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Schuttbourg PDF Print E-mail
Written by Claude Lanners   
Thursday, 22 October 2009 19:33

The Schuttbourg Castle and its farm at Holzthum

Schuttbourg view, 1973
Schuttbourg view, 1973 (BNL Biller aus der Gemeng Kautebaach, 2001)

Built on a ridge above the river Clerve upstream from Kautenbach, the Schuttbourg is first mentioned in a document of 1404 as "Schudeburg". Other than for the much more important castles of Clervaux, Vianden or Bourscheid, there has never been a Schuttbourg family. Since 1630, a de Humyn family from Bastogne owned the castle, followed by the de Hoefnagele, also from Bastogne. The two families tried several times by requests to the Conseil Provincial, the civil authority in Luxembourg, to be admitted among the Luxembourg nobility, but were not successful. The owners lived only occasionally on the Schuttbourg and were represented by an administrator who in 1679 was Hans Jacob (John James) Schaub, the godfather of Hans Jacob Lannersch.

There is evidence that since 1550, the owners of the Schuttbourg possessed a fairly large farm in Holzthum, which was let to a tenant against a charge consisting of services and deliveries of food as well as of payments in money. According to the census of fireplaces of 1656, there were only 2 houses inhabited, versus 7 before the beginning of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). One of these houses was the Schuttbourg farm, occupied by Marx (Marc, contraction of Marcus) Hoffmann, tenant. He owns 2 horses, 1 foal and 8 heads of cattle. He has not yet cultivated the fields, as he arrived only recently. In German his name means "the man of the farm" and it is thus a good example of the formation of first names from trades. Was this already Marx Kamer? It isn’t sure, the reference to his origin from the Mecher village in 1681 suggests a later arrival in Holzthum.

Acte 1670
1670, Marx Kammer hofman zu Holzthumb (ANL, MCN 3231 J. Eckhard Wiltz, acte 603 1670, Claude Loesch)

In 1670, Marx Kamer is leaseholder of the Schuttbourg farm, as we read in a bailment deed of a piece of land in Holzthum in his favour, written by notary Eckhard from Wiltz on January 27, 1670.

Acte 1681
Contract of 1681 (ANL IGD Sect. Hist. 7 Arch. Schuttbourg 1664-1687)

By contract dated on March 24th 1681, Kamer Marx from Mecher leased (extension of the lease?) the farm in Holzthum. In 1699 he acts as the godfather of a child of Lannes Niclas. In the record he is qualified as "Altvater", grandfather. This means that he is the father of either Klesgen or, more likely, of his wife whose name is mentioned only once in a record as "Catrein", Catherine.

The farm around 1940
The farm around 1940 (Photo: Archives Famille Thiellen)
Schuttbourg view from Alscheid
Schuttbourg view from Alscheid (Photo © Luxalbum 2009)

We don't know how long the Lanners went on living on the farm in Holzthum, as no lease record is kept in the Schuttbourg archives until 1750. At that time, only a few Lanners are left in Holzthum, as the last births are noted in 1718, 1736 and 1738. Several Lanners families live however in Consthum, a village next to Holzthum. In 1708 the first Lanners birth is recorded in Hoscheid which is going to be the center of the Lanners for more than a century. Other births are recorded in 1719 at the Scharthof near Eschweiler and in 1744 in Grümelscheid. From 1759 to 1800 the Lanners will spread over the Oesling:

  • 1759 Kautenbach
  • 1776 Goesdorf
  • 1781 Schlindermanderscheid
  • 1790 Bettendorf
  • 1792 Eschdorf
  • 1796 Eselborn.

The Schuttbourg has survived the centuries in a rather good condition. Before and after WWII the castle was owned by a Belgian family who restored it and who lived in it. In 2001 the Schuttbourg was added on the list of national monuments. Mr. Fernand Feltgen from Differdange is the owner in 2009.

Credits:

  • Edouard Oster, Das Feuerstättenverzeichnis des Jahres 1656, Lëtzeburger Bauere-Kalenner 1953-1981, neu herausgegeben von Alph. Wiltgen 2009
  • BNL, Consthum Holzthum 75e anniversaire des Sapeurs-Pompiers Consthum 1984
  • ANL, Archives du Château de Schuttbourg, PSH LV 1908 par Paul Lamort
  • ANL, MCN 3231 J. Eckhard Wiltz, acte 603 1670, Claude Loesch
  • ANL, RP 53 Consthum et al.
© Claude Lanners 2008 - 2012
Last Updated on Monday, 30 April 2012 19:33