Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-01-01
A Princely German Home.
LUTHER's WEDDING GIFT FROM GRAN.
ACH IN A PEERLESS CASTLE

All cultured travellers who NAV in
future visit Bavaria will, | feel GER
tain, thank me for directing their at
tention to my great archaeological dis
covery of this year-Schloss Mainberg.
This castle is situated within about
two English miles of the quaint and
picturesque old city of Schweinfurt-
on-the- Main; but Mainberg receives
from guide books a partly erroneous
and insufficient notice. The great
Murray, for instance, devotes only
four lines to this singularly interest
ing castle, and in those few lines he
tells travellers that Mainberg is IA car
pet manuiactory. | hope to show
good reason for visiting the place.
Leaving the comfortable Raven
Hotel, and then strolling down as far
as the bridge, you turn to the left of
the river, and then passing along a
road that runs between line of rail
way and vineyards, you soon see be-
fore you high up on the left hand,
most picturesque old Schloss which in
external appearance approaches, if it
does not quite equal, the matchless
Berg Fitz. Schloss Mainberg was
built in 1899 or 400. Its founders
were the Counts, afterwards Princes,
Won Henneberg, and their arms adorn
while their legends vivify the walls.
This ancient family died out, and
Malnberg went into the possession
first of the prince bishop and then in
to the Royal House of Bavaria. Lud-
wig L., grandfather of the present
King, sold Mainberg to the Sattler
family, and to the Sattlers the older
portion of the castle belongs to-day.
The Sattler family is one of mark, of
opulence and of liberal culture. One
of them-either the present Herr Sat
tier or his father-refused nobility
when that honor was offered by the
Crown. In addition to preserving all
the antiquities, all the heirlooms,
which existed in Mainberg, Herr Sat
tier has made few judicious addi-
tions to the rich and rare collection
which long ages had stored up in the
storied castle. Mainberg still shows
how clearly German knights and
princes lived in the fifteenth century.
From the back of one great dwelling.
room you ascend, by the old flight of
steps, to the raised sleeping platform +;
and the castle represents both spear
and spindle sides. In another room,
in a deeply recessed window-still
splendid with oil colored glass-are
the seats which the lady of the castle
and her maidens occupied as they sat
spinning, while they cast, perhaps,
: many wistful glance across the
calm Main, and over the wild wooded
country, which hid from loving eyes
their warriors, then engaged in fierce
4 and dangerous wars. The cushions on
which these women sat as they work
ed on through many long and lonely
hours are still in the deep recess, while
their spindles, now stiff from long dis
use, stand where they stood in those
far.off days of yore. All the curious
things--and they are very many
which Mainberg still contains are seen
amid their natural surroundings they
retain the magic of locality. have
no space to give even the barest cata-
logue of the antiquities stored up in
stately Mainberg. Old weapons, each
one of which has been welded in some
Mainberg fight old suits of armor,
each one Of which has been worn by "A
man who is now n name in history or
in story-these form the basis of a
priceless collection. Old portraits
hang upon the walls; old furniture
stands in its old place in the old rooms.
Again the castle store-rooms and clos
cts are full of the old things of ordina-
ry domestic use, as costumes, knives,
forks, spoons, goblets, glass-which
extend, in good specimens, over all
the ages between the fifteenth and
eighteenth centuries. The collection
of old German "pots" is, | am told, al
most unrivalled; and, above all, there
is one possession which is the special
pride of Mainberg. This precious
relic is the drinking cup which Lucas
Cranach painted for and gave TO Mar
tin Luther on his wedding-day. On
the cup are portraits bv Cranach of
the great Reformer, of Katharine Bo-
ra and of Cranach himself. The date
of the wedding fixes the date of the
cup and of portraits. The painter,
Luther, and Katharine all drank out
of this cup on the day of that memoir
able bridal. Here | must stop. To
the archeologist, to the antiquarian,
to the lover of history and of its
romance, Schloss Mainberg and its
contents will well repay the trouble of
a visit. | am, sir, your obedient serv-
ant, II. ScHUTz Wilson.
Arts Club, November 80.
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