Raesfeld Castle

Raesfeld Castle is a castle in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Münsterland municipality of Raesfeld.

Map in 1729: 1 Oberburg, 2 Vorburg, 3 castle chapel, 4 Schlossfreiheit, 5 castle park. Shaded: water features.

Short description

The castle complex covers an area of 14 hectares.

It consists of:

a castle park named Tiergarten; it shows features of a late 17th-century baroque garden, but also of a later English landscape garden.

the moated castle complex, which consists of an Oberburg , which has only been preserved in part, and a Vorburg, built between 1646 and 1648, to which the stargazer tower and the farm buildings of the castle belong;

the finely decorated 17th century castle chapel, a small Roman Catholic church building (parish church of the village of Raesfeld)

a residential area outside the moat, restored in the 20th century, called Schlossfreiheit. This originally served to house courtiers and servants at the castle. From the 17th century, the residential area had the status of a spot, between village and city. One of the houses is used as a memorial center about Raesfeld in the Second World War. Restaurants and shops are located in a few other houses.

The beautiful knight's hall has been preserved in the main building of the castle, the Oberburg.

History

In the 12th century the castle belonged to a Van den Berg family, possibly from Montferland in the County of Guelders. In 1259 the castle was bought by the nobleman Symon von Gemen, who had himself called Symon van Raesfelt after settling there. Until the middle of the 16th century, the Van Raesfeld family, which established family ties with numerous other noble families in Westphalia and Twente, was lord of Slot Raesfeld. Then inheritance conflicts arose within the family. The Prince Bishop of Münster, Bernhard von Raesfeld, itself a member of the family, opted in 1588 for the members of the Von Ve(h)len branch of this family in the question of succession.

In 1595, the diplomat and warlord Alexander I. von Velen (1556–1630) inherited the castle from his father, Herman IX von Velen , and had it converted into a residential castle. During this time the castle suffered a lot of damage from fires and from war damage as a result of the Eighty Years' War and later the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). In 1590 it was briefly occupied by Spanish soldiers. The latter's son, Alexander II van Vehlen, who had been field marshal on the Catholic side in the Thirty Years' War, and was nicknamed Wallenstein of Westphalia therehad left behind, had acquired great wealth partly through these activities. Count Alexander II had the castle thoroughly renovated and embellished between 1646 and 1658. The architect of this renovation was a Fleming, a certain Jacobus van Poucke, who later entered the order of monks of the Capuchins and took the name Michael van Gent. Count Alexander received numerous important guests from the high nobility and clergy at Castle Raesfeld.

Decay set in again in the following centuries. The following lords of the castle could no longer afford the costly maintenance of the extensive property. In the 18th century it was still in the possession of the Rijksheerheid Gemen for some time, governed by the Gemense branch of the Huis Limburg Stirum. Much of the castle's valuable inventory was transferred to Velen Castle.

Further decay set in when in the winter of 1813/1814 Cossacks, who had fought against the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Leipzig, established their winter quarters there.

In 1822, Baron Ignaz von Landsberg-Velen used the dilapidated castle as a manor farm and had part of the buildings demolished or converted into a barn. The castle served as a military base for soldiers in both the First and Second World Wars; in the winter of 1944-1945 as a lazaret, and in the first years after that war as a refugee camp.

In 1952, the castle was purchased by a legal predecessor of the current owners, who herself took care of the restoration of the dilapidated castle. In 1960, the previously demolished round tower of the main building was rebuilt on its original foundations in the old style. Further restorations followed in 1980-1982 and 2001.

Current use

The castle is used as an office and training institute by seven so-called Handwerkskammer from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. These German government agencies can be compared to a Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands, but are exclusively concerned with craft businesses (including the construction industry). Training courses for management of these types of craft companies are given in the castle.

In addition, some rooms in the cellars of the castle are used as a restaurant, and the knight's hall is used as a concert hall and wedding venue.

A modern visitor center was built in the Tiergarten in 2005. This Informations- und Besucherzentrum Tiergarten Schloss Raesfeld is used as a tourist information center, a museum about the history of the castle and its gardens, a center for training and practicals in the field of nature management, among other things. The Tiergarten, which was a game park for game game in the 17th and 18th centuries, where American cervids were also kept at the time, has been more or less restored to its former glory and is a publicly accessible deer park.

Sources, notes and/or references

For a very detailed description, see the page Schloss Raesfeld on the German Wikipedia.

(* November 9, 1508 at Hameren Castle near Billerbeck; † April 18, 1574 in Münster); Prince Bishop from 4 December 1557 to 25 October 1566

The official genealogical guide of the German nobility, the Genealogie Handbuch des Adels, distinguishes two noble families: the family Von Raesfeld , which dates back to the 16th century, and the now-extinct family Von Raesfeldt, which dates back to the 13th century. According to the German Wikipedia, however, there are sufficient indications that there is blood relationship between the two genera, and both branches are considered to be one ancient noble family.

and at an umbrella body of this, the Handwerkskammertag

Photo: J. Hulsch