Satzvey Castle in Mechernich-Satzvey

image author: Sascha Carlitz

Satzvey, then called Vey, is known since the 12th-century and was administrated by the Bonn Benedictine convent Dietkirchen. Otto von Vey got the moated castle Satzvey as afief from the archbishop Engelbert III von der Mark in ca. 1368. When the last Vey died in 1391, his daughter married Heinrich von Krauthausen. He set up his new administration office in the originally detached, two-storey gothic manor. Then Satzvey Castle changed its aristocratic owners several times until it went to Wilhelm Spies von Büllesheim through usurpation in 1561. The Cologne archbishop supported the appropriation in the country and in 1578 the castle was usurped by William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Thus, three years later the lord of the castle Spies von Büllesheim had to swear the oath of allegiance to the sovereign of Jülich as well as sovereign of Cologne, the archbishop Gebhard I. von Waldburg. Johann Spieß von Büllesheim sold the castle to Karl Otto von Gymnich in 1747.

image author: Sascha Carlitz

In 1825 the castle went through inheritance to the family of the Count Wolff Metternich zur Gracht. The Countess Adeline Wolff Metternich zur Gracht married Earl Franz Josef Beissel von Gymnich in 1942. Their son Franz Josef Graf Beissel von Gymnich junior inherited Castle Satzvey in the year 1972. He still is the present owner and has organised historical festivals and private celebrations on his lovely castle since 1980.