The Ancient Shield Courts in the Passeier Valley

Appendix.

History.

Steinhaus is one of the ancient shield courts (Schildhöfe) in the Passeier Valley, an account of which may not be unwelcome to readers. There are twelve of them in the valley, namely: Camion, Steinhaus, Obergereith, Untergereith (later Baumkirch), in der Kalbe, Weingart (later Granstein), Obersaltaus (now Hauppold), and Untersaltaus, on the right bank, and Widersicht near Jaufenburg, Endhof (now Happerg), Bucheneck, and Erbion, on the left bank of the Passer. Their origin dates back to the earliest period of the Counts of Vintschgau and Tyrol.

They were all sovereign princely fiefs which, according to surviving charters, could only be acquired through sword and lance. The duty of their holders — all of noble or at least armigerous origin — was military service (Heeresfolge), and under the name of their feudal seat they formed the personal bodyguard of the Counts and subsequent Princes of Tyrol. Their privileges consisted in an exempt jurisdiction under the Burgrave of Tyrol, without whose order they could not be summoned before any judge, criminal cases excepted; further in tax exemption, freedom from military quartering, the privilege of appearing before court and in church with sword and lance, and the right to fish and hunt within the bounds of their properties for their own table.

Of the families of these shield courts, the following still occurs among the records of the parish archive in St. Martin:

In the year 1317, Bertholdus and Heinricus de Steinhaus, Egeno de Saltuzze (Saltaus), Albertus de Calbe, and Cuonradus de Camyan appear as witnesses to an obligation.

In the year 1384, Niclas von Chalb and Bartlein von Steinhaus appear as sealers of a bond of pledge, and at the same time Dionis and Steffel, sons of Heinrich von Steinhaus, as witnesses.

In the year 1400, Hildbrandt von Passeyer (owner of the fortress of Jauffenburg) appears as sealer of a settlement between Petermann and Leonard von Lewenberg.

In the year 1411, Jenesi von Passeyer appears as witness to an arbitration charter.

In the year 1419, Heinrich von Steinhaus, a son of Bärtlin, appears as donor of an annual rent of oil for the church of St. Martin.

In the year 1420, Niclaus von Gereit the Younger appears as sealer of a reverse for Heinrich von Steinhaus.

In the year 1439, Christoff Baumkircher von Baumkirch appears as sealer of a reverse for Frau Agnes im Feld.

In the year 1455, Sigmund Bamkircher von Niedergereit appears as witness to a purchase.

In the year 1460, Herr Sigmund pamkircher and Fridreich Gereiter appear as witnesses to a bequest.

In the year 1507, Cunrad Kolber zu Saltaus appears as sealer of a jointure deed.

In the year 1514, the noble and steadfast Jacob Gereiter appears as sealer of a reverse.

After the extinction of its own lineage, Schloss Steinhaus passed to the Knights von Niederthor, later to the Barons von Firmian, then to the Counts von Sinzendorf, from them to the Benedictine Abbey of Marienberg, and finally, after the latter's dissolution under the Royal Bavarian government, to the present owner, the farmer Sebastian Prünster.

This castle exhibits in its architecture, both inside and out, traces of great antiquity, as does the shield court at Saltaus.

Of the remaining shield courts, those of Baumkirch, Granstein, Gereit, Camion, and Erbion can still be seen in their ancient construction, which is similar everywhere; presenting a tall house of solid masonry, a few parlors, an unusually high chamber fitted with an iron door and iron window bars, along with other storage rooms.

At Baumkirch, a very ancient fresco is visible on the exterior wall depicting Saint Christopher in a rare costume, and below to the left in a niche, a similar depiction along with four coats of arms, of which one shows the arms of the Nobles von Baumkirch, another those of the Lords von Auer, and a third a seated hunting dog with a collar; the fourth, however, has become completely unrecognizable through weathering.

From a knoll above Baumkirch known as the Königssaal, the white marble, rather roughly crafted capital of a column was excavated just two years ago. The circumstance that Baumkirch previously bore the name Untergereit makes it probable that the Baumkirchers only relocated from their old seat at Baumkirchen below Hall to Passeier at the beginning of the fifteenth century, which may also have been the case with the Kolber family of Gasteig at Saltaus, later at St. Leonhard, who were once settled in the Oberinntal at a location now unknown.

Both of these families had their own burial crypt in the Benedictine Monastery of St. Georgenberg near Schwaz.

Saltaus passed from the Kolbers to the Lingens, the Junkers Schneeberger, now Barons von Schneeburg, and then, like the other shield courts, into private hands.

According to a report by Christoph Kolber from around 1540, there were formerly even more shield courts in Passeier, for which the surviving ancient buildings — such as the ivy-covered tower in the Lahnthal, the castle-like house of the Thurngut outside St. Martin, and the buildings adorned with coats of arms and inscriptions at Bucha on the Kellerlahn and at Inner-Kammerveit or Gerlos near Sand — provide convincing evidence.

To speak further of these venerable remnants of antiquity, whose inhabitants guarded and helped defend the ancestral castle and the Princes of Tyrol for so long, time and documents are lacking, which could most readily be collected from the feudal archive and from the records of the Burgrave's office at Castle Tyrol.

Furthermore, military summonses were invariably directed to the Knights of Passeier, later to the Knights, now Counts von Fuchs of Jauffenburg, who were tasked with notifying the shield men to march out through the holders of the hunting fiefs.

One such levy issued by Archduke Leopold IV in the year 1407 is still preserved in the communal archive at St. Leonhard, without however naming the enemy against whom the campaign was launched; the city of Trent is designated as the muster place for the armed men, and the duration of service is set at fourteen days.