Reinhardsbrunn in Friedrichroda near Gotha, in the German state of Thuringia, is the site of a formerly prominent Benedictine abbey, the house monastery of the Ludovingian Landgraves of Thuringia abbey extant between 1085 and 1525. Later used as an administrative seat by the Ernestine dukes of Saxony, the property was turned into a castle and park erected by the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1827.
Reinhardsbrunn Abbey (German : Kloster Reinhardsbrunn) was a house of the Benedictine Order founded by the Thuringian landgrave Louis the Springer in 1085, against the background of the fierce Investiture Controversy between Emperor and Pope. It may have been named after a nearby freshwater spring named Reinhards's Brunnen. It was settled by monks from Hirsau Abbey and soon evolved as a centre of the Hirsau Reforms in Thuringia. Like Hirsau, the Reinhardsbrunn monastery was closely related to Cluny Abbey; it stood under Papal protection from 1093. It was also of significance as the proprietary monastery and burial ground of the Ludovingian landgraves such as Hermann I, who was entombed in the Abbey Church in 1217. Frederick I, Margrave of Meissen was also buried at the Abbey.
The monastery became less important after the extinction of the Ludovingians in 1247. Nevertheless, their Wettin successors still used it as a dynastic burial site and an important chronicle was commissioned around 1340, reflecting the history of Thuringia and Germany back to the 6th century. The monastery was looted and sacked during the German Peasants' War in 1525. The monks fled to Gotha and the site was secularized and sold to the Electors of Saxony. In 1530, nine Anabaptists were imprisoned in Reinhardsbrunn by the Lutheran Superintendent of Gotha, Friedrich Myconius. Six of them who refused to recant their faith were executed in the monastery park. These were the first Anabaptists that were executed for their beliefs on Lutheran territory. While the surrounding estates were administrated by Saxon Amtmann officials, the former monastery buildings fell into ruin.
Reinhardsbrunn was part of the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Weimar from 1572. Duke Friedrich Wilhelm I had parts of the monastery rebuilt as a local administrative seat. His brother, Johann II, planned a reconstruction of the palace, but died before construction could start, however, his widow, Dorothea Maria of Anhalt, initiated some renovations on the site. The main castle building, restored in about 1706 under Duke Frederick II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, was rebuilt as a pleasure palace - Reinhardsbrunn Palace - in 1827. Duke Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who had inherited the site the year before, built his summer residence here in an English style, surrounded by the first Romantic park in Thuringia. [1] Ernst I was the father of Prince Albert, and hence the father-in-law to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. It was not, as has been alleged, [2] at Reinhardsbrunn that Victoria met Albert for the first time. They met first in London in May 1836, though after their marriage (1840) and after Albert's death (1861) Queen Victoria did visit Reinhardsbrunn in 1845 and 1862. Remains of the abbey church, the last significant remnant of the monastery, was demolished in 1855 and replaced by a smaller neo-romanesque palace chapel. In 1874, the effigies of the Landgraves of Thuringia, previously located in the Abbey Church, were moved to St. George's Church in Eisenach, where they remain today. In Duke Ernest II of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, Albert's older brother, died in the palace on August 22, 1893.
The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family kept ownership until the end of World War II, after which it came into possession of the East German state. The house and estate were used for a short time by Soviet Red Army forces as a military hospital and then for various functions by the government of East Germany. The palace was opened as a high-end hotel, marketed towards West German tourists and dignitaries, in 1961. Listed in 1891 as one of the artistic landmarks of the duchy, and in 1980 as a landmark of national significance by East Germany, after German reunification the palace was registered in 1992 by the State of Thuringia as a historic monument. Together with its facilities and park, after the reunification, it passed from the Treuhandanstalt into the possession of Western hotel companies, then to a Weimar company, BOB Consult GmbH. None of these companies were able to secure funding to restore the property. BOB Consult and the property was purchased in 2008 for €12,000,000 by a Russian investment consortium, Rusintech, in a case of suspected money laundering. Rusintech did not maintain the palace, and it fell victim to decay and looting. [1] [3] [4] The state of Thuringia performed urgent repairs to prevent structural failiure, [5] and in July 2018 legally repossessed it to ensure its safety, the first such action in the Federal Republic. Currently, the palace is being restored by the state of Thuringia. [6] [7]
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to 1918. In November 1918, Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was forced to abdicate. In 1920, the northern part of the duchy was merged with six other Thuringian free states to form the Free State of Thuringia: Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Meiningen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, as well as the People's State of Reuss. The southern part of the duchy, as southernmost of the Thuringian states, was the only one which, after a referendum, became part of the Free State of Bavaria.
The House of Wettin was a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.
Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia.
Saxe-Coburg was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany.
Saxe-Gotha was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha.
Saalfeld is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Saxon House of Wettin.
Hildburghausen is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the Hildburghausen district.
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a European royal house. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, and the United Kingdom and its dominions.
Schloss Altenstein is a schloss, or palace, upon a rocky hill on the south-western slope of the Thuringian Forest, not far from Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. It was the summer residence of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen, and is surrounded by 160 hectares of English landscape garden, which contain, among other objects of interest, a cavern 300 metres long, through which flows a large and rapid stream.
Louis IV the Saint, a member of the Ludovingian dynasty, was Landgrave of Thuringia and Saxon Count palatine from 1217 until his death. He was the husband of Elizabeth of Hungary.
The Ernestine duchies, also known as the Saxon duchies, were a group of small states whose number varied, which were largely located in the present-day German state of Thuringia and governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.
Friedrichroda is a town in the district of Gotha, Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the north foot of the Thuringian Forest, 21 km by rail southwest of the town of Gotha. It is surrounded by fir-clad hills and possesses numerous handsome villa residences, a Kurhaus and a sanatorium. In the immediate neighborhood is the beautiful ducal hunting seat of Reinhardsbrunn, built out of the ruins of the famous Benedictine monastery founded in 1085. On 1 December 2007, the former municipalities Ernstroda and Finsterbergen were incorporated by Friedrichroda.
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was a duchy ruled by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in today's Thuringia, Germany. The extinction of the line in 1825 led to a major re-organisation of the Thuringian states.
The House of Henneberg was a medieval German comital family (Grafen) which from the 11th century onwards held large territories in the Duchy of Franconia. Their county was raised to a princely county in 1310.
The coat of arms of the German state of Thuringia was introduced in 1990. Like the 1949 coat of arms of Hesse it is based on the Ludovingian lion barry, also known as the "lion of Hesse", with the addition of eight mullets.
Saxe-Römhild was an Ernestine duchy in the southern foothills of the Thuringian Forest. It existed for only 30 years, from 1680 to 1710.
Duchess Marie of Württemberg was a daughter of Duke Alexander of Württemberg and Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1832 to 1844 as the second wife of Duke Ernest I. As such, she was the stepmother of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria.
Schloss Rosenau, called in English The Rosenau or Rosenau Palace, is a former castle, converted into a ducal country house, near the town of Rödental, formerly in Saxe-Coburg, now lying in Bavaria, Germany.
Judith of Hohenstaufen, also known as Judith of Hohenstaufen or Judith of Swabia, a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was Landgravine of Thuringia from 1150 until 1172 by her marriage with the Ludovingian landgrave Louis II. She was baptized as Judith, but was commonly called Jutta or Guta. Sometimes the Latinate form Clementia was used, or Claritia or Claricia.
Friedenstein Palace is an early Baroque palace built in the mid-17th century by Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha at Gotha, Thuringia, Germany. In Germany, Friedenstein was one of the largest palaces of its time and one of the first Baroque palaces ever built. Friedenstein served as the main seat of the Dukes of Saxe-Gotha and later as one of the residences of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, closely linked with the royal family of Great Britain through the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The final two ruling Dukes were both princes of the United Kingdom.
50°52′06″N10°33′27″E / 50.86833°N 10.55750°E
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