Gemen Castle

As early as 962, a farm called Gamin was first mentioned in documents. From the 12th century onwards, disputes with the Prince-Bishops of Münster shaped the history of the Lords of Gemen, who successfully maintained their imperial immediacy. In the 14th century, under Heinrich III, the rise of the Gemens to one of Westphalia's most important noble families began. He acquired the castle as allodial property and had it expanded until 1411. In the 16th century, Jobst II introduced the Lutheran Reformation, which led to a siege and looting by the Duke of Alba in 1568. During the Thirty Years' War, Gemen remained largely unscathed. After inheritance disputes around 1635, Hermann Otto II von Limburg-Styrum succeeded in 1694 in settling the dispute over sovereign rights with the Diocese of Münster in his favor, making the dominion imperially immediate.