The White Horse

The Noble Geispitzheim Family

The Geispitzheim lineage existed from the High Middle Ages until the 18th century. As early as 1083, a document from St. Alban’s Monastery in Mainz mentions “Appo von Geisbodenheim”. A century later, Werner II von Bolanden’s feudal register names “Wernherus von Geispoldsheim”. In the 14th century, the name Geispitzheim became established. Particularly numerous documentary references and heraldic evidence (three indented bars, also found above the portal of “The White Horse” in Kirchheimbolanden) point to Gabsheim in Rhenish Hesse (10 km northeast of Alzey).

Members of this noble family were primarily active in administrative and princely services, including Philipp von Geispitzheim in 1421, who was bailiff in Kirchheimbolanden, and Georg Emrich II (died 1794), who served as senior bailiff and later court marshal at the Nassau-Weilburg court in Kirchheimbolanden.

The local Geispitzheim city palace clearly shows what a lower noble family could achieve through princely service.

Princely Livestock Farm

In the 18th century, princely court grounds also included areas for economic provision. For instance, both in Weilburg and Kirchheimbolanden, a “livestock farm” was located in the immediate vicinity of the castle; in Weilburg, it was even an integral part of the extensive castle grounds. Designed in a horseshoe shape, it was also connected to a “hay barn” here.

The situation was similar in Kirchheimbolanden. Here, the “livestock farm” was located in the area of Schlossstraße 32/34, and the connected “hay barn” stood where today’s Schlossstraße 35 house is. A horseshoe shape was also replicated, as Schlossstraße opens from the Schlossplatz gate towards “The White Horse”.

However, the properties at Schlossstraße 32, 34, and 35 no longer reveal their former economic functions. All three now feature Neoclassical facades from around 1835, after a fire on June 13, 1833, severely damaged the entire area.