Jestädt

History

Jestädt was first mentioned in records in 876, making it one of the oldest settlements in the ancient district of Eschwege. It was built as a fortified village to defend a ford across the Werra. The name, according to Professor Theodor Haas of Fulda, combines an adjective meaning 'sudden' or 'steep slope' with the word for 'place', describing its location on a steep slope. Spellings included 'Gestede' in 1324 and 'Jestade' in 1414; the present spelling dates from 1664.

Viticulture flourished until the 18th century; in 1738 eight wineries worked the vineyards of the Lords von Boyneburg-Hohenstein. The 165.5-acre (67-hectare) vineyards have been a local nature reserve since 1978. In the 11th century the Werratal was contested between the Electorate of Mainz and the Guelph dukes. Jestädt belonged to the Counts of Everstein, then passed to the Northeim counts.

Otto von Northeim, Duke of Bavaria, died in 1083 before taking possession; his son Siegfried III, Graf von Boyneburg, gained control. From at least 1567 the family served the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel until Prussia annexed the landgraviate in 1866 after the Seven Weeks War, except during French occupation.

Geography

Jestädt is situated at the far southwestern foothills of the Gobert range, on the north side of the Werra River, 2.7 miles (4.5 km) northwest of Eschwege. The Mühlbach runs through the village to one side of the Werra, while the Wehre River empties into the other side west-south-west of the village. Neighboring places include Motzenrode, Neuerode, Grebendorf, Niederhone, and Albungen. Two main roads are Landesstraße 3403 and Kreisstraße 3.

Schloss Jestädt

Schloss Jestädt was built on the walls of an old Talburg west of the village by Walrab von Boyneburg-Hohenstein between 1558 and 1561 after his retirement as a colonel from the French Army. His son Friedrich Hermann von Boyneburg-Hohenstein expanded the castle in 1612. During the Thirty Years War it was plundered and destroyed, but was renovated in 1637 and became the family estate. When the Jestädt branch died out in 1792, the castle fell to the Lords of Eschwege; the transfer was confirmed in 1802 by a deed of gift from King George III of the United Kingdom, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Later the prison tower and east wing were removed; the castle was remodelled in 1906. The mill on the south side was demolished in the 1960s. After World War II refugees from Eschwege stayed there; it was uninhabited in the 1970s and 1980s. Bought in 1990 and restored by 1998, it has had four inhabited apartments since 1999, and concerts are held in the courtyard and hall.