Namedy Castle

Namedy Castle (or Burg Namedy) is located in the Rhine valley, close to the village of Namedy in Andernach, Germany. Late gothic, moated castle (middle of the 14th century) originally belonging to the Husmann Knights of Andernach.

Since 1909 in possession of the Rhenish line of the Hohenzollern dynasty.

The castle is located down in the Rhine valley on the left side of the river, north of the village of Namedy. The first wooded hills of the Eifel highlands rises just behind the castle. The Eurovelo 15 cycleway which follows the Rhine river on both banks, runs beside the castle park as part of the section from Koblenz to Bonn. The Eifel-Camino hiking trail passes also there. The latter at this location, is close to its starting point linking the Rhine valley with Trier, and further with the French and Spanish networks of pilgrims' ways to Santiago de Compostela.

The history of its construction goes back to the 14th century when the castle was built by the Husmanns, a patrician family from Andernach. It was a small moated castle in the late gothic style, which included the noble court of Niederhof. Gerhardus dictus Husmann (died 1211) was the first lord of that court.

During the 16th century, the buildings were extended by later generations of the H(a)usmann family.

In 1633, the castle suffered from plundering by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War.

After the male line became extinct in 1678, the castle passed into the hands of the von Klepping family through marriage, before its new owners sold it in 1700.

Johann Arnold von Solemacher (1657–1734), chancellor of the electorate of Trier, bought the castle in 1700 for 7,500 Reichstaler. He was granted a knighthood in 1718 by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, after appending to his name, the labels and coat of arms of the ancient family, Husmann von Namedy. Johann Arnold transformed the medieval buildings into a baroque style pleasure palace, adding stories and two side wings.

The Solemacher family inhabited the castle until they had to flee before the advancing French army who, in 1794, occupied the region left of the Rhine. French revolutionary troops used the castle as hospital and as powder magazine, which ruined its interiors and structures. Windows, stairs, floors and doors were used as fuel for heating the field hospital.

Text adapted from “Namedy Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Namedy Castle ranks #4,255 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #325 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1350, it is older than 57% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,428 times in the last 60 days, more than 58% of the atlas. 19 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Koblenz, 20 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗