The Print Gallery of Robert Barinowski

This print depicts an old barn on the verge of collapse. Located in Kershaw County, South Carolina, Hurricane Hugo finished it.

Burg ELtz is the castle par excellence. Its solitude and the beauty of its situation stimulate the imagination" (Georg Dehio) Mediaeval castles which we now admire for their romantic atmosphere began to develop in the 9th and 10th century. What had previously been manor houses with protective earth walls and palisades became well-forti-fied castles surrounded by strong defensive walls. Castle building had its heyday from the late 11th to 13th century, the period of the Hohenstaufen. Apart from the many castles, numerous townships were founded. The name of Eltz was first mentioned during this period. The Emperor`s officer, Rudolph von Eltz, is mentioned as witness in a deed of gift of Emperor Fre-derick I Barbarossa in 1157. Parts of the castle in which Rudolph von Eltz lived were the Late Romanesque tower with living quarters, keep Platt-Eltz, and the remains of the Romanesque house in the lower floor of the Kempenich House, seen clearly from the Romanesque double arch un-covered during restoration work in 1978. A cistern was built to supply the castle with water. It is now below the mighty stair tower of the Kempenich House. The highly strategic position of the Lower Elz (or Eltz), a tributary of the Moselle, was undoubtedly decisive when building this first castle. It was built on a route which linked the Moselle, always one of the most important trade routes, with the Eifel and the fertile "Maifeld".

The 70 m high, elliptical head of rock forms the foundation of the entire castle. The rock is surrounded on three sides by the Eltz. The castle`s ground plan, therefore, is oval in keeping with the natural features. The first division of the family into three lines, those of the brothers Elias, Wilhelm and Theoderich, took place before the year 1268. The castle and its lands were also divided. According to their coats-of-arms, these three main lines of the house of Eltz were called sEltz vom goldenen Lowen (of the Golden Lion), "Eltz vom silbernen Lowen" (of the Silver Lion) and "Eltz von den Buffelhörnern" (of the Buffalo Horns). The separate lines then lived together as joint heirs in Eltz Castle (a "Ganerbenburg"). Truces regulated the peaceful communal life of the joint heirs, their rights and duties, and the administration and upkeep of the castle. The oldest preserved agreement of this kind dates back to 1323. A "Ganerbe" (old German "ganarpeo") was a joint heir or member of a community of heirs. These heirs lived together on a divided estate but communal housekeeping was not the rule. In the 14th century, Elector Balduin of Trier, from the House of Luxem-bourg and an uncle of Charles IV, tried to enforce the peace in his electorate with its centres Trier, Koblenz and Boppard. The free knights of the Holy Roman Empire objected to the Elector`s policy. They thought it limited their right to private warfare. Thus, on June 15, 1331, the knights of the castles of Waldeck, Schoneck, Ehrenburg (all from the Hunsrück district) and Eltz formed an offensive and defensive alliance. They undertook to provide a total of 50 heavily armed horsemen as well as their castle garri-sons to fight the Elector.

In the same year Balduin began to suppress the knights` alliance. He erected a siege tower on a rock in front of Eltz Castle. The rectangular, two-storeyed tower, the Trutz- or BALDENELTZ, was typical of Balduin`s smaller constructions. It had battiements, a double gate with an entrance with pointed arch and three-sided fortifications. From there catapults hurled heavy stone balls at Eltz Castle, some of which can still be seen in the inner courtyard of the castle. By cutting off the supply lines, Eltz Castle was forced to capitulate.

The Hunsruck castles also capitulated as a result of similar tactics. In 1333, the Eltz family pleaded for hosti-lities to cease. On January 9, 1336, the "Pax de Eltz" was concluded, the Eltz feud ended and the castle remained in the hands of Elector Balduin who in 1337 made Johann von Eltz its Burgrave. In 1354, Emperor Charles IV himself gave Eltz Castle as fief to Elector Balduin and his successor Boemund. Thus, the free knights of Eltz became the vassals of the. Elector of Trier and had to take Eltz Castle and Baldeneitz from the Elector as feu-dal tenure.

The Eltz feud remained the only important military conflict in the castle`s history. A period of great building activity began in the 15th century. In 1472, on the west side the Rübenach House was completed under Lancelot and Wilhelm vom silbernen Lowen (the name Eltz-Rübenach comes from the bailiwick of Rübenach near Koblenz, acquired by Richard vom silbernen Lowen in 1277). The architectural variety which immediately strikes the visitor upon entering the inner courtyard is largely due to the side of the Rübenach House facing the courtyard: the multi-cornered, half-timbered turrets, the restored, simple but stern bay resting on two basalt columns above the entrance to the house and particularly the picturesque Late Gothic chapel bay.

The Groß- and Kleinrodendorf House were added in the 16th century (1470 — 1540). Their courtyard front has a vaulted entrance hall sup-ported by three pillars. In the wall next to it, there is a mosaic of a Madonna dating back to the last century (the name Eltz-Rodendorf goes back to the marriage of Hans Adolf to Katherine von Brandscheid zu Rodendorf in 1563; thus, he acquired Rodendorf (Chateaurouge) in the Lorraine district of Rouzonville, and took on its name).

When the Rodendorf Houses were finished, building began on the Kempenich Houses. Their architec-ture and finely arranged half-timbering complete the charming overall impression of the inner courtyard. A cistern was connected to the lower end of the mighty octagonal stair tower. The cistern that supplied the castle with much of its water was once accessible from the courtyard. The main entrance of the Kempenich Houses is protected by a porch. In its upper storey there is a room with a bay which rests on two octagonal basalt pillars. The round arches between the pillars bear the inscriptions: BORGTORN ELTZ 1604 and ELTZ-MERCY, indicating the beginning of building work and the first builders of these houses. Only under Hans Jacob von Eltz and his wife Anna Elizabeth von Metzenhausen was building work stepped up and finally completed. The bosses of the porch`s groin vaulting (1651) with the coats-of-arms of Eltz and Metzenhausen, as well as the splendid sandstone Baroque coat-of-arms of alliance beneath the centre windows of the bay, dating back to 1661, are reminders of this. The same coats-of-arms are also found on the wrought iron window gratings of the Kempenich "Untersaal" and on the courtyard railings.

The 500-year building history harmoniously combines all styles from the Romanesque to the Early Baroque. The castle, consisting of eight towers with living quarters grouped around an inner courtyard, was representative of the so-called "Randhausburg". Up to one hundred members of the family used to live in almost as many rooms. The family "von und zu Eltz" did the electorates of Mainz and Trier great service. Jacob von Eltz (1510—81) became one of the most important electors in the history of the Archbishopric of Trier. He studied in Louvain and was, inter alia, rector of the University of Trier in 1564. He was then chosen Elector by the chapter in the Church of St. Florin, Koblenz, on April 7, 1567. Unlike some of his predecessors and other church princes, Jacob had been ordained long before acceding to power. He became one of the main leader of the Counter-Reformation and considered the Jesuits his most important allies.

The House of Eltz was to hold another important position in the electo-rate of Trier: on June 15, 1624, Hans Jacob von Eltz was appointed Marshal by the Elector of Trier. He thus became the leader of the knights. The Eltz family gained power and importance not only in Trier but also in Mainz. Philipp Karl was unanimously chosen Elector by the Mainz chapter on June 9, 1732. Thus, he became the spiritual leader and most powerful prince of the church north of the Alps. As head of the German church, he ranked second only to the Pope. As Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, he presided over the Imperial Diet of Regensburg as most important person after the Emperor. Philipp Karl called the other eight electors to Frankfurt, requested them to vote and cast the ninth deciding vote himself.

The House of Eltz had extensive lands, especially in the electorates of Trier and Mainz. The Eltz estates in Koblenz, Trier, Boppard, Wurzburg, Mainz and Eltville indicate where the Eltz family`s main interests lay. In 1736, the family acquired Vukovar near Belgrade for 175,000 Rhenish guilders. This estate, by far the family`s largest, was the main domicile of the line of Eltz vom goldenen Lowen ("of the Golden Lion") from the mid-l9th century until ex-pulsion in 1944. Since the Second World War, the family has lived in the "Eltzer Hof" in Eltville/Rhine ~this main line of the House of Eltz has also been called Eltz-Kempenich since the 16th century). In Vienna, 1733, Emperor Charles VI conferred the title of count on the line vom goldenen Lowen for services rendered during the Reformation and the wars against the Turks. In addition, it was given the privilege of being able to create nobility in the Emperor`s name, choose notaries, legiti-mize illegitimate children, bestow coats-of-arms with shield and crest, appoint public clerks and judges, release serfs, etc.

Eltz Castle is one of the few Rhenish castles never to have been destroyed by force. By skilful diplomacy, particularly of the only Protestant line of the House Eltz-Bliescastel-Brunswick, the castle survived the turbulence of the Thirty Years` War without being damaged. The majority of the castles on the Rhine were destroyed during the Palatinate War of Succession (1688—89). However, as a French officer, Johann-Anton von Eltz-Uttingen succeeded in preventing the destruction of Eltz Castle.

During French rule on the Rhine (1795—1815). Count Hugo Philipp was treated Like an emigrant and his estates on the Rhine and in the Trier area were confiscated. He was called Btirger Graf Eltz" (Citizen Count Eltz!). Eltz Castle and its estates were subordinated to garrison headquarters in Koblenz. It later turned out that the count hat not emigrated at all but had stayed in Mainz. Thus, in 1797, the use of the estates and its revenues was returned to him. In 1815, Count Hugo Philipp became the sole owner of the castle by buying the Rubenach House and the property of the Eltz-Rübenach line; the Eltz-Rodendorf line had died out and the Eltz-Kempenich line had already inherited its property in 1786.

In the 19th century, Count Karl restored the ancestral castle in the course of the Romantic movement and the growing interest in the Middle Ages. Restoration work lasted from 1845 to about 1888 and cost 184,000 Marks. F. W. E. Roth was asked to write the "History of the Noblemen and Counts of Eltz". It was published in two volumes in Mainz, 1890. Both before and after restoration was completed, important 19th century personalities visited Eltz Castle to see what Count Karl had accomplished. At the dawn of the new millennium during the spring of the year 2000, it was finally visited by Robert Gustav Barinowski and his son, Robert James.