13th and 14th Century: Building a Bastion

It is assumed that the construction of the original high-medieval fortress began around the dawn of the 14^th century, when the ministerial family Hegnenberg left their original motte-and-bailey castle in today’s municipal district of Althegnenberg, only five kilometres from Hofhegnenberg. The relatives of the same name, most probably originating in Upper Swabia, were first officially documented at the end of the 12^th century, when Engelschalk and Hermann von Hegnenberg were listed as vassals to the European dynasty of the House of Welf.

Historians assume that Hofhegnenberg was most likely built at the behest of the House of Wittelsbach around 1300 to serve as a bastion and as intimidation against the Bishopric of Augsburg. In 1296, the bishop of Augsburg had the Wittelsbach castle Kaltenberg destroyed. According to legend, Hofhegnenberg Castle was built with its stones. Ironically, the first written mention of the actual fortress dates to 24 October 1354, when the knight Winhart von Rohrbach bequeathed various tracts of land to the rulers of Augsburg, including nine hectares of land located outside the ‘Burg zu Haegniberg’.

15th and 16th Century: From a Century of Fruitless Administration to the Renaissance of Chivalry under Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux

Between 1399 and 1540 Hofhegnenberg was no longer under the rule of the Hegnenberg family but had instead been passed on as a fiefdom from one ducal guardian or overlord to another, resulting in the fortress being in disrepair when it once again came into the possession of the family of Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux’s (1509-1589) in 1542.

Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux was the illegitimate son of William IV, Duke of Bavaria. He primarily came to honour and fame as a knight of the Order of the Cross of Burgundy, but was also celebrated as the ‘fiery youth Georg’: He had already gained a reputation at the tender age of fifteen for showing remarkable courage during the Italian War of 1521–26. He later rescued Charles V (1500 – 1558), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, from a Moorish ambush at the Battle of La Goleta, and thus enabled the Christian conquest of Tunis in 1535. Yet, before Charles V began to wage war against France, Georg requested exemption from service to finally return to his Bavarian homeland.

Upon his arrival in 1542, he received Hofhegnenberg as a fiefdom from William IV, Duke of Bavaria (1493 – 1550), and married a lady of the court, Wandula von Paulsdorf, in 1544.

When Georg returned to the battlefield during the Schmalkaldic War (1546 – 1547), he successfully served Emperor Charles V and thus contributed to the victory over the Lutheran opponents. He was well compensated by his father, the Duke of Bavaria, and was appointed governor of Ingolstadt, the strategically most important fortress in Bavaria at the time. In addition, Georg was awarded the prestigious accolade of Knight of the Order of the Golden Spur in 1554. In 1557, the progenitor to the noble family of Hegnenberg-Dux finally completed the renovation of Hofhegnenberg Castle and move in.

The achievements of Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux eventually reached their zenith in 1575, when Georg’s half-brother and the new successor to the Bavarian throne, Albert V (1528 – 1579), confirmed him as permanent governor of Ingolstadt and also enfeoffed him with Hofhegnenberg for his male descendants in perpetuity. The house of Hegnenberg thus advanced from ordinary vassals to high nobility, thanks to their relentless loyalty towards their rulers, a forbidden liaison and, of course, Georg’s strategic skill and chivalry.

Today, a life-size, red-marble statue of Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux can be found in the southern extension of the Chapel of Saint Mary, the adjacent Wilgefortis Chapel. The epitaph, commemorating the impeccable knight, was originally placed in the Franciscan church (today the hunting museum) in Neuhauser Street in Munich, and was moved to Hofhegnenberg after the Franciscan monastery was closed under Maximilian I. It is surrounded by a Renaissance aedicula and presents the deceased patriarch of the House of Hegnenberg in a confident powerful pose, hands on hips, and in full armour.

17th Century: The Thirty Year’s War and How Hofhegnenberg Became a Pilgrimage Site

On 23 May 1618, two Bohemian regents and their secretary were defenestrated during a Protestant insurgence that took place at the town hall of Prague. Fortunately, the three officials survived the 21-metre fall from the third floor. This particular incident entered the annals of history as the Second Defenestration of Prague and significantly influenced the history of Europe and marked the beginning of the religiously-motivated Thirty Years’ War fought between the Catholic League and the Protestant Union lasting from 1618 to 1648, devastating Germany.

Popularly also known as “Schwedenkrieg” (The War of the Swedes), the Thirty Years’ War became a turning point in German history which decimated one third of the country’s population. It was a war that brought disease, starvation, death, misery and devastation, sparing no one. Chaos came to the regions between Munich and Augsburg after Munich’s capitulation in 1632. The Swedes invaded and twice occupied the Brucker and the Wittelsbach land, once between 1632 and 1634, and again between 1646 and 1648, both times leaving destruction in their wake.

At this time, a particular incident is said to have occurred at Hofhegnenberg Castle. Although the tale is not substantiated by factual evidence, it has remained alive in the minds and memory of the local population to this day. The legend recounts the story of a Swedish riding squad which is said to have arrived at Hofhegnenberg during the first invasion. The men cooked stolen poultry on an open fire in the castle courtyard. One of the horsemen, it is said, took the gothic icon of the Virgin Mary from the altar and threw it into the flames. According to the legend, the icon lay in the flames for three hours but the heat and soot could not harm her, and she did not even turn black. Further attempts at burning the icon also failed. This annoyed the soldier so much that he ripped the Madonna from the fire and threw it away with a blasphemous slander. But, at the blasphemous act, his anger turned to sheer panic. The Swedes hurriedly gathered together their belongings and left. Thus, neither the chapel nor the castle were damaged and miraculously became the only place in the region spared from the war’s devastation.

The Madonna was returned to her rightful place, the altar of the chapel, where she stands to this day. The tale of this miraculous event soon spread beyond the borders of Hofhegnenberg and resulted in the castle and its chapel becoming a renowned place of pilgrimage.

The Gothic icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child forms the centre of the chapel’s altarpiece and dates from the second half of the 15^th century. The seated Madonna crowned by a Baroque aureole, augmented in the 18^th century and decorated with eight putti seated on cumulus clouds, is framed by the arcade of the altar that surrounds the iconic image. The reredos dates from 1739. The adjacent figures on the altar, depicting Saint George and Saint Nicholas, were both created by the Bavarian iconographer Bartholomäus Kriechbaum (1643 – 1692) during the 17^th century.

The Baroque frescos decorating the ceiling of the Chapel of Saint Mary, dating to approximately 1740, still bear witness to the legend of the miracle during the Thirty Years’ War.

18th Century: Peace and Prosperity at Hofhegnenberg Castle

A contemporary described Hofhegnenberg Castle:

“On Roßberg – the highest elevation halfway between Munich and Augsburg – Hofhegnenberg Castle is situated. Viewed from the southwest, it rises above its neighbouring estates, with a farmyard on the castle grounds, a small village of the same name, and a few farmhouses in front of it. The entire landscape is idyllic, with orderly fields and trees as far as the eye can see. The larger unit forms a park with a small pleasure garden and a pavilion in the centre – enclosed by a modest castle moat, which allows both the lord of the castle and the passers-by an undisturbed and unrestricted view of the property and the magnificent manor house.

The stone façade of the castle beckons from afar. The front view invites the onlooker to admire the gatehouse, framed by two small, decorative towers that make the rising belfry, just behind the gateway, appear a little less austere. Overall, the building complex is dominated by rectangular structures, consisting of five gable-roofed units, all different in height, thus conveying a playful impression without affecting the overall architectural clarity. In addition, the rear of the castle is characterised by the imposing bell tower and two further towers, the left of which is crowned by an onion dome roof characteristic of the German-speaking region near the Alps and is significantly higher than its shy twin on the right.”

This brief description of a picturesque setting is not based on a real location as such but on a three-hundred-year-old depiction of Hofhegnenberg Castle dating from 1701. It shows the castle grounds through the eyes of Michael Wening (1645-1718), a Bavarian court engraver known for his many depictions of important places in the Bavaria of his day.

It is unlikely that Wening’s work is a historically faithful representation. Wening liked to use various techniques that we would describe today as melange or pastiche, as he tried to merge different angles and perspectives into a single picture. But it was not illusion or unrealistic perfectionism motivating him. In fact, his creative process fell victim to financial cutbacks that forced the engraver to combine fact with fiction. Time and cost efficiency were required, because the production of copper engravings was not only time-consuming but also associated with high material costs. Accordingly, he had to bring as many aspects, angles and facets as possible into one single engraving, one single image. This task required more creativity and imagination than pure craftsmanship.

Regarding the historical origin and significance of Michael Wening’s copper engraving, a conspicuous detail must be mentioned. When Maximilian II Emanuel (1662 – 1726), Elector of Bavaria, commissioned the topography of Bavaria, he did not merely do so for regional and cultural studies but had something different in mind: promoting Bavaria elsewhere by displaying the country’s wealth. Since parts of Central and Northern Europe still bore the marks of destruction and devastation from the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), it was essential to win over talented artists, scholars, craftsmen, and even affluent investors. The economic and political development of Bavaria had to move forward. For this purpose, a detailed illustrated catalogue was without doubt more convincing than any elaborate pamphlet. And places such as Hofhegnenberg, with its magnificent courtyard castle, embodied the fundamental idea behind Max Emanuel’s project.

The 18th century was an overall uneventful, primarily peaceful time for Hofhegnenberg. The European coalition wars against Napoleon and revolutionary France had left Bavaria practically untouched till 1779 due to the duchy’s neutrality policy. In 1790, the Dolling branch of the lords of the Hegnenberg family was appointed imperial counts. In the same year, the castle’s western gateway was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style, and this was in fact the last significant change to the structure of the core building.

19th Century and Beyond: Under the Spell of the French Revolution

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and The Coalition Wars, which began in 1792 and lasted until 1815, only later left their mark on Bavaria and Hofhegnenberg. Profound changes followed after Maximilian I Joseph (27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825), prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, and Napoleon formed a friendly alliance between Bavaria and France in 1801.

On the one hand, Maximilian IV Joseph, prince-elector of Bavaria, who was heavily influenced by the Enlightenment, initiated the secularisation of the state of Bavaria in 1802 under the auspices of his progressive minister Maximilian von Montgelas (1759-1838). This resulted in the dissolution and expropriation of all monasteries and abbeys, as well as several other ecclesiastical institutions. The consequences of secularisation brought about one of the most powerful shifts in Bavarian history. This ground-breaking decision did not spare the Chapel of Saint Mary. Its significance ceased almost overnight, ending its hundred-year history as a pilgrimage site.

On the other hand, the alliance with Napoleonic France promoted Bavaria from duchy to kingdom in 1806. This in turn triggered the expansion of the state’s dominion with the annexation of the territories of Swabia, Franconia and parts of the Palatinate, as well as the declaration of Maximillian as the first king of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph).

In its design, the garden landscape of the castle still reflects this change. In the 19th century, the alleged “baroque decadence” had to make way for an “exalted” serenity inspired by nature.

The majority of the landscape changes were implemented by the landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenné (1789-1866), the former protégé of Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell (1750-1823), the ingenious creator of one of the world’s largest urban parks, Munich’s English Garden. Lenné was however a prodigious mind himself, who not only mastered the art of garden design, but developed his unique signature by reintroducing stricter French geometries to his projects and blending these with idyllic and naturalistic sceneries. At the age of 26, Lenné was ordered to the Prussian court by Frederick William III of Prussia (1770-1840) and later became the imperial gardening engineer.

During his career, Lenné realised projects such as the creation of Berlin’s Tiergarten, Berlin’s most popular inner-city park, and was commissioned with the garden design of Sanssouci, a historic building in Potsdam, near Berlin, built by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, as his summer palace. But above all, Lenné was commissioned to entirely redesign and add green areas in and around Potsdam and Berlin. Lenné revolutionised urban environments and recreation like none of his European peers and is still a driving force in inspiring contemporary landscapers. And also at Hofhegnenberg he was to implement his ideas.

With an area of 5 hectares, Castle Hofhegnenberg is a relatively small project within his oeuvre, as well as being one of his earlier works. The fascination and allure of the castle grounds is more subtle but still exceptional in documenting Lenné’s creative development.

One of the last notable descendants of the Hegnenberg-Dux branch, and landlord to Hofhegnenberg Castle, was the Bavarian politician Friedrich von Hegnenberg-Dux (1810-1872). Following the above-mentioned renewed European ideals that revolutionised the continental philosophical and political climate, he served as a representative of the Bavarian parliament (Landtag). He also became the first president of the chamber of representatives of the Landtag and remained in this position until 1857. Although he was a nobleman, he was one of the parliament’s liberal leaders and heavily promoted a new national political direction. This liberal spirit eventually inspired him to become a member of the Frankfurt Parliament, the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, established during the German Revolution of 1848-49. After his retirement, he was appointed Bavarian State Secretary and Premier in 1871 and remained in this position until his death in the following year.

By the marriage of Otto Baron von Gebsattel (1855 – 1939) to the last descendant of the lineage, Countess Franziska von Hegnenberg (1848 – 1868), the Gebsattel family became the lords and owners of Hofhegneberg Castle in 1902. Before her death, after the devastating fire of 1865, Franziska commissioned the construction of a new farmyard to replace the old one which had become too small. The farmyard was relocated to the north of the property together with a brewery, farm buildings, stables, wagon shed, waterworks, inn for guests, and offices .

Throughout history, the population of the castle’s Hofmark, a demarcated district or area of aristocratic or ecclesiastical rulership, was frequently poverty stricken. A significant number of people were in need and, with a growing number of beggars as a consequence, they relied heavily on the local lordship’s benevolence. In contrast to the other feudal systems, the Electorate of Bavaria relied less on serfdom than on mutual trust and systematic administration. Bavaria was slightly ‘exotic’, as more than half of the territory did not belong directly to the Dukes of Bavaria. This resulted in a more libertarian allocation of responsibilities and thus made local nobility the unofficial rulers of their administered lands, granting them indirect autonomy. Almsgiving was quite a common practice for the lords of Hegnenberg-Dux in cooperation with the local clergy during the 18^th and 19^th century, as they tried to at least limit the growing number of beggars. Accordingly, the barons of Gebsattel took this duty very seriously and tended to incorporate charity into their daily actions.

The economic situation of the nobility had also deteriorated. Less focused on industry, but traditionally linked to agriculture and forestry, they were unable to increase their profits significantly. Due to high birth rates and the lack of wars, third, fourth and fifth-born children who did not inherit property, suffered economic difficulties, which is also reflected in Hofhegnenberg Castle. Poor relatives moved into the castle and had to be fed. The knights’ hall was divided into five separate rooms with lightweight walls to create living space. Relatives moved into the former servants’ quarters and handicraft areas on the ground floor. Mansards were even built in the attic.

The brewery had to be closed after a few years as it was simply unprofitable. Even today, brewing privileges registered in the real estate register still bear witness to this time.