History of Dürnstein

In 1289, the powerful Leuthold I of Kuenring donated the Hager house and the Schenking farmstead to the Convent of the Clares, which he himself had founded. In 1340, the Gothic church with its two naves had been finished. Donations by the princes, the Kuenringers, and the families of the nuns further strengthened the foundation, however, the Reformation and war taxes bore so heavily that the convent had to be dissolved in 1571.

The entire property went to the monastery of the Order of St. Augustine, which was completely reconstructed by Provost Hieronymus Übelbacher. He wanted to adapt it to the architectural standards of his period and thus, much of the original construction was lost. The spacious cellar in front of the "Kremser Tor" gate was enlarged, the sacred adornments of the Church of the Clares were removed, the ridge turret and the high church roof were torn down, and the Gothic windows were walled up. Thus, the originally Gothic structure with its two naves was turned into a silo. Provost Hieronymus financed all of these reconstructions by means of trading with wine and crops. The Clares’ cloister was also torn down and the rooms of the convent started to be used for economic purposes. The Augustinian monastery was dissolved in 1798 and the buildings went to the monastery of Herzogenburg. In 1820, the Convent of the Clares fell into private hands.

Since 1880, the Thiery family has owned its spacious rooms and turned the former mariners’ tavern into an exquisite hotel of international reputation, named after the English King Richard the Lionheart, who had been imprisoned in Dürnstein from 1192 to 1193. In 1938, the Starhembergsche Schloß in the west was added to the main building, which, like the rooms of the old house, combines state-of-the-art amenities and wonderful views with restful tranquility.

Another equally popular saga tells of how preoccupied England was with the fate of its kidnapped king, and how the singer BLONDEL set out to find him. He wandered from fortress to fortress, singing at the foot of each the first verse of a song they had sung together (and known only to them) until, at the walls of Dürnstein, Richard answered him with the second verse of the song from within the depths of his dungeon.

A touching story, which is unfortunately quite untrue. For it was of course known to the English that Richard had been incarcerated and the location of his prison could not remain secret for long. Moreover, there was no reason to keep it secret: storming Dürnstein - or later, Trifels - was almost impossible and, indeed, was not even attempted. Quick contact had to be made with England in any case so that negotiations over the ransom money could begin. But the knightly figure of ”Coeur de Lion” in the era of courtly love songs and the wandering minstrels cried out for a romantic saga with more than just power and wealth as its themes. Richard Lion-Heart himself composed a poem during his imprisonment, which begins as follows: ”Weak is the voice and halting the words, with which a prisoner can lament his abject misery...”

Not only the troubadours of the English court took charge of the story of the brave king who had been so misused. There is even a historical figure who may well have been the model for the singer Blondel: the knight Jean de Nesles of Artois, famed for his long blonde hair.