Commandery of Gruitrode

The Commandery of Gruitrode was a commandery of the Teutonic Order. She was subject to the land commander of Alden Biesen. He had a dozen commanderies or bailies under him. One of them was Gruitrode.

Already in the time of the county of Loon there was a castle here, which was probably the Roeterhof. In 1346 Gruitrode with its house, court and village was transferred by Diederik van Heinsberg, who was Count of Loon, to Walram van Gulik, who was bishop of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

In 1416 there was mention of the purchase of the domain by the land commander of Alden Biezen, Ivan van Cortenbach. In 1424 he had the church of Gruitrode built. In 1432 the loan obligation was abolished. The buildings were destroyed in 1485 as a result of a conflict between the Marck and Arenberg families. The current buildings in Mosan Renaissance style were built between 1485 and 1568. In that year, the Eighty Years' War began and William of Orange tried to conquer Maastricht by crossing the Meuse at Stokkem. This failed, however, and the princely troops retreated via the Geuzenbaan, avoiding confrontation with the Knights of the Teutonic Order.

Until the Napoleonic era, the property remained in the possession of the Knights of the Teutonic Order, who continued to expand the property and acquired wealth. In 1801, Napoleon abolished the religious possessions and gradually sold them to private individuals (source: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commanderij_van_Gruitrode).

lvrancken