Der Labacher Hof

Beschreibung

The Labacher Hof and its over 800-year historyTo the right of highway 339, which leads from Saarwellingen to Reisbach, lies the Labacher Hof in a beautiful meadow valley. It takes its name from the Labach, which, coming from the Hoxberg, leads to the Ellbach in Saarwellingen and then flows into the Saar near Roden. In earlier times the property was called Heinscheider-, Hengster or Hunischeider Hof. The farm was first mentioned in writing as early as the 13th century. With a purchase agreement from 1262, Nikolaus, Vogt of HUNOLSTEIN, sold the HUNESCEIT farm with all goods, serfs, fields, meadows, forests, water and pastures to the Fraulautern nunnery for 100 Metz denarii.The importance of the document is made clear by the witness signatures of Heinrich, Elect of Trier, Cathedral Provost Symon, Count Heinrich von Salm and Dietrich von Hagen. As early as 1235, the father of the seller Vogt Hugo von HUNOLSTEIN had given the Fraulautern Abbey the tithe and the right of patronage of the church in Schwarzenholz. In doing so, he laid the foundation for the abbey's later complete ownership of the Schwarzenholz Empire, which also included Labach and the Labacher Hof until the French Revolution. The Lords of HUNOLSTEIN are mentioned often in the history of the Fraulautern Monastery. They were related to the Lords of Schwarzenberg. Hunolstein Castle in the Bernkastel district can be described as their ancestral castle. Until the 13th century, this belonged to the Counts of KASTEL and their heirs, the Counts of SALM. The Hunolsteiners were initially only their bailiffs and were only later raised to the rank of count.From the beginning to the 30 Years' WarThe "aristocratic women's monastery" Fraulautern bought the Labacher Hof with all its accessories. Abbess Jutta handed over the management to a court steward appointed by the monastery. In the period that followed, monastic servants who had the benefit also worked here. Unfortunately their names are no longer known. There was a large area of ​​forest on the farm. Hunting there was one of the tasks of the Fraulauterner Bannmüller. In order to get from Fraulautern to the Labacher Hof as quickly as possible, as old traditions say, the access route was used through the Lachwald via the Krieching area of ​​the Saarwellingen domain. The abbey's servants and serfs were only allowed to walk or ride to the farm this way, even with weapons. Any deviation from the prescribed route resulted in reprimand from the Saarwellingen rulers.In the 15th and 16th centuries, farm tenants were mentioned on various occasions who, in addition to the rent, had to pay rent in money as well as agricultural products such as grain, oats, butter and spices. Around 1550 the farmer “Jakob” is said to have managed the Labacher Hof. He paid half a guilder for the Turkish tax, which corresponded to a fortune of 100 guilders. This tax was a war levy imposed on all subjects of the empire in order to raise an army against the Turks. In the middle of the 16th century only five families lived in the village of Labach. At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the abbesses Anna Maria von Geispoltzheim and Gabriele von Braubach received income from leasing the farm. The terrible war completely destroyed the farm. Bands of mercenaries migrating through the area continued to make the area unsafe for years, robbing and plundering what little property was left.From Reconstruction to the French RevolutionWhen calm returned to the villages, reconstruction began. The few survivors of the war included immigrants from France and especially from Tyrol and Vorarlberg as pioneers of a new beginning. In 1660 it was so cold that little had grown and the Labach tithe had to be left entirely to the pastor of Reisweiler. It was not until 1673 that the interest books registered tithes at the same level as in the pre-war period. The Labacher Hof again had ten pigs, and in 1677 the residents of Labach had to tolerate the pigs being allowed to "graze on their fields". The monastic farm tenant at this time was the farmer Wilhelm KLEIN from Hahn near Lebach, son of Jäkkel Klein and Elisabeth Schreiner. Around 1672 he married Katharina PHILIPPI from Eidenborn, daughter of Theodor Philippi and Maria Schlichtig. Ten children from this family are recorded: five sons and five daughters.Around 1703, the Klein couple moved to Thalexweiler, because Wilhelm Klein became court farmer at the abbey farm there. He received the letter of inheritance from the Benedictine Abbey of Tholey. His daughter Angela Klein, * around 1679, married the new tenant of the Labacher Hof, Mathias Jenal, around 1700. He received the lease in 1700 from the Fraulautern abbess Odilia Braun von Schmidtburg. The monastic interest book reports for the year 1705 that the courtier Ganal or Jenal had to pay the following rent:4 quarts grain7 quarts oats1 measure of butter and1 pound pepperThe entire farm property consisted of two main buildings and several outbuildings with barns and stables. The farm's lands consisted of 280 acres of arable land, 60 acres of meadows and 20 acres of forest. In addition to the family of courtier Mathias Jenal, the family of his brother-in-law Johann Feidt also lived on the farm at the same time. In 1738, while the farm tenant Mathias Jenal was still alive, the Fraulautern abbess Maria Theresia von Saint-Ignon had a mill built next to the farm on the edge of the Labach.This mill was called the Hofmühle and stood until 1917. When the building was demolished, the then farm owner Nikolaus Fontaine (1857-1936) arranged for the massive coat of arms stone that crowned the mill's portal to be carefully broken out and kept. This coat of arms stone can still be admired today in the Saarlouis Local History Museum. It is a carved sandstone, about 1.20 m high, 60 cm wide and 30 cm thick. It shows the builder's coat of arms held by two angels in beautiful sculptural work and the following chronogram underneath:In German: Built by the venerable Maria Theresia, Baroness of Saint-Ignon, abbess of the noble abbey in Fraulautern.The particularly prominent large Roman numerals add up to the year it was built in 1738. The Schwarzenholz miller Johann Dahm was given the first miller position in the new Hofmühle. He moved to Schwarzenholz from Merten/Lorraine around 1730. From this family only the son Johann remained at the Labacher Hof until the death of his first wife. In 1756 he moved to Saarwellingen to the Masloh inn. The two daughters married in the Kurhof near Obersalbach.The penultimate abbess of the Fraulautern monastery, Maria Helena von Rathsamhausen, leased the Labacher Hof to Mathias Klein in 1763. She arranged for a chapel dedicated to St. Anna to be built next to the Hofmühle. Inside there was a carved wooden statue of the saint. She later disappeared inexplicably. It was only during the Second World War that they were found intact while clearing up a destroyed house in Fraulautern. In 1895 the chapel had become dilapidated and the then farm owner Ruff from Lisdorf had to have it demolished. When he sold Fraulautern's Fontaine farm at the end of 1908, he stipulated that they build a new chapel. Due to various circumstances, it was only possible for the Fontaine family to build today's chapel in 1933. Like its historical predecessor, it is again dedicated to Mother Anna.From 1763 to 1790, the following family ran the farm: From 1773 to 1791, the last abbess of the Fraulautern monastery, Sophie von Neuenstein, ruled. She had the Labacher Hof renovated in 1787 and a new main building built. Anyone who has the opportunity to visit the Labacher Hof today can admire the coat of arms of the last abbess above the entrance to the main building. It clearly shows the year 1787 and a stylized rose from Neuenstein. Below is the actual house coat of arms of the Alsatian noblemen: a wheel with five spokes.The Fraulautern Abbey did not have its own coat of arms, but rather the respective abbess sealed it with her own family coat of arms. As a sign of rulership, the crosier is easily recognizable as the centerpiece of the crown. The Hofmühle had also changed tenants in the meantime. The son-in-law of the first miller continued the business.The farm in the 19th centuryA new era had dawned, the old feudal lords lost their rights and their property. The rule of Fraulautern Abbey over its villages of Schwarzenholz, Labach and Hülzweiler also came to an end. In February 1791, the canonesses fled from their monastery in Fraulautern, which was now in French territory, to their court house in Schwarzenholz on German territory. Around 1795 they had to give up this domicile because it had also been occupied by French revolutionary troops.They first came to Trier and later to their final residence in Würzburg. At the turn of the century, the French authorities also confiscated and expropriated the Labacher Hof with its mill and land. Financially strong citizens were sought and the auction of the goods was initiated in the prefecture of Metz.The farm estates were divided into two lots:1.The courtyard houses with land and forest2.The mill with two aisles, barn, stables and gardens.Lot 1 brought in 1,125 francs and lot 2 brought in 2,800 francs. The Jewish merchants Elias MAY and HIRSCH from Saarbrücken were the initiators. The latter sold the Labacher Hof in 1809 to the rich Saarlouis REGNIER family. The farm-owning families REGNIER and later RUFF did not live in the Labacher Hof themselves. They leased the farm, the mill and the land to suitable farmers.In 1834 the landowner Johann Franz REGNIER died in Saarlouis. His son Peter Alfons inherited the estate. In accordance with the Empire's three-class electoral law, Peter Alfons Regnier, as the largest taxpayer, was a member of the Saarwellingen mayor's council and also the Labach municipal council from 1847 to 1871. Because none of his children wanted to take over the Labacher Hof after his death, it was sold. The buyer was the merchant Friedrich Wilhelm RUFF, who lived in Lisdorf. The resolution book of the Labach local council, of which Friedrich Wilhelm Ruff was a member from 1872 to 1894, also reports some events from the Labacher court.In 1881 Ruff built a new massive bridge over the Labach next to his farm for 2955 marks. On May 2, 1889 there was a fire on the farm for unknown reasons. The fire departments in Saarwellingen and Labach are having difficulty extinguishing the fire. In 1889, Ruff asked the local council for a grant to repair the path from the farm to the Haardt forest district. The path had become impassable due to many logging trucks over the summer. The local council rejects the application on the grounds that it is a private road. In 1891, the local council approached Ruff with a request to provide young bulls from the Labach farm to cover the villagers' cattle and cows. This time the farm owner refuses. On December 21, 1894, Friedrich Wilhelm Ruff died in Lisdorf at the age of almost 60. His son Max inherits the farm and remains the owner until 1908. Max Ruff served as mayor of Lisdorf from 1920 to 1933. The Labach resolution book of the local council reports on March 4, 1896 that new boundary stones were set between Labach and the Labacher Hof are. Max Ruff signs the accuracy of the district definition. Even in the second half of the 19th century, tenants always lived in the Labacher Hof.The farm belongs to the Fontaine familyThe farm steadily grew into a proud farming estate, livestock and facilities increased and the name Labacher Hof acquired a good ring. At the end of 1908, the farmer Nikolaus Fontaine from Fraulautern bought the farm from its previous owner Max Ruff from Lisdorf for 120,000 marks. After moving from Fraulautern, Fontaine and his large family (4 sons and 7 daughters) lived in the Labacher Hof from March 9, 1909, which he also managed himself.The old farm mill, which had not been in operation for a long time, had to be demolished in 1917. In 1933, the historic St. Anna Chapel was rebuilt not far from the farm. The farm estates were later shared between the two sons Peter and Franz. In 1937, the Saarbrücker Zeitung wrote that the hereditary farm now consisted of two parts, that the farm worked with 10 horses and that there were 60 cattle in the stables. The second farm will later be built on the hill beyond the Saarwellingen-Reisbach road. The brothers Gerhard and Ernst Fontaine, sons of Peter Fontaine, then managed the expanded farm. Today the two farms are successfully run by the brothers Klaus and Raimund Fontaine. They maintain advanced agriculture and modern livestock farming thanks to good technical machinery and facilities. The Labacher Hof is now managed by Klaus and Raimund Fontaine.