Theres Castle

In Theres, Bishop Luidger from Bamberg founded the first monastery (1042-1045). It was a Benedictine monastery. The monks lived by the rule: Pray and work (Ora et labora). The patron saints of the abbey were St. Vitus and St. Stephen. The monastery received many properties in the surrounding area from Margravine Judith of Schweinfurt. The villages of Obertheres, Untertheres, Buch, Horhausen, and Sailershausen belonged to the monastery.

Under Abbot Gregor II Fuchs, the monastery was rebuilt in the Baroque style. It received a magnificent church and a large monastery building. In 1803, the monastery came to an end. The state no longer wanted monasteries. Abbot Benedikt Mahlmeister and his monks had to leave Theres. All buildings and many furnishings were sold or destroyed. Freiherr von Kretschmann was the first owner who had the monastery's own church demolished. He was able to acquire the monastery for 155,000 guilders (the monastery was estimated at 360,168 guilders). In 1816, he sold the property to his son Moritz. In 1830, the latter then sold the entire property to Freiherr von Ditfurth. He had a small castle chapel installed. He had the largest room decorated as a knight's hall with a large ceiling painting.

Owners from 1830 - 1856: Georg von Ditfurth

After the former monastery passed to the Electorate of Hesse's retired Premier Lieutenant Georg von Ditfurth in 1830, a small castle chapel and a knight's hall were built into Theres Castle. The name Ditfurth is also known through his brother Franz Wilhelm, who lived in the castle from 1830 to 1855. He was the famous collector of Franconian folk songs. In 1856, Georg von Ditfurth built a small castle in the east of the castle park, which is still known today as "Ditfurth Castle". In the same year, he sold the former monastery to Henry von Swaine. Before Georg von Ditfurth left the old monastery, he is said to have removed the face of his portrait from a mural in the knight's hall. The mural depicts his elevation to hereditary Freiherr by King Ludwig I in 1837.

Owners from 1856 - today: Von Swaine Family

Henry Joseph Freiherr von Swaine was born on September 10, 1798, in London. The Lords von Swaine descend from the English Yorkshire nobility. On December 12, 1856, he (then residing in Thuringia) bought the castle in Theres, including the former monastery buildings and the associated agricultural lands. Henry von Swaine, elevated to the Bavarian Freiherr status by King Ludwig II, made great efforts to manage the estate, for which he imported modern machinery and high-performance breeding cattle from England.