Laurenburg
Encyclopedia
Laurenburg is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn district of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

, in western Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The town, a health resort situated in the lower Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....

 River valley, belongs to the Diez
Diez (Verbandsgemeinde)
Diez is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its seat is in Diez.The Verbandsgemeinde Diez consists of the following Ortsgemeinden :...

 Municipal Association
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...

.

History

Laurenburg Castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 is first mentioned in 1093 in the purported founding charter of the Maria Laach Abbey
Maria Laach Abbey
Maria Laach Abbey is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See , near Andernach, in the Eifel region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is a member of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation...

 (a document some historians consider fabricated). A "Comes Dudo de Lurenburch", believed to be Count Dudo-Henry of Laurenburg
Dudo-Henry of Laurenburg
Dudo-Henry of Laurenburg was Count of Laurenburg in 1093 and is considered the founder of the House of Nassau...

 (ca. 1060 - ca. 1123), is listed fifth on the witness list. Count Dudo, considered the founder of the aristocratic House of Nassau, is thought to be the builder of the castle (perhaps with his father Robert, the Archbishop of Mainz’s
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...

 Vogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

 in Siegerland
Siegerland
The Siegerland is a region of Germany covering the old district of Siegen and the upper part of the district of Altenkirchen, belonging to the Rhineland-Palatinate adjoining it to the west.Geologically, the Siegerland belongs to the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge...

).

The seat of the House of Nassau was moved, under Dudo-Henry's sons Robert I
Robert I of Nassau
Robert I of Nassau was from 1123 co-Count of Laurenburg and would later title himself the first Count of Nassau. The House of Nassau would become an important aristocratic family in Germany, from which are descended the present-day rulers of both the Netherlands and Luxembourg.-Biography:Robert...

 and Arnold I
Arnold I of Laurenburg
Arnold I of Laurenburg , an early member of the House of Nassau, was from 1123 co-Count of Laurenburg. The House of Nassau would become an important aristocratic family in Germany, from which are descended the present-day Kings of the Netherlands and Grand Dukes of Luxembourg.-Biography:Arnold was...

, to Nassau Castle around 1124. The original castle in Laurenburg was destroyed in the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) and remains a ruin. The donjon of the castle today houses a military museum.

After the removal of the ruling House of Nassau from Laurenburg, the castle was administered by a Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....

of Nassau, whose descendants are still named "von Laurenburg" today. Among them, the families of the Loeners and the Buchers are well-known today. In 1643 Reichsgraf Peter Melander of Holzappel, an imperial field marshal during the Thirty Years' War, acquired Laurenburg, along with the greater area known as the Esterau.

Schloss Laurenburg ("Laurenburg palace") was first mentioned in documents in 1343. It has been occupied by, among others,
Reichsgraf Peter Melander of Holzappel, Prince Adolph of Nassau-Dillenburg, Prince Leberecht of Anhalt-Bernburg
Anhalt-Bernburg
Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt...

, and the Archdukes Joseph and Stephen of Austria. At the beginning of the 18th century, it became the summer residence of the Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym
Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym
Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym was a German principality and member of the Holy Roman Empire. The death of Prince Victor Amadeus of Anhalt-Bernburg in 1718, resulted in the partition of his land with his second son Lebrecht inheriting what was originally known as Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym.The name of the...

. In 1859, it came into the possession of the Holzappel Silver and Lead Mining Society.

In 1795, Laurenburg was temporarily occupied by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In 1806, it became part of the Duchy of Nassau
Nassau (state)
Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct in male line, was the House of Nassau.-Origins:...

, which was itself annexed by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 in 1866. Since 1947, it has been part of the federal state of Rheinland-Palatinate.

Viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

 in Laurenburg was first documented in 1445, with the establishment of a vineyard at the Taubenhaus of Count Philip the Elder of Katzenelnbogen
Katzenelnbogen
Katzenelnbogen is the name of a castle and small city in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Katzenelnbogen.-History:...

 under the castle.

Religious life

Laurenburg is part of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Boniface in Holzappel
Holzappel
Holzappel is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, with a population in 2006 of 1100.Holzappel was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1643 until 1714. It was founded by Peter Melander of Holzappel, an imperial field marshal during the Thirty Years'...

. The parish belongs to the Diez Pastoral Area of the Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....

 district in the Diocese of Limburg.

The Protestant community is part of Holzappel parish, which belongs to the Diez Deanery of the South Nassau Provostship of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN).

External links

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