Burg Bentheim - March 15 080325/sa

On Saturday, March 15, Rick and I made a trip up to Drenthe in Northern Netherlands to look at the Hunebedden (more on this in another post). On the way home, we stumbled onto a castle in Germany–Burg (castle in German) Bentheim. By the time we got there, it was almost dark and the castle was closed; however, we did spend an hour walking around outside. Not many of our pictures turned out, so it definitely calls for another trip. But we did get a couple of really neat shots due to the dusk light that I wanted to share with you. Also a little history of this castle that is still in tact will follow.

As you begin looking at the pictures, I've included in the album a picture of the castle as rendered in a painting first. Then there's another picture I found where the town has begun to build up around the castle. You will see from the pictures that we took that the castle now lies in the middle of bad Bentheim, Germany, about 30 minutes from Hengelo.

This is a castle that I will take Adrienne to visit when she comes over in July!

Click here http://picasaweb.google.com/roamingakers/BurgBentheim for the pictures, or for those of you with inquiring minds, read on first for a little history:

The beginnings of the Bentheim Castle cannot definitvely be historically verified. In 1020, an early reference of Bentheim was made and Count Otto von Northeim named as owner of the castle. In 1116, Duke Lothar von Süpplinburg, who later became Emperor Lothar III, conquered/seized/occupied the castle and set fire to it. In 1146, an armed conflict occurred between von Rhieneck and the Bishop of Utrecht regarding ownership rights. During the course of this feud, Otto and his troops were defeated and as a result, his castle became answerable to the Bishopric Utrecht as fief. Otto’s only son and heir was murdered in captivity by Hermann von Staleck. Utilizing the inheritance of Otto’s daughter, Sophie von Rhieneck, the castle and the rule of Bentheim were acquired by the Counts of Holland.

Around the end of the 14th century, the Bentheims within the Dutch family died out and the inheritance was passed along to a nephew, Everwyn von Güterswyk. Through marriage, the Bentheim inheritance was expanded to the noble rule of Steinfurt in 1420, which was then tightly connected to Bentheim by inheritance agreements. From 1421 on, the region’s rulers named themselves Counts of Bentheim. In 1468, Count Everwin II
was given Bentheim from Emperor Friedrich III as fief. The county was acknowledged as imperial fief for the first time. Between 1588 and 1593, Count Arnold II introduced the reforms of Johann Calvin and Huldrich Zwinglis. The military usefulness of the castle became more and more obsolete after the Thirty Year War, however it served as the administrative center and prison of the county. During the Seven Year War (1754-1761), the castle was captured and re-captured several times by the French and British. In the war against the French Revolution Army in 1795, it served as military hospital, was set on fire and captured by the French.

In 1804, the county fell back to the Counts of Bentheim. In the 19th century, many parts of the castle were in poor condition and couldn’t be inhabited. Only after 1848, modest measures were taken to rebuild the fortress. Prince Alexis II was married to Princess Pauline, sister of Queen Emma of the Netherlands, who is correctly considered the founder of the modern Dutch monarchy. The First World War and the fall of many monarchies brought this splendid era to an end. Prince Alexis II died on January 21, 1919.

Construction of the castle also ended prematurely with the outbreak of World War I so that a planned expansion of the northern part of the castle remained incomplete. Since then, the duty of following generations has been and will be to preserve the castle as a historical building and monument of the culture around the region of the German-Dutch border. The Castle of Bentheim is connected to the history of the region and both nations like no other building.