Zoppenbroich Castle (Mönchengladbach)

Zoppenbroich is a former sub-lordship of Electoral Cologne, which existed from 1405 to 1744. The sub-lordship comprised the Honnschaften Bahner, Biesel, Eiger, and Tackhütte, located in the present-day area of the city of Mönchengladbach. In 1670, the territory had an area of 139 hectares, on which there were 22 houses and farms. A gallows stood in the Honnschaft Biesel as a place of execution and a symbol of lordship. Haus Zoppenbroich, built around 1700 on the ruins of a predecessor building that burned down in 1642, was the seat of the feudal tenants. It is located between Giesenkirchen and Rheydt on the Niers.

The Niers formed the western border of the territory with the sub-lordship of Rheydt of the Duchy of Jülich, which often led to border disputes, as the river constantly changed its bed after floods.

Zoppenbroich was originally a knight's fief belonging to the Dingstuhl Liedberg. During a phase of territorial disputes between Electoral Cologne and the Counts (from 1328 Dukes) of Jülich, lasting from 1304 to 1405, the respective feudal tenants succeeded in expanding their power into a sub-lordship largely independent of Electoral Cologne.

The following feudal tenants are documented:

• Rabodo (1334)
• Bernhard (1371 and 1395)
• Rembodo von Slychem (1403)
• Albert von Honselaer (1405)

From 1566 to 1692, the Barons von Quadt were feudal tenants of the sub-lordship, after which there were several changes of ownership. In 1723, Ambrosius Franz von Virmont received the territory through the inheritance of his first wife, and in the following year, he was enfeoffed with it. After Virmont's death in 1744, who left no heirs, his widow Maria Elisabeth disputed ownership with the Archbishop of Cologne until 1763. Only after the Archbishop paid 110,000 Reichstaler to the widow in a settlement did the territory revert to Electoral Cologne and was subsequently administered by the Electoral Cologne Vogtship of Odenkirchen.

The name Zoppenbroich today only exists as a field name for the Niers floodplains between Giesenkirchen and Rheydt; in addition, a Zoppenbroicher Straße in Cologne and Mönchengladbach also commemorates the former sub-lordship. Haus Zoppenbroich is now the seat of the stud farm of the same name.