The
ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of Reifferscheid Castle (german: Burg Reifferscheid) stand at a height of 450 metres above
sea level (NN) near the German-Belgian border between the mountains of the
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
and the
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
in the municipality of
Hellenthal
Hellenthal is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, near the border with Belgium, approx. 30 km south-west of Euskirchen and 40 km south-east of Aa ...
. Its name probably comes from a
forest clearing
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
that belonged to a man called ''Rifhari'', the names ''Rifersceith'' or ''Rifheres-sceit'' mean "woodland strip of Rifhari".
All that has survived of the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
hill castle
A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles ...
are the remains of the
curtain walls, a
gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
with two flanking
round tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and ful ...
s, a
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d entrance and a round, white-plastered
bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German ...
made of
rubble stone
Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...
.
History
Reifferscheid is first recorded in 1106 in the ''Chronica regia coloniensis'' under the name ''Riferschit''.
[ MGH SS XVII, S. 746.] The content of the contemporary report relates to the destruction of the
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
by its owner,
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
Henry of Limburg and Lower Lorraine. He razed his castle in order to prevent in falling into enemy hands.
In 1130 a
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
near the castle was granted the status of a
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
by Archbishop
Frederick I of Cologne
Frederick I (c. 1075 – 5 October 1131) was the Archbishop of Cologne from 1100 until his death.
Frederick I was a son of Count Berthold I of Schwarzenburg. He became a canon in Bamberg and Speyer.
Frederick was appointed Archbishop of Colo ...
. The new church was overseen by
Steinfeld Abbey
Steinfeld Abbey (''Kloster Steinfeld'') is a former Premonstratensian monastery, now a Salvatorian convent, with an important basilica, in Steinfeld in Kall, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
History
The origins of the site go back to about 920. ...
and, in 1195, the
Lords of Reifferscheid are mentioned for the first time. Several years later, the brothers Gerhard and Philip of Reifferscheid divided their
lordship
A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of econ ...
, and a new branch of the family appeared: the lords of
Wildenburg.
In 1385, shortly after John V of Reifferscheid had taken over the lordship, the castle was captured by troops of the
Meuse-Rhine Alliance, the cities of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
and
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, the
archbishops of Cologne
The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...
and the
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
as well as the
Duke of Jülich
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
, because John had broken the ''
Landfrieden
Under the law of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''Landfrieden'' or ''Landfriede'' (Latin: ''constitutio pacis'', ''pax instituta'' or ''pax jurata'', variously translated as "land peace", or "public peace") was a contractual waiver of the use of legiti ...
'' by undertaking numerous raids in the local area and further afield. The
siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
was unsuccessful, however, and the alliance troops withdrew after three months of unfinished business.
In 1416, the Lords of Reifferscheid inherited from the Lower Salm line of the
counts of Salm
Salm is the name of several historic countships and principalities in present Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.
History
Origins
The County of Salm arose in the tenth century in Vielsalm, in the Ardennes region of present Belgium. It was r ...
and henceforth called themselves ''von Salm-Reifferscheid''.
After a fire in 1509, the damaged castle was rebuilt. Another fire on 23 June 1669 destroyed the town of Reifferscheid and its castle completely. On the remains of the old building substance, its owner had a representative
schloss
''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house.
Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cognate ...
built in the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style, and on the foundations of the old castle walls the houses of the former
Burgfreiheit were rebuilt.
But the new splendour did not last long. During the
War of the Palatine Succession
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarc ...
, troops of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
slighted
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...
the house in 1689. The reconstruction of the castle at that time must have been completed very quickly, however, because a drawing in ink by Mathieu Throuüet shows that the castle was fully restored around 1725.
Troops of the
French Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army (french: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment ...
occupied and destroyed the castle in 1794 and, in 1803, it was seized from the lords of Reifferscheid, the Barony of Reifferscheid was dissolved and the ruin was auctioned off for demolition in 1805 to raise money for the French government and went into private hands. In the following decades it served as a quarry and supplied construction material for new buildings in the surrounding area, before it was returned to the possession of the Salm-Reifferscheid family, who had meanwhile been elevated to the status of princes in 1889.
Since 1965, the ruin has been owned by the municipality of Hellenthal. The villagers of Reifferscheid have devoted themselves to its preservation over the last few decades, and the place has received several awards.
Literature
* Alfred Esser: ''Reifferscheid. Eine kurze Geschichte des Ortes, seiner Burg und seiner Kirche.'' Ingmanns, Schleiden, 1979.
* Anton Fahne: ''Geschichte der Grafen jetzigen Fürsten zu Salm-Reifferscheid.'' J. M. Heberle, Cologne, 1866, First Volume and Cologne, 1858, Second Volume.
* Walter Pippke und Ida Pallhuber: ''The Eifel. Entdeckungsreisen durch Landschaft, Geschichte, Kultur und Kunst, von Aachen bis zur Mosel.'' 2. Aufl. DuMont, Cologne, 1984. p. 47, .
* Olaf Wagener: ''... wart belacht van dem lantfreden dat slos van Rifferscheit ... The Landfriedensexekution gegen Reifferscheid 1385.'' In: ''Burgen und Schlösser.'' Jg. 47, No. 1, 2006, pp. 23–31, .
External links
History of Reifferscheid Castle
References
{{Coordinate , NS=50/28/36.50/N , EW=6/27/59/E , type=landmark , region=DE-NW
Castles in the Eifel
Castles in North Rhine-Westphalia
Buildings and structures in Euskirchen (district)