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The Dahn family, also Tan, Tann or Thann, is a German noble family from the Palatinate region of Germany.
The name Dahn, Tan, Tann or Thann often occurs in these variations as a surname. For example, there is also a Franconian aristocratic family, the von Tanns. The person who is often named in the literature as the progenitor of the lords of Dahn, Anshelmus de Tannicka, is clearly not connected to the Palatine Dahns, but just bore a similar name.
It is probable that the Dahns who resided in the southern Palatinate Forest had not migrated there from elsewhere, but were a long-established family. They appear several times in late 12th century records as imperial ministeriales , but later acted more often as ministeriales for the bishops of Speyer. A ministerialis was someone appointed to work for an important clerical or secular lord. They were originally unfree knights who were used by their masters to manage their estates. Some of them made careers in the management and administration for their masters and rose in social standing, leaving their former unfree status behind them. An old fief of the Dahns was mentioned in 1285, which the family was granted by the Bishopric of Speyer in Hinterweidenthal, near the town of Dahn and which came from the imperial abbey of Hornbach. It is therefore quite possible that the southwest Palatine or Wasgau Dahns originally came from the retinue of the abbey at Hornbach. This connexion may be the reason that the Dahns were initially employed as imperial ministeriales and then increasingly as ministeriales to the bishop.
To begin with, the family seat of the Dahns was probably Altdahn Castle. The first record of a castle seat on 3 May 1285, however, relates to Neudahn Castle (also enfeoffed by Speyer), as is evident from a list of the estates. The three castles at Dahn, especially Altdahn and Tanstein must have been older than that, however. [1] Until 1327, all the castles on the ridge above Dahn were referred to as "Than Castle" (Burg Than); only later were they given separate names. Occasionally even Tanstein was referred to as Old Than (Alt-Than). In 1288, four knights of Dahn at the burg zu tan were mentioned in a deed: Conrad III Mursel, John I, Henry IV Sumer and Conrad IV of Dahn. The amount of space they needed must have been considerable, which is why all five castle rocks were built on; Altdahn and Tanstein probably being the oldest elements, hence why there are fewere references to them.
Neudahn, which was built further away from the main castle group, was first mentioned in 1340 as nuwenburg zu Than. [1] The early history of the ministeriales of Dahn is largely unclear due to the complex ownership and family relationships. [2]
The first known recipient of the Dahn fief was Frederick I of Dahn between 1198 and 1236. At that time the castle was already an episcopal enfeoffment. From Berwartstein Castle, which was close by, we know that Emperor Frederick I gifted it in 1152 to the Bishopric of Speyer as a reward for their support. [3] This imperial castle (Reichsburg) thus became an episcopal fief-castle for the imperial ministeriales (Reichsministerialen) and, later, the ministeriales of the bishop. A similar situation may have pertained to the fief at Dahn. [4]
On the death of John I of Dahn in 1319 the family lost control over the third castle, Grafendahn, situated between Altdahn and Tanstein. After a feud over the inheritance the Bishop of Speyer re-enfeoffed the estate and it went to the counts of Sponheim.
In the early 15th century the knights of Dahn ran into difficulties. John VII and his brother, Henry X, of Dahn refused to attack Tannenberg Castle with Count Palatine Rupert III because members of the family lived in the castle. The king had Neudahn Castle seized, although it was later returned. Henry XIII of Dahn zu Tanstein was a follower of Franz von Sickingen. In the wake of the Sickingen Feud, Tanstein Castle was occupied by troops from Electoral Trier and not returned until 1544.
Towards the end of the Middle Ages the Dahn castles lost their significance and fell into ruins. Louis II of Dahn had a small schloss built in Burrweiler; this was first mentioned in 1571. Only a gate arch remains today. [5] The Dahns died out after Louis II of Dahn died in 1603 in Burrweiler. The fief then went back to the Bishopric of Speyer.
The von Tann coat of arms consists of three silver eagles (2:1) on a red field. [6] On the helmet with its red and silver mantle is a monkey holding a mirror in its right hand.
The prince-bishop's coat of arms of Conrad IV of Tann as Bishop of Speyer (1233–1236) is usually quartered. The fields of the coat of arms alternate the family coat of arms of the von Tanns with the coat of arms of the Bishopric of Speyer, a silver cross on a blue field.
Dahn is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde of Dahner Felsenland.
Elmstein Castle is a castle ruin built in the High Middle Ages overlooking Elmstein in the Palatinate Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was built in the 12th century.
The Rietburg is a ruined hillside castle on the edge of the Palatinate Forest above the village of Rhodt in the county of Südliche Weinstrasse in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Altdahn Castle is a castle ruin in the Palatinate Forest, the German part of the Wasgau region. It is located near the town of Dahn in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It stands 337 metres (1,106 ft) above sea level (NN).
Spangenberg Castle is the partially rebuilt ruin of a rock castle in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies in the Palatine Forest above the Elmstein valley near the village of Erfenstein, but is actually on the forest estates belong to the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße, or more precisely, the village of Lachen-Speyerdorf. Together with the neighbouring castle of Erfenstein, it is linked to the legend of the Leather Bridge.
The castles of Dahn, near the little town of Dahn in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, consist of three rock castles:
Grafendahn Castle lies in the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau region, just under 1 kilometre east of the small town of Dahn in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Tanstein Castle is the ruin of a rock castle in the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau region. It lies just under a kilometre east of the small town of Dahn in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The rock castle of Neudahn, in the southwestern Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is located at the northern end of an elongated ridge near the town of Dahn. The heart of the castle is situated on one of the sandstone rock outcrops that are typical of the Dahner Felsenland region.
Landeck Castle is a ruined hill castle southwest of Landau, near Klingenmünster in the county of Südliche Weinstraße in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Erfenstein Castle is a medieval spur castle in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies within the Palatine Forest above the Elmstein Valley at 265 m above sea level (NN) in the vicinity of the hamlet of Erfenstein in the municipality of Esthal. Together with nearby Spangenberg Castle, it is linked to the legend of the Leather Bridge.
The ruins of Breitenstein Castle stand on a crag, 220 metres (720 ft) high, on the northern side of the Speyerbach valley in the Palatine Forest in Germany. The castles is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of the village of Elmstein in the county of Bad Dürkheim in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Guttenberg Castle is a ruined rock castle near the French border in the German part of the Wasgau, which in turn is part of the Palatine Forest in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Lindelbrunn Castle is the medieval ruin of a rock castle near the village of Vorderweidenthal in the county of Südliche Weinstraße in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Conrad IV of Tann, also "of Thann" or "of Dahn", was the 48th Bishop of Speyer, holding office from 1233 to 1236.
Schloss Schöneck is a castle which stands on a rock outcrop in the Ehrbach Gorge in the borough of Boppard in the Hunsrück mountains of Germany.
The Ehrenburg is the ruin of a spur castle at 230 m above sea level (NN) in the vicinity of Brodenbach in Germany. The castle had a very eventful history. It was built on a rocky spur called the Ehrenberg situated above the valley of the Ehrbach, a right bank valley of the Moselle. Once the fortified heart of a small imperial barony with estates between the Lower Moselle and Middle Rhine, it is today a cultural monument that hosts numerous events.
Wichsenstein Castle was a hill castle, once owned by noblemen, on a steep and prominent rock reef (Felsriff) outcrop above the church village of Wichsenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in Bavaria, Germany. The castle has been completely demolished and there are no visible remains. The castle rock is now just used as a viewing point.
Old Wolfstein Castle, is a ruined hillside castle on the eastern slopes of the Königsberg at the narrowest point in the Lauter valley near Wolfstein in the county of Kusel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.