Burg Eltz
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| Burg Eltz | |
|---|---|
| image | location |
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| medieval castle | |
| location: | Wierschem/Germany |
| date of construction: | before 1157 |
| style: | mixed, romanesque - baroque |
| builder: | lords von eltz, different branches |
| owner: | counts von und zu eltz |
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 that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. 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.
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[edit] Location
The castle is surrounded on three sides by the Elzbach River, a tributary on the north side of the Moselle. It was situated on a rock spur of 70 meters hight along an important Roman trade route between the rich farm lands and their markets.
[edit] History
The exact date of construction of the castle is not known. The first mention is to be found in a document of Fredrick I Barbarossa of 1157. There „Rudolphus de Eltze" is named as a witness.
Before the year 1268 the Family was divied into several independent branches . With the family the castle and the surrounding lands were were split as well.
While the Pfälzer Erbfolgekrieg (palatine war of cuccession) from 1688 to 1689 most of the fortified buildings on the western side of the Rhine were destroyed by french troups, a fate Burg Elz did not share because Hans Anton zu Eltz-Üttingen was a high ranking officer of thr french army, having enough influence to prevent the castle from being destroyed.
Parts of the truss were destroyed by a fire in the year 1920. They were reconstructed in the original way.
Since 1815 the whole castle is owned by one branch of the family, the counts von und zu Eltz
[edit] Description
The castle is a so called Glanerbenburg (castle belonging to a community of joint heirs). Such a Glanerbenburg is a castle, which is divided in several parts, which belong to different families or different branches of a family. A glanerbenburg oours when multiple owners of one or multiple territories together bulid one castle to live in all of them. Only rich lords of mediaval euope 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 no sufficient base to afford a castle. Those lords lived in a knights´s house, which was a simple house, only bigger than those of the tenants. In some parts of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation according to the applicable rules of succession the wohle holdings of the deceased had to be split up between the successors. Those lords, whose territory was to small to build a castle of their own could build a castle together, where each of them owned one separate part for housing and all of them together shared the defensive fortification. In case of burg eltz the family was divided in three barnches and the existing castle got enthanced with thre seperate complexes of bulidings. The main part of the castle consists of several living towers of the families, which for a polygon. With up to 8 levels these 8 towers reach a height of 30 - 40 meters. They are fortified with strong walls to the outside. To the yard they show partial framework. About 100 members of the owner´s families lived in the over 100 rooms of the castle. Platteltz, a romanesque keep is the oldest part of the castle. 1472 the Rübenach house, build in late gothic style was completed. Remarkable are the Rübenach Lower Hall, a living room and the Rübenach bedchamber with it´s opulent pictured walls. Between 1490 and 1540 the Rodendorf house was constructed in late gothic style. It contains the so called banner-room with a late Gothic vaulted construction. The Kempenich houses was finished about 1530 Every room of this part of the castle could be heated. (other castles only had one or two rooms, which could be heated)
[edit] See also
- Eltz family
[edit] External links
