On the History of Katzenstein Castle near Merano and Its Owners (Part 1)

Appendix.

History.

The owners of Katzenstein Castle. 1/3

Katzenstein was one of the many mountain fortresses situated near Merano, the principal stronghold of the territory. In this region once resided a great many nobles, ready to serve the all-powerful Count of Tyrol in word and deed, with men and steeds, with helmet, shield, and sword, with hounds, bow, and arrow.

Along the road leading from Botzen to the former capital of the territory, not far from the latter, the castle stands on a projecting rock of the eastern mountain range among the scattered farms and estates of the Freiberg, a part of the parish of Mais, directly below Fragsburg, which is situated much higher. In front of it one sees the Sinnich stream cascading down steep rocks.

When the sovereign Margarethe, known as Maultasch, held court at Castle Tyrol and alternately also at St. Zenoburg 1), the nobles of Katzenstein resided at this castle. From them the castle may once have received its name. The brothers Rudolph and Dietpold von Katzenstein lived there jointly. In the year 1347 they divided their possessions and granted their cousin, also named Rudolph, the right of pre-emption or redemption in the event that either of them wished to sell his share. The contract written on parchment 2) is still well preserved in the original. The seals affixed to parchment strips are of reddish-brown, pitch-like wax, onto which white wax was applied on the obverse. On the first, one sees a helmet surmounted by an upright sitting fox with pricked ears and a dangling, yet thin tail. (Could it perhaps be a cat?) The Gothic inscription is fairly legible and reads: S. Rudolfi vn Chatzenstain. In the second is a triangular shield, rounded on both sides, and upon it an upright walking dog with what appears to be a curled tail. The inscription is: S. Die - - vn Chatzenstain. Both together seem to constitute the full coat of arms of the Katzensteins. On the other two nothing more is visible than triangular shields; their images and inscriptions have become unrecognizable. From the charter itself it is evident that these were the seals of the nobles called as witnesses to the drafting of the deed, "wulffinchs von Gutenstain" and "ulreiches urlenges von Furtenek".

The brothers Rudolph and Dietpold von Katzenstein were, according to Burglechner (Comp. Ms. Cap. VI), among the territorial nobles who appeared at the diet held in Merano in 1361. 3) Cerdo Gebelinus, a son of Salmon von Katzenstein, is listed as a witness in the deed of donation by which on 3 April 1368 Johann der Greif transferred ownership of a house with a garden to the churchwardens of the parish churches of Our Lady and St. Vigilius in Mais, on condition that they provide an urn of wine each year on Maundy Thursday for the holy Easter communion. 4)

In the year 1450, Hans von Aur (also Aer, Awr, and Awer) was enfeoffed with Katzenstein by Archduke Sigmund. The nobles of Aur were ministerials of the Counts of Tyrol and a wealthy, respected knightly lineage; branches of the family also held the noble seats in Mais, Fragsburg, Labers, and Katzenstein. Their ancestral seat was the now ruined Aur Castle, located half an hour from the main castle at the edge of the village of Tirol toward Passeier, and is now the property of the Counts of Stachelburg.

Otto, the first of Aur, who resided at Fragsburg from 1356, had four sons: Johann, Matthäus, Georg, and Barthlmä. In the declaration of 1413, which the brothers Ulrich and Hans von Eglsee, known as the Beigensteiners, issued to Abbot Johannes of Stams concerning a chapel in their once magnificent, now ruined Castle Neuberg near St. Valentin, Georg (Jörg) von Aur appended his seal to the charter alongside that of his brother in place of Hans, who was not yet of age to seal. Long before 1459, this Jörg von Aur had his seat at Labers Castle, situated on the north-eastern side of Mais, roughly halfway up the mountain slope cut to the north by the ravine forged by the Mais brook, on the ruins of which around the year 1700 the then new owners, the Bombardi brothers, built the castle that still stands today.

Heinrich succeeded his father in the possession of Labers. After his death, his estates, as Annal. Stams. Cap. XXX. §. 6. and ad Cap. XXX. add. 23 confirm, were confiscated in 1481 by the princely cellar office in Merano.

(To be continued.)

1) King Heinrich, Margarethe's father, issued a great many charters here. The castle is almost completely destroyed, presumably in the year 1347 by the vengeful King of the Romans, Charles of Bohemia. Since 1800, the ruins have been owned by the von Breitenberg family.

2) Given thirteen hundred years after the birth of Christ, and thereafter in the forty-seventh year, on the next Sunday after the holy feast of Corpus Christi following Pentecost.

3) For this reason, the names of these nobles can also be read in the territorial register originating from this diet. Count Brandis is therefore mistaken when he writes in his Ehrenkranzl (Part II, p. 177, no. 126): "that Christian Rottenpek von Katzenstein requested Katzenstein from Margrave Ludwig in the year 1351"; unless Rudolph and Dietpold von Katzenstein were descendants of the von Rotterbök family.

4) Kassian Primisser Annales Stams. Ms. ad Cap. XXIV. (Did lay communion under both kinds still exist here at that time?)