Mergenthau Castle

The present castle estate is enclosed by the ramparts of a large high medieval castle complex. The castle was probably built in the first half of the 11th century to protect the Welf possessions located near the city of Augsburg. The fortified complex gained particular importance due to its proximity to the Gunzenle, the legendary meeting place on the Lechfeld. The fortress was probably destroyed in 1078/79, but was subsequently repaired. Welf VI died in 1191 as the last of his line. Part of the inheritance fell to his friend and presumed relative Udalskalk, who was then Bishop of Augsburg. The bishop handed Mergenthau over to the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg shortly before his death. In 1249, the episcopal castle appears as "castro nostro Mergatowe" in a document. In 1296, Mergenthau was captured and devastated during a feud between Duke Rudolf of Bavaria and the bishopric. After being relieved by Augsburg troops, the castle was rebuilt. In 1372, the Bavarians destroyed the complex again. The ruins were subsequently exploited as a welcome quarry. Farming families settled in the castle area and its surroundings, cultivating the associated land. In 1147, a Hans Meuting is mentioned. In 1561, Hans Holzkirchner received the collegiate farm in the castle site. In 1602, Wilhelm Weikmann was "Paur zu Mergenthaw" (Kissinger Urbar). "Since this farm was formerly a castle site..." the population of nearby Kissing was obliged to perform corvée labor on the farm ("Hewen, Mehen und schneiden" - mowing, scything and cutting). In 1642/50, the property came by exchange to the Augsburg Jesuit College of St. Salvator, which leased the Mergenthau "Sedlhof". In 1695, an unspecified farm in Mergenthau was sold to a farmer from Aindling. In 1703, the Jesuits complained that their estate in Kissing, "from which the college entirely derives its livelihood... had been plundered twice by the Imperial and the Dutch/English." However, the inhabitants were able to get to safety (War of the Spanish Succession). The previous destructions were probably the reason for the baroque new building of the "Jesuit Castle". Construction began in 1713. Just two years later, the building was ready for occupancy. At the same time, the small castle in Kissing was built as the seat of the judge of the Kissing Hofmark. The country house in Mergenthau cost a total of 17,455 guilders and 55 kreuzer. The design was by Hans Georg Mozart, a relative of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The original invoices are preserved in a copy. In 1722, a barn and a carriage house were added. The original furnishings of the two "Bauhöfe", i.e. the country house and the small castle, are well documented by the preserved inventory. The rooms were decorated with paintings and engravings, the chapel on the ground floor (Mergenthau) had three altars and "chapel furnishings". The cellars were also richly stocked with wine, beer and other provisions. It is noteworthy that even the servants' rooms were equipped with paintings and copper engravings, and the staff also had their own kitchen. However, the beds were only provided with simple straw sacks. The most valuable piece of the former furnishings was a large painting of Mary (2.07 × 1.43 meters) by the Augsburg master Hans Burgkmaier (around 1500). The work was still in the castle in 1865, but was sold to the art trade in 1906 and is now in the art collections of Veste Coburg. In Mergenthau, a good copy from the first half of the 19th century still commemorates the "Madonna on the Lawn Bench". After the dissolution of the Jesuit order, the property passed to the "Pious Foundation" in Augsburg in 1773, which transferred it to the Catholic Study Fund in 1776. In 1808, the Study Fund had the furnishings auctioned off, and a year later also the buildings. Baron von Münch acquired the estate by exchange. In 1811, Sigmund Freiherr von Riedheim auf Harthausen is named as the owner. Subsequently, the owners changed twice more until Andreas Samm acquired the former Jesuit castle in 1828. His descendants still manage the castle estate today. Events and markets are regularly held on the grounds. In 2006, the "Hiasl-Erlebniswelt" was set up in the economic part. The famous poacher and robber captain Matthias Klostermayr, the "Bavarian Hiasl", was born in Kissing in 1736 and served the Jesuits as a hunting assistant for two and a half years until he fell out of favor because of a carnival prank.

The castle estate is located about 20 m above the valley on a spur of the Lechleite. About 150 meters north, the ramparts of an early medieval fortified complex can be traced in the terrain. The ring wall in the Ottmaringer Holz was probably, in its last stage of expansion, one of the smaller Hungarian protection castles on the right side of the Lech, which Widukind of Corvey already mentioned in his chronicle. The ramparts and moats of the Welf and episcopal predecessor castles are also largely preserved. The two archaeological monuments are separated by a terrain incision and a small lake. The ramparts are up to five meters high, but are disturbed by some breakthroughs. To the east, a neck ditch protected the fortress from the outer bailey; on the other sides, the terrain slopes moderately steeply. To the north and west, two presumed tower sites project in a tongue shape.