page_title: Bad Rotenfels
section_title: The Rotenfels Stoneworks Factory
hierarchical_section_title: Bad Rotenfels / History / The Rotenfels Stoneworks Factory
caption_attribution_description: English: Gaggenau, Germany
context_page_description: Bad Rotenfels is a district in the city of Gaggenau, district of Rastatt, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located some 8 km northeast of Baden-Baden.
context_section_description: In 1801, the Countess of Baden, Luise Karoline, decided to establish and porcelain stoneware factory at the site of the ill-fated smelterworks of the prior century.
  Since becoming Karl Friedrich's wife, the Countess Luise Karoline was controversial.  She was a daughter of the governor and chamber of “King” Henry Geyser of Geyersburg, a minor noble; and had served as a Lady-In-Waiting in the court of Baden princess Amalie von Baden for 15 years and then 2 years as a Lady of the Court before she married the 60-year-old widow Margrave at the age of 19 in 1787.  But due to her family's “lower” status, the marriage was morganatic – which meant that her children would not be recognized as eligible to accede to the Margrave's (later Grand Duke's) throne.
  By the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1809, after Karl's first son Karl Louis had died in 1801 and Karl Frederick, already in ill health, realized that the only feasible successors would be from his second marriage, he began efforts to grant them the right of succession.  Although Karl Frederich died in 1811, his grandson Charles continued the efforts and won those rights with the adoption of a new Baden constitution in 1817.
  Although quite pretty, the Margrave's new wife was not well-regarded.  Besides being perceived in her “inferior” royal status, she was seen as unduly brash and ambitious.  Part of that derived from her efforts to seek succession eligibility for her children; but she was also very active in funding favored projects in the Kingdom.  Even Napoleon noted: “If her intrigues do not bring an end to her shameless and depraved life, they should lock her in a monastery.”
  In the late 18th century, porcelain plates and bottles from China became outrageously popular among the European elite, and diligent efforts were made in Europe to duplicate the technology. Rotenfels turned out to have a suitable clay deposit in its vicinity for porcelain making, and in 1793, several Protestant “stonecrafters” from the French province of Alsace relocated to Rotenfels and established a small stoneware (porcelain) factory on the old Rotenfels smelter factory now owned by the Countess Luise Karoline.  By the end of the 18th century, they were generating annual gross proceeds of some 6,400 guilders in their business – enough for the Countess to take notice and to decide to take over the industry into her own manufacturing operations.  The Margrave granted a 5-year monopoly to the business and, with 4,000 guilders, the Countess set up her operations.  The new facility was up and in operation by 1803.  Production was similar to the English "Wedgewood" stoneware and bore the embossed Hochberg family coat of arms as its logo.
  After the successful development of a safer lead-free glaze in 1804 / 1805, the business expanded into kitchenware and the Countess expanded the workshop in 1806 / 1807.
  Although the business thrived under the 5-year monopoly, it began to suffer when that monopoly expired against the import of similar goods from Alsace.  The business also suffered from the depletion of the local forest, which required the import of fuelwood and driving manufacturing costs up.  By 1811, after Karl Fredrick died, the Countess put the business on the sales block at fire-sale prices.  A buyer was interested, but the rest of the family objected to the terms and cancelled the sale.  The business continued to struggle until 1816 when Margrave William von Baden, son of Karl Frederich and Luis Karoline and who had purchased the business from his mother's estate, felt compelled to shut down the business due to its ongoing losses.  Over the next ten years, he converted the factory building into a country house, what is today known as Schloß Rotenfels (German: Rotenfels Castle).  At the same time, he turned the grounds into a model organic farm based on scientific techniques, the operations of which continue to this day.
  In 1996, the Rotenfels Castle Academy was established at Schloß Rotenfels, which also includes the Baden-Württemberg Academy of Fine Arts school, school and amateur theater.
  A 
caption: Inside the ElizabethenQuelle Memorial
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