Stahlech Castle on the Rhine
On the west bank of the beautiful Rhine, about twenty-five miles below Coblentz, lies picturesque Bacharach, a village of some eighteen hundred inhabitants. Bacharach is a corruption of the words " Bacchi Ara, " meaning the altar of Bacchus, and was once famous for its wine. Pope Pius ii used to import a ton of Bacharach wine every year into Rome, and down to the sixteenth century it was jointly with Cologne the staple for the wines of the Rhine.
This town is commanded by the once strongly fortified castle of Stahlech, the extensive ruins of which extend from the heights above the village down to the valley. It was erected about the year 1155, and until 1253 was the principal residence of the Counts Palatine.
One of the districts that suffered most severely in the thirty years war, {1618-1648 } and the war of the Palatinate { 1688-1697 }, was the lower country lying near France, on both sides of the river Rhine, to the northeast of Alsace and Lorraine. Stahlech Castle, lying in a most exposed part of the besieged country, was consequently the scene of many bloody battles. In the beginning of 1632 Stahlech and Bacharach fell into the hands of the Swedes advancing from Mainz the Rheingraf Otto Ludwig von Dhaun, commanding the yellow regiment of the Swede army, took both after a strong and valiant resistance. The French took the castle and town no less than eight times during the years 1620 to 1640.
During the latter year a Bavarian army drove out the French and pillaged the place. In the fall of the same year it was taken by the Spanish, but the French again regained possession of it in 1644. it's final downfall came in January 1689. After many other Rhenish towns had been struck, the turn came to Bacharach. Enormous masses of powder stored in the castle vaults exploded with fearful results, when the ruins were sprung. Fragments were hurled over the whole town, and that part situated on the mountain much injured. After the explosion of the magazines, great colums of flame leaped up, which left Stahlech as it is today.
In 1211 we find Herr von Stahlech residing there. A few years later a side line of the powerful house of Grafen von Sponheim. Then follow a succession of members of the noblest Rhenish houses, among them being that of Kemper.
The Knight von Kempler rode out of Fraconia in the train of the Elector Palatinate Frederick iii, who flung himself to the banner of reform and championed Calvinism, and all through the wars of the Spanish Succession, they marched and faught in that cause. In the army of Frederick v, Colonel Johann von Kemper, "high in command" served with distinction. He was wounded in fourteen battles. and finally so severely that he was forced to retire upon pension, being made hereditary commander of Stahlech Castle. The valient old warrior died in the summer of 1712.
His three sons, Palatines by birth and education, zealously upheld the German Calvinistic cause, and under the restraints and persecutions of that period, two of them immediately set out for Holland, where there was more religious freedom; and what remained of Stahlech Castle finally found its way into possession of the royal family of Wittelbach of Prussia, as the third son, a mere youngster, soon abandoned it and followed his brothers.
This town is commanded by the once strongly fortified castle of Stahlech, the extensive ruins of which extend from the heights above the village down to the valley. It was erected about the year 1155, and until 1253 was the principal residence of the Counts Palatine.
One of the districts that suffered most severely in the thirty years war, {1618-1648 } and the war of the Palatinate { 1688-1697 }, was the lower country lying near France, on both sides of the river Rhine, to the northeast of Alsace and Lorraine. Stahlech Castle, lying in a most exposed part of the besieged country, was consequently the scene of many bloody battles. In the beginning of 1632 Stahlech and Bacharach fell into the hands of the Swedes advancing from Mainz the Rheingraf Otto Ludwig von Dhaun, commanding the yellow regiment of the Swede army, took both after a strong and valiant resistance. The French took the castle and town no less than eight times during the years 1620 to 1640.
During the latter year a Bavarian army drove out the French and pillaged the place. In the fall of the same year it was taken by the Spanish, but the French again regained possession of it in 1644. it's final downfall came in January 1689. After many other Rhenish towns had been struck, the turn came to Bacharach. Enormous masses of powder stored in the castle vaults exploded with fearful results, when the ruins were sprung. Fragments were hurled over the whole town, and that part situated on the mountain much injured. After the explosion of the magazines, great colums of flame leaped up, which left Stahlech as it is today.
In 1211 we find Herr von Stahlech residing there. A few years later a side line of the powerful house of Grafen von Sponheim. Then follow a succession of members of the noblest Rhenish houses, among them being that of Kemper.
The Knight von Kempler rode out of Fraconia in the train of the Elector Palatinate Frederick iii, who flung himself to the banner of reform and championed Calvinism, and all through the wars of the Spanish Succession, they marched and faught in that cause. In the army of Frederick v, Colonel Johann von Kemper, "high in command" served with distinction. He was wounded in fourteen battles. and finally so severely that he was forced to retire upon pension, being made hereditary commander of Stahlech Castle. The valient old warrior died in the summer of 1712.
His three sons, Palatines by birth and education, zealously upheld the German Calvinistic cause, and under the restraints and persecutions of that period, two of them immediately set out for Holland, where there was more religious freedom; and what remained of Stahlech Castle finally found its way into possession of the royal family of Wittelbach of Prussia, as the third son, a mere youngster, soon abandoned it and followed his brothers.