Germany · 12th century
Kerpen Castle ranks #5,602 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #485 of the 714 mapped in Germany. Founded 1150, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 763 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. 8 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Koblenz, 62 km away. It is one of the 51 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Moselle. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
Kerpen Castle (German: Burg Kerpen) is a spur castle standing on a dolomite hill spur at a height of 500 m above sea level (NHN) above the Eifel village of Kerpen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The precise origins of Kerpen Castle are hidden by the mists of time. It is very likely that it was built by Sigibertus de Kerpene, first mentioned in 1136, or his son, Henry I (1142–1177). However, it is not yet possible to give an exact date of construction.
In 1265, Theodoric II of Kerpen converted the castle into a fief of the Archbishop of Cologne, Engelbert II of Falkenburg. The estate was later divided between him and his brother, William II.
In 1299, a 'Theodoric III' is recorded as Lord of Kerpen. His sons later founded the three family lines of Kerpen-Linster, Kerpen-Mörsdorf and Kerpen-Illingen (Lit.: Losse, 2003), who remained the owners of their ancestral castle and turned it into a jointly owned inheritance or Ganerbenburg.
In 1446, Conrad of Kerpen-Mörsdorf sold his share of the castle to his cousin, William II of Sombreff, who acquired another share in 1448. Together with his family inheritance, this made William the sole owner of the castle. After his death, there were ongoing disputes over Kerpen castle, which lasted for more than 200 years.
William's son, Frederick, died childless, so that the castle fell to his sister, Margareta. Through her marriage to Count Dietrich of Manderscheid-Schleiden, the castle came into the possession of the count's family.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Dietrich IV of Manderscheid-Schleiden had a castle chapel built in the Gothic style. When he died childless in 1593, his brother-in-law, Philip of the Mark, had Kerpen Castle occupied by those loyal to him in order to lay claim to the estate. The quarrel between him and Philip's widow ended in a settlement in 1611 and he bought Kerpen from the widow.
But the property disputes were by no means over. In 1653, the Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim also tried to stake his claim to the estate by occupying the castle. It was not until 1674 that the dispute between the various noble families over Kerpen was brought to an end when the Imperial Chamber Court at Spires granted the estate of Kerpen and its castle to the Duchess of Arenberg.
Text adapted from “Kerpen Castle (Eifel)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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