen Neuordnung durch die Franzosen 1794 gedauert. Elsa von Brohl gestattete im Jahre 1471 dem Trierer Kurfürsten Johann II. ein Öffnungsrecht zur Burg Brohl für dessen Lebenszeit. Da Elsa von Brohl die letzte ihres Geschlechtes war, wurde das Erbe laut ihrem Testaments auf die Familien Winneburg, Eltz und Braunsberg aufgeteilt. Die entstehenden Streitigkeiten zogen sich fast 100 Jahre hin, bis gegen 1560 die Familie von Braunsberg die Burg an sich brachte und am 3. März 1563 Wilhelm von Braunsberg von Herzog Wilhelm von Jülich mit der Herrschaft erneut belehnt wurde.

Als am Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts französische Truppen Westdeutschland zeitweise besetzt hatten, wurde das Schloss Burgbrohl bei deren Rückzug gleichzeitig mit den Burgen Olbrück, Rheineck und Sinzig in der Nacht zum 1. Mai 1689 durch Brand vernichtet. Der Neuaufbau des Schlosses und die Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts erfolgte Hochzeit des Kasper Franz von Bourscheidt mit Isabella Gräfin von Schaesberg führten zu einer Blütezeit der Herrschaft. Relativ schnell wurde das Schloss in den Jahren 1709/10 wieder aufgebaut, und 1731 folgte der Bau einer neuen Kellnerei.

Ferdinand von Bourscheid ließ zu Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts den Felshügel von Futtermauern umschließen. Auf der nun eben Fläche wurden Parkanlagen und Gärten angelegt. Am 6. März 1836 verstarb Johann Ludwig von Bourscheid und damit erlosch das Geschlecht. Verkauft wurde die Herrschaft an Fr. G. Weckbecker aus Münstermaifeld für die Summe von 150.000 Reichstalern. Im gleichen Jahre erwarb P. Menn aus Koblenz das Gut, welches er 1838 an einen Major Decker veräußerte. Dieser wiederum überließ es 1845 dem Rector a. D. Johann Jakob Ewich, dessen Sohn Dr. Karl Otto Jakob Ewich – Arzt, Operateur und Geburtshelfer, so stellt er sich in seiner von ihm 1852 verfassten Schrift Der Führer am Laacher See und durch das Brohltal vor — sich „nach guten Erfahrungen mit den heilenden Wirkungen des, Heilbronn' und auch der Schloßquelle zur Gründung eines Curhauses (Schloß Burgbrohl) veranlaßt sah“ (siehe auch: Bemühungen für ein Kurbad Heilbronn bei Brohl).

Eine Lithographie von H. v. Dirks, Saarlouis 1852 „Schloß und Dorf Burgbrohl“ zeigt auf der dem Ort zugewandten Seite des westlichen Flügels die Inschrift „Curhaus“, Von den Erben Ewich erstand der Rentner Bernhard Grünwald das Schloss. Vermutlich 1889 schrieb der Architekt Joseph Steinbach in der zweiten Auflage seines Führers am Laacher See: wohl war es nach all den Wechselfällen hohe Zeit, daß das schöne Besitzthum wieder in bewährte, vorsorgliche Hände kam. Nach der Besitzergreifung ging der neue Ankäufer sofort dazu über, das schöne Schloßgebäude, das nach einem großartigen Plan angelegt, aber nicht vollendet war, zu einem würdigen Abschluß zu bringen, welcher ihm unter Assistenz des Herausgebers unseres Führers als bauleitender Architect gelungen zu sein scheint. Der östliche Flügel erhielt auf der Südseite im Jahre 1879 einen Vorbau mit prächtigem Portal, mit Eingangshalle, Veranda und großer Freitreppe. Weitere Baupläne wurden nicht mehr verwirklicht.

In der Folge wechselte das Anwesen mehrfach den Besitzer und diente bis zu den 1960er Jahren unter anderem eine Zeit lang einem Männerorden als Kloster.

1985 erwarb der österreichische Künstler Gottfried Helnwein das Schloss und begann mit der Restaurierung der heruntergekommenen Gebäude und des Parks. Er lebte und arbeitete hier mit seiner Familie bis 1997, als er Deutschland verließ und nach Irland übersiedelte. In diesem Zeitraum restaurierte und rekonstruierte er das Schloss und die Gartenanlage nach alten Plänen. Im Jahre 2006 verkaufte er Schloss Burgbrohl für 3,9 Mio. Euro an den Wiener Geschäftsmann und Kunstsammler Alexander Schütz. Im Jahr 2009 wurde das Schloss durch das Unternehmerehepaar Weber für 5 Mio. Euro gekauft und zum Schlosshotel umgebaut. Zum 1. Januar 2018 wurde das Hotel Schloss Burgbrohl vom Eigentümer Andreas Weber an die in Burgbrohl ansässige Unternehmerfamilie Heuft verkauft.

Schloss Burgbrohl

The ruins of Trutzeltz Castle, also known as Balduineltz, Baldeneltz or Neueltz, are the remains of a hill castle in the valley of the Elz in the parish of Wierschem near the town of Münstermaifeld. It was built as a counter-castle during the medieval Eltz Feud in the Moselle region.

History
The castle was built by the Archbishop of Trier, Baldwin during the Eltz Feud (1331-1336/1337) as a siege castle to invest Eltz Castle. The Eltz Feud arose in connexion with Baldwin's territorial policy. During his reign, Baldwin sought to extend the influence of Trier along the Moselle. He repeatedly came up against resistance from knights who had refused to recognise their vassal (tenant) status, and 21 of them - the lords of Eltz, Waldeck, Schoneck and Ehrenberg - agreed a formal defensive alliance. Baldwin attempted a direct assault on Eltz which failed. In response, he had the siege castle of Trutzeltz built, probably in 1331. The castle was also referred to as Baldeneltz, probably after the archbishop. The following year he also erected the Rauschenburg as a counter castle to the three other castles allied with Eltz. That Baldeneltz was probably built in a very short time to put the lords of Eltz under pressure, can be seen inter alia from the building material used: mostly small pieces of broken stone from the vicinity of the siege castle itself. It was held together with a strong clay mortar, which however cannot withstand a Central European climate in the long run. For a siege castle this was not important, but it is remarkable in that light that the continued existence of the castle was contractually assured in a subsequent peace treaty.

Eltz Castle was bombarded from the siege castle with rock catapults (trebuchets), but was not able to be captured. In the course of the fighting, Baldwin also used an early form of cannon, the pot-de-fer, which has been determined from archaeological finds at Eltz.

The Lord of Eltz and the other warring knights finally had to agree to end hostilities in 1333. The feud was not officially ended, however, until 1336 by an "atonement" treaty (a Sühne). A certain John of Eltz continued the conflict. He had previously fought against Baldwin even before the Eltz Feud in the Kempenich Feud. and was therefore not ready to enter into a peace treaty. Baldwin now displayed his negotiation skills and magnanimity in drawing his opponent onto his side: after Trutzeltz had been effectively "legitimised" by the peace treaty with the other knights and its survival secured by them, he transferred it in 1337 to John of von Eltz as a fief and made him a hereditary burgrave.

On 9 January 1354 King Charles IV enfeoffed Archbishop Baldwin of Trier with Eltz Castle for his loyal service against Emperor Henry VII.

Trutzeltz Castle soon lost its significance, was no longer maintained and was recorded in 1453 as derelict. In a 1453 deed, Trutzeltz Castle is described as "currently unoccupied and as a result deserted and run down ".



Burg Trutzeltz

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (Schloss Bürresheim), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed.

The castle is surrounded on three sides by the Elzbach River, a tributary on the north side of the Moselle. It is on a 70-metre (230 ft) rock spur, on an important Roman trade route between rich farmlands and their markets. The Eltz Forest has been declared a nature reserve by Flora-Fauna-Habitat and Natura 2000.

The castle is a so-called Ganerbenburg, or castle belonging to a community of joint heirs. This is a castle divided into several parts, which belong to different families or different branches of a family; this usually occurs when multiple owners of one or more territories jointly build a castle to house themselves. Only a very rich medieval European lord could afford to build a castle on his land; many of them only owned one village, or even only a part of a village. This was an insufficient base to afford a castle. Such lords lived in a knight's house, which was a simple house, scarcely bigger than those of his tenants. In some parts of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, inheritance law required that the estate be divided between all successors. These successors, each of whose individual inheritance was too small to build a castle of his own, could build a castle together, where each owned one separate part for housing and all of them together shared the defensive fortification. In the case of Eltz, the family comprised three branches and the existing castle was enhanced with three separate complexes of buildings.

The main part of the castle consists of the family portions. At up to eight stories, these eight towers reach heights of between 30 and 40 metres (98 and 131 ft). They are fortified with strong exterior walls; to the yard they present a partial framework. About 100 members of the owners' families lived in the over 100 rooms of the castle.

Platteltz, a Romanesque keep, is the oldest part of the castle, having begun in the 9th century as a simple manor with an earthen palisade. By 1157 the fortress was an important part of the empire under Frederick Barbarossa, standing astride the trade route from the Moselle Valley and the Eifel region. In 1472 the Rübenach house, built in the Late Gothic style, was completed. Remarkable are the Rübenach Lower Hall, a living room, and the Rübenach bedchamber with its opulently decorated walls.

Between 1490 and 1540, the Rodendorf house was constructed, also in Late Gothic style. It contains the vaulted "banner-room".

The Kempenich houses were finished about 1530. Every room of this part of the castle could be heated; in contrast, other castles might only have one or two heated rooms.

The Rübenach and Rodendorf families' homes in the castle are open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle. The public is admitted seasonally, from April to October. Visitors can view the treasury, with gold, silver and porcelain artifacts and the armory of weapons and suits of armor.

From 1965 to 1992, an engraving of Eltz Castle was used on the German 500 Deutsche Mark note.

The starting events of Le Feu de Wotan, a Belgian bande dessinée in the Yoko Tsuno series, take place in Eltz Castle. The castle was also used as the exterior for the fictional American military lunatic asylum in the 1979 William Peter Blatty movie, The Ninth Configuration, starring Stacy Keach.

Eltz castle also inspired the castle featured chiefly on the World of Tanks map Himmelsdorf and its winter derivative. The model of the castle is also reused on the maps Westfield and Erlenberg.

Eltz Castle

The Oberburg at Kobern, also called the Oberburg or Altenburg, is a hill castle above the municipality of Kobern-Gondorf in the county of Mayen-Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Description

Apart from the Late Romanesque St. Matthias' Chapel and the bergfried little other than a few remains of the enceinte have survived. The castle has a rectangular ground plan and measures about 110 by 40 metres. The ground and upper storey of the roughly 9 by 9 metre, square bergfried are vaulted. Access to the second floor is via a staircase in the wall.

The building attached to the bergfried was built in 1989.

History

The castle was built in the early 12th century on a Celtic hillfort site. It is first recorded in 1195, when the then Burgherr made it a fiefdom of the Electorate of Trier.

St. Matthias' Chapel was built about 1220/40 by Lord Henry II of Isenburg, in order to serve as a reliquary for the head of Saint Matthias. The castle area was increased in size when the chapel was built. It used the choir of a previous structure, which was probably not finished.

The lords of Isenburg-Kobern held the castle until the mid-14th century. It was then sold to the Archbishop of Trier and fell into ruin.

In 1936, the bergfried was covered by an temporary roof to protect it from further decay. From 1989, a restaurant was built next to the bergfried on a site that had been built on before. As part of the work, the bergfried was increased in height and given a new roof.

Oberburg Kobern

The Niederburg ("Lower Castle") at Kobern, also called the Niedernburg, Unterburg or Neue Burg, is a hill castle above the municipality of Kobern-Gondorf in the county of Mayen-Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

History

The castle was built in the mid-12th century. It is first recorded in 1195, when the then Burgherr made it a fiefdom of the Electorate of Trier. The female line of the lords of Isenburg-Kobern died out in the 13th century. The Kobern Castles and associated lordship passed via the heiress, Cecilia, to Frederick II of Neuerburg (a side line of the counts of Vianden). In 1309 the male line of this family also died out. Thereafter the castle and lordship was sold to the Archbishop of Trier. In 1688 the castle was destroyed.

Description

The Niederburg seen from Maifeld
The castle has an amygdaloidal ground plan. It has a three-storey, 20-metre-high bergfried, measuring 7.5 x 8 metres, with an elevated entrance at a height of 10 metres. There are also the remains of a two-storey, Late Gothic palas. A wall tower and a cistern are also well preserved and there are significant portions of the outer walls. The castle was guarded to the west by a curtain wall with a zwinger and to the north by a throat ditch. The upper third of the bergfried and the battlements were rebuilt in the 19th century. Between 1976 and 1978, the state castle administration reconstructed and enhanced the palas and the cistern between the two towers.