Castle Duino
Castle
Duino near Trieste was for three centuries the family seat of the
Tybein Lords. They owned huge domains in the Karst (Carso) region. The first member of this family, a certain Wondelsalchus, is mentioned in
the records as a vassal of the Patriarch of Aquileia already in 1112 AD.
Later, Hugo became the leader of the family of the Tybein Lords, who were
liegemen of the dukes of Inner Austria (Carantania).
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Marie von Thurn and Taxis-Hohenlohe |
The last
descendant of the family was Hugo VI von Tybein († 1392). His daughter was
married to Reinhard Walsee, who in 1395, with the permission of the duke
of Inner Austria, took possession of the domains belonging to the former
Tybein Lords.The domains figured as seigniory, meaning, the territory over
which the lord holds jurisdiction. The Walsee family kept Duino until 1472
AD. Then, Emperor Frederic III, who was also a duke, i.e., he was the
ruler of Inner Austria, bought the domains. Then the seigniory was given
in pledge to several families. In 1508, however, it was passed on in fief
to the Hofer family. The last member of this family, Mathias Hofer died in
1587. His heir became his son-in-law Raymond Thurn-Valsassina, who in
first marriage was the consort of his daughter Louise and in second
marriage of his daughter Clare. Raymond additionally adopted the family
name Hofer, which made him the beginner of a new family line of the Thurn
cognation.
The
Thurns from Inner Austria were in fact a line of the Lombardian family
"della Torre" who appeared already in 12th century. The County Valsassina
(Valis Saxina) was in their possession, from which the second part of
their name origins. In the fights with the Viscontis, one of the Thurns,
Salvino by name, found refuge by his relative, the Patriarch of Aquileia,
and from him origin the Austrian Thurns.Raymond Thurn-Hofer and Valsassina
was an illuminate lord. In 1598, he called to Devin several members of the
Order of Servants of St. Mary, and asked them to set up a school for noble
sons. Ahead from all of them was Gregorio Alasio da Sommaripa, who in 1607
issued the Vocabolario Italiano e Schiavo. He came to Duino as a friar,
and he was consecrated as a monk in 1602.
Raymond
Thurn-Hofer and Valsassina died in 1623. His son John Philip continued the
lineage. The last male descendant of this line was Joseph Turn-Hofer and
Valsassina, a naval hero, who died in Venice in 1831. His sister, Countess
Resi (Theresa), was married to Prince Egon Carl Hohenlohe Waldenburg
Schillingsfürst, but became a widow not long after her marriage. Their
daughter, Marie, then married Prince Alexander Thurn-Taxis and thus
acquired the name of Princess/Countess Marie von Thurn and
Taxis-Hohenlohe. It is little known to the world, that the Rilke family
from Prague was a remote line of the Carantanian stock Rilke, mentioned in
the records since 1267. |
In 1910,
the great Austrian poet,
Ranier Maria Rilke,
stayed as a guest at the castle of Duino. There, he began to write his
famous poem "Duineser
Elegien" (Duino Elegies) in German. According to Rilke's host at the
castle, Maria von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe, the inception of his poetry
was on the morning of January 21, 1912. Interrupted by the First World
War, the cycle of ten elegies was completed and published in 1923, just
over a decade later.
The castle can easily be reached from Trieste
along the coastal road. Just before Duino, there is an entrance through
the trees to the Sentiero Rilke, a footpath along the white cliffs
"towering against the sea, like foothills of human existence," as the
German poet Rainer Maria Rilke put it and for whom this path was named.
According to National Geographic this is
one of the most beautiful Promenades of the world. |
