We visited the small village in the southern district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen just over the border, formerly an independent municipality under the imperial knighthood of the Hennebergs until from the late tenth century1836 under the cadet matrilineal line that split jurisdiction between Rรถmhild and Schleusingen and the Bishopric of Wรผrzburg giving the tiny community three mayors for most of its existence.
We took a walk around the reservoir (
Talsperre) built up in 1968 primarily for agricultural use but we were a bit baked in the sun and there no shade crossing over the fields. The setting was nice however and the water looked inviting for a hot day.
Passing back through the village, we found the gatehouse and Wasserburg—not far from the ensemble in
Roรrieth we had visited a few years earlier, built originally in the twelfth century by Konrad von der Kere for the courtly office of Truchseร(e)—owing to its female dynasty, from the Latin
dapifer, a server responsible for the royal table and feeding of guests and evolving onto the often ceremonial and inheritable role of steward, seneschal with administrative duties including the appointing bailiffs and supervising domestics—destroyed during the Peasants’ Revolt and rebuilt around 1540 in Renaissance-style, restored extensively in 1992. The algae filled moat, however, did not looks so inviting.
