Hilltop. Bentheim Castle, Bad Bentheim, Germany
Here's a view of the largest hilltop castle of northwestern Germany across a pond just in front of it. I'd gone to visit it because of the connection to one of my seventeenth century favorites, Henric Piccardt, syndic of the Groningen Ommelanden and before that something of a rogue at the court of Louis XIV of France. His greatgrandfather, one Johann Kemener (1522-1613), became the court preacher of this castle's count, Arnold II van Bentheim-Tecklenburg (1554-1606). On the second Sunday of advent in 1575 he and his congregation turned to Calvinism. And that fit in quite properly with their sympathy for the struggles which led to the young Dutch Republic, nearby across from today's borders. Piccardt's father became a minister ultimately at Groningen and his uncle Johan, also a protestant minister, was the first historian of Drenthe.
The castle and its town are a delight to visit, and so is the park deep below. That's where I saw that shrubbery Rose, quite fittng for castle gardens.
Hilltop. Bentheim Castle, Bad Bentheim, Germany
Here's a view of the largest hilltop castle of northwestern Germany across a pond just in front of it. I'd gone to visit it because of the connection to one of my seventeenth century favorites, Henric Piccardt, syndic of the Groningen Ommelanden and before that something of a rogue at the court of Louis XIV of France. His greatgrandfather, one Johann Kemener (1522-1613), became the court preacher of this castle's count, Arnold II van Bentheim-Tecklenburg (1554-1606). On the second Sunday of advent in 1575 he and his congregation turned to Calvinism. And that fit in quite properly with their sympathy for the struggles which led to the young Dutch Republic, nearby across from today's borders. Piccardt's father became a minister ultimately at Groningen and his uncle Johan, also a protestant minister, was the first historian of Drenthe.
The castle and its town are a delight to visit, and so is the park deep below. That's where I saw that shrubbery Rose, quite fittng for castle gardens.