Hans von Trotha, also known asHans Trapp (c. 1450 – 1503), was a Germanknight andmarshal of theprince-elector of the Palatinate. He also bore the French honorary title of aChevalier d’Or. In 1480, the elector enfeoffed him with the two castles ofBerwartstein andGrafendahn which lay in theSouth Palatine part of theWasgau region within thePalatinate Forest. In local folklore he is known as Hans Trapp or, more rarely, Hans Trott.[1]
Hans von Trotha was born into the aristocraticTrotha family who came from the area of the present-day county ofSaalekreis, and was the fourth son of theArchbishop of Magdeburg's marshal, Thilo von Trotha. He was probably born in the mid-15th century inKrosigk (today inSaxony-Anhalt). His exact date of birth is not known, but he was the younger brother ofThilo von Trotha, theBishop of Merseburg who was born in 1443.
Hans only had one son, Christoph, who succeeded his father as the lord of Berwartstein Castle. Because Christoph had no male issue, the line was extinguished upon his death in 1545 and the estate went to his son-in-law from theAlsatianHouse of Fleckenstein.[1]
As one of the younger sons of anaristocratic family, Hans entered the service of the electors and counts palatine of the Rhine inHeidelberg as a young man in the late 1470s. The link to Electoral Palatinate probably came about as a result of ArchbishopJohn of Magdeburg, the patron of Bishop Thilo von Trotha. Hans clearly proved himself, because by 1480 the Elector,Philip the Sincere, who was about the same age, gave him the hereditaryfiefs of two castles in the Wasgau on hereditary, namely Berwartstein, "including its belongings", and Grafendahn.
Within four years, the Lord of Berwartstein had expanded it into a fortress, which was impregnable for its time. He achieved thisinter alia by erecting the outwork ofLittle France (Burg Klein-Frankreich) in 1484 on the northern slope of the hill opposite, theNestelberg. The site consisted primarily of a powerfulbattery tower, on the platform of which long-barreledculverins could be set up. This made it possible for an accuratecrossfire to be brought to bear on any force attempting to besiege Berwartstein.
Hans showed no interest, however, in thecastle of Grafendahn, six kilometres to the northwest. It was probably already crumbling when he received it; by 1500 it was described as "uninhabitable". The reason for its poor condition seemed to be that Grafendahn had been designed from the outset as aGanerbenburg which had always had joint owners with no one person taking responsibility for its maintenance.
Hans became well-known as a result of his subsequentfeud with Henry,Abbot of the Order ofBenedictine monks atWeissenburg Abbey. The reason was that the Berwartstein and other property, the so-called "belongings", were originally the property of the monastery and, in the abbot's view, the Electoral Palatinate had not acquired the castle legitimately because, in 1453, the monastery had only intended to place it under the protection of the Elector. When, in 1485, Hans finally demanded the "belongings" (i.e. the estate) of the castle, the abbot turned to the Elector for protection. However, the Elector did not support the monastery as expected; first he made excuses, then he elevated Hans to the rank of marshal and sold him the entire disputed possession.
When the dispute with the monastery reached its peak, Hans had the nearbyWieslauter river dammed and so deprived the downstream town ofWeissenburg (now French Wissembourg) of its water supply. The lord built thedam near the village ofBobenthal, five kilometres south of the Berwartstein. There, eight kilometers above Weissenburg, the little river flows through a narrow gap near theBobenthaler Knopf (534 m, left of the Wieslauter on the Palatine side) and theDürrenberg (520 m, on the right, on the Alsatian side). A smallreservoir was formed, which flooded the water meadows in front of Bobenthal. Following complaints by the abbot, Hans tore down the dam as planned and caused a hugeflood in Weissenburg that devastated the town economically.
Baron von Trotha now engaged in open warfare against the abbot. When even the invocation of the Emperor could not persuade him to stop, the abbot turned in 1491 to PopeInnocent VIII. Eight years later, Hans was summoned to thepapal court by Innocent's successor,Alexander VI, to be questioned about his loyalty to the Church. But he refused to go to Rome and, instead, wrote a letter to the Pope. In it, he emphasized his Christian faith on the one hand, but accused theBorgia Pope with obscure charges of immorality on the other. Ananathema was then issued against Trotha which resulted in hisexcommunication. In order not to suffer the same fate, his former patron, the Elector, renounced his vassal. In 1496, theRoman-German king and later EmperorMaximilian I also pronounced theimperial ban on von Trotha.
However, the Elector only distanced himself from von Trotha publicly and sent him to theFrench royal court during theItalian Wars because of his diplomatic skills. It was whilst he was there that the French king,Louis XII, awarded him theChevalier d'Or knighthood.
Hans survived thesanctions of the Emperor and Pope and, two years later, after he had died on 26 October 1503 at Berwartstein Castle of natural causes, they wereposthumously lifted. The knight was interred in St. Anne's Chapel inNiederschlettenbach, four kilometres from Berwartstein above the confluence of theErlenbach and the Wieslauter. In 1967 the von Trotha family had a memorial tablet placed in the chapel.[1]
The events of von Trotha's feud with the abbey are depicted in thegreat hall of Berwartstein Castle. The hall is used as a restaurant that can seat 150 people, but it is open to the public to visit.
Hans von Trotha, who was about 2 metres tall and even by today's standards would have been an imposing figure, became a local legend in thePalatinate region under the popular corrupted name of "Hans Trapp", or occasionally "Hans Trott". He was not only described later as arobber baron, but over the course of time became portrayed as a figure of terror for children who, as the "Black Knight" (schwarzer Ritter),[1] was arestless spirit who stalked through the Wasgau at night. Even in theLegend of the Jungfernsprung his name was associated with the fiend who wanted to take the young maiden's virginity.
In neighbouring Alsace at the time ofSaint Nicholas the name of Hans Trapp was used to frighten children and he was the one who accompanied the saint, not the usual figure ofKnecht Ruprecht.[2] The appearance and dress of Hans Trapp (white beard, pointed hat and rod) are described in anAlemannic German poem from the Alsace:[3]
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