Lage, Lower Saxony
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Lage () is a community on the river Dinkel in the district of
Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim () is a districts of Germany, district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Netherlands, Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the distri ...
in
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
with roughly 1,000 inhabitants. It belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of
Neuenhaus Neuenhaus (; ) is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, and is the seat of a like-named collective municipality Neuenhaus. Neuenhaus lies on the rivers Dinkel and Vechte near the border with the Netherlands and is rou ...
. Of particular sightseeing interest are the
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
, built in 1687, the
watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
, built in 1270, the
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
ruins (first mentioned in a document in 1183, destroyed in 1324–1326 and 1626), the lordly manor, built in 1686 and the historic Oak Avenue with the manor staff’s old houses. The extended name ''Herrlichkeit Lage'' – “Herrlichkeit” means grandness or magnificence – refers to the time between the end of the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
and the year 1803, in which Lage was a self-standing small state with its own jurisdiction. The biggest club is the
sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
, ''Rot-Weiß Lage 29 e. V.'' (about 700 members).


Castle

In 1183 came the first documentary mention of the castle at Lage, and of a Hermann von Lage, who between 1173 and 1183 was Capitular at
Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...
. Between 1324 and 1326, the castle came to be destroyed during the
Guelders The Duchy of Guelders (; ; ) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in present-day Germany. Though the present pr ...
Feud under Bishop Ludwig of Münster. From 1329 to 1330, Bishop Johann of
Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
built the castle anew for his ally Hermann von Lage, who in 1346 sold the bishop ''“dat huys toe Lage”'' (“the house at Lage”), although it remained in von Lage’s hands because the purchase price was not fully paid. In 1380, Bishop Florenz of Utrecht raided Lage Castle, leading to much of it being destroyed. Between 1439 and 1447, it was once again built anew, this time by Bishop Rudolf of Utrecht. Lage was at this time an episcopal seat occupied by a steward, and now and then it was lent out as a pledge. In 1523 the castle came under fire by Guelders troops, to whom the castle was given up. In 1592, there was yet more building, and there arose a fortlike castle with a house chapel, built by the liege lord Dietrich von Ketteler to whom the castle had been pledged in 1576 and enfeoffed in 1590, whereafter Lage, along with the Bishopric of Utrecht, was transferred to
Emperor Charles V Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...
, and then from him to his son
Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
in 1555. In 1626, the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
castle was besieged in the
Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...
by the Dutch, and since then it has lain in ruins.


Lordly manor

The manor was built in 1686 by Amadea von Raesfeld ''née'' von Vlodrup as a widow’s seat in classicist Dutch style. In 1762, the eastward side wing was built onto it.


Watermill

The watermill in Lage an der Dinkel was first mentioned in a document in 1270, and likewise a garnishment document from 1377 speaks of a mill in Lage. It was only about 200 years later, however, that approval was given by then King Philip II of Spain, as ruler of the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, to build a mill on the river Dinkel. It is supposed that this was a reconstruction or expansion of an existing mill, but what it was precisely is not known. As it appears today, the mill looks as though it is from the late 17th century. A distinguishing feature is the two undershot
waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous blade ...
s that drive both a
grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
and an oil mill. In the early years of the 20th century,
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
was also generated at the mill to supply the local community. After the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the oil mill was shut down. The grist mill kept running until 1957, although as of 1931 it had no longer been driven by water power, but rather by a
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
. After the last miller’s death, the mill stood empty. When the building was threatening to fall down, the most urgent safety work was begun in 1962. Ten years later, the district of Grafschaft Bentheim brought about a comprehensive restoration on the mill, giving it once more its two waterwheels, as well as undoing building work that had been done on the river itself in the 1930s and restoring the
weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
to improve flow rates. In the years up until 1976, the milling machinery was overhauled so that today, on selected days, the mill can now be run again. In the former miller’s dwelling, a tea parlour was set up after the restoration.


Church

On 11 June 1687, Amadea von Raesfeld laid the foundation stone for the building of a church in Lage.


References


External links


Official pagePage about Lage and its sightseeingDorf-, Burg- und Mühlenfreunde Lage e. V. (“Lage Village, Castle and Mill Friends”)
{{Authority control County of Bentheim (district)