Lordship of Winneburg and Beilstein

Lordship of Winneburg and Beilstein
Herrschaft Winneburg und Beilstein
State of the Holy Roman Empire
1488–1801
Coat of arms
Capital		Beilstein
Languages		Moselle Franconian
Government		Lordship
•	from 1652	House of Metternich
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Lordship founded	13th century
•	Fiefdom of Trier	1488
•	Ceded to France	1801
•	Acquired by Prussia	1815
Preceded by Succeeded by Lorraine (duchy) Kingdom of Prussia

The Lordship of Beilstein in the Moselle Valley

The Lordship of Winneburg and Beilstein (German: Herrschaft Winneburg und Beilstein) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire made of non-contiguous parts located in the Moselle Valley around Winneburg Castle near Cochem, and Beilstein, on the Moselle River. It should not be confused with the County of Beilstein, or Nassau-Beilstein, which belonged to the House of Nassau.

The Lords of Winneburg were firstly mentioned in a 1304 deed, they also acquired the estates of the neighbouring Beilstein Castle in 1362. In the following decades the Lords of Winneburg and Beilstein were forced to give their lands in pawn to the Archbishops of Trier, who after a feud finally seized the property in 1488, only to lend it back as a fiefdom a few years later.

After the Winneburg-Beilstein line had become extinct, the descendants of the Trier archbishop Lothar von Metternich (1551–1623) from 1635 on called themselves Freiherren von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein and were elevated to Imperial counts in 1679. The last Count Franz George Karl lost his territory to France by the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville. He was however compensated by Emperor Francis II with the possession of secularised Ochsenhausen Abbey and the princely title in 1803.

According to the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, Winneburg-Beilstein together with the Rhineland fell to Prussia in 1815. Franz George Karl's son, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich took the chance to buy the ruin of Winneburg Castle in 1832 but never rebuilt it.