by
Robert J. Paulson

​

The Village of Mariafels, Kries Mies

Translated

by 

Karen Hobbs

 

Mariafels (530 m.- about 1722 feet altitude ), the

southernmost community of the Weseritz district, is

crowded into a geological depression. According to

tradition the name Maria-Fels was given it by three

sisters with the same name. The Czechs called the place

Slavice (after Slavik-ce).

 

The total community held 69 houses with 325 inhabitants.

Post and railroad station were in Zebau, church and

school in Mariafels, parish and registrar's offices in

Gosolup. The layout included: 693 hectars of which 358

ha. were arable fields, 99 ha. were meadows, 23 ha. were

in willows, 185 ha. in forest and 28 ha. in wetlands,

trafficways, stretches of water and wasteland. Land

register entry 15. The earlier knights of Mariafels as

well as those from Utzin were an offshoot of the noble

Hroznata family. Some from them carried the surname

Vserubec and a branch of that family sprang from

Mariafels. At that time the place already had a parish.

 

In 1379 Hrdebor, to whom Zebau and the neighboring Gut

of Lebitzen also belonged, sat at Mariafels. In 1405

Chwalo von Utzin was mentioned as lord patron and in

1408 Bawor von Schwanberg and his brother Neustup

became resident in Mariafels. The latter accepted a

spiritual vocation and was the Canon of Wyschehrader.

Bawor von Schwanberg established his own offshoot line

in Mariafels. During the Hussites wars the brothers

Ullrich, Leo and Hrdebor resided in Mariafels. Leo,

known as Vserubec von Mariafels was Utraquist. In

exchange for an obligation to serve on the side of the king

Sigismund in war, Ullrich received a pledge deed which

was posted in Mies in 1421 and prescribed 500 Shock [?]

from the Kladrau monastery's villages at Radlowitz and

Honositz by Staab.

 

These places were later owned by Leo who left them

[turned them over to] to Wilhelm von Wolfstein. When

Ullrichs wife, Johanka, died in 1427, he took over their

wedding dowry, 200 Shock of property in Trpist. In 1478

Sezema, the owner of the nearby castle of Hradek was

already resident at Mariafels. On June 1, 1523 the

proprietary lord of Mariafels, Nikolaus von Schwanberg-

Triebl, had a quarrel with Georg von Zebau. The subjects

[serfs], Johann Zepnik and a certain Martin, both from

Zebau, rented a farm from another subject in Mariafels

named Ondra Pavlina without getting permission from

the Herrschaft. Nikolaous had the grain from their

fields confiscated and threw the two of them in prison.

In 1544 the three brothers Heinrich, Zdenko and Joachim

von Schwanberg had the dominion Triebl, to which

Mariafels belonged, entered in the national land register.

In 1665 the dominion Triebl and Trpist, with it also

Mariafels, was purchased by Johann Joachim von

Sinzendorf. In 1685, his widow, the countess Maria

Maximiliana, received permission from emperor Leopold

1 to elevate the dominion Triebl-Trpist to a Fideikommiss

for their son.

 

In the year 1793 the Prince von Sinzendorf sold the

dominion Triebl-Trpist to Johann Lexa von ƒrenthal and

when he died in 1824 his daughter, Johanna, inherited

the dominion. Her son, Johann Lexa von ƒrenthal then

sold it in 1874 with Wolfberg and Mariafels to Elisabeth

countess Kinsky for around 650,000 florinse. From

September, 1879, until after the first World War the

family of Count Wydenbruck held the dominion as their

property. After that time the estates of Triebl and

Mariafels have been the property of the Kubinsky family

in Trpist.

 

The church of St. Laurenz - in Mariafels, is presently

affiliated with the church at Gosolup, but was already

established in 1260 and in 1357 was called an independent

parish. The administrative offices for Triebl are located

in Mariafels. In the church there are grave plaques

inserted into the floor as memorials for officials who

served the dominion. The coat of arms of the counts von

Sinzendorf is held by two angels under a canopy. A

Chronogram [?] with the Count's crown shows the year

1767, which is also inscribed over the main entrance of the

church. One of the two bells bears the year, 1504. In the

cemetery that surrounds the church the grave of the

Oberamtman, Georg Grosam, is found. The small chapel

to the "Sorrowful Mother of God" along the road to

Gosolup was erected by Georg Grosam in 1882.

The school was in Gosolup until 1914 when an Expositor

was elected who made funding for a school in Mariafels

available. After the first World War erected the

community built their own schoolhouse at a cost of 30,000

kc. Since 1924 the school has been independent.

 

 

The district highway Weseritz - Mies runs through

Mariafels. The Schloss belonging to the Herschaft

Kubinsky-Trpist and its Meierhof [large farm complex] is

located in the village. The estate has been managed

since 1924 by Lieutenant Colonel D. Hugo Waka and

includes several other farmsteads besides the Meierhof.

There was formerly a criminal court in Mariafels and a

statue of St. Francis was later erected on the site. 

This"Flur" is referred to more recently as "Auf der

Fleischbank"[at the slaughterhouse]. Additional fieldnames:

Stäcklacker, towards Gosolup, above and below

the [main] street, in Hüttmendling, at the clay pits, on

the "Trod." In Zuschken, Pernharz the soils of mixed sand

and clay have been taken care of for centuries with

industry and good knowledge of their special attributes

and have delivered high profits to their owners. In 1925

a central water system [plumbing] and electrification

made it possible for the farmers to modernize their

farmhofs.

 

The village lies within a wreath of beautiful orchards, in

which bees also find food. The dominion owned 5 ponds:

The upper pond, the "Wantich" pond, the "pond behind

the village" [Hinterer Dorfteich] the Gosolup pond and

the Branke pond with were fed by the waters of the

Branke brook and served for fish farming. The hunting

districts includes wild preserves and some preserves that

are leased by the community. Community cultural life is

divided among local organizations: The Veterans'

Fellowship, the Volunteer Fire Department, the League

of German Rural Youth, the local farmers, parish and

school.

 

During the First World War 21 sons of Mariafel fell and

during the Second World War there were 14 fallen and

missing to mourn. Mariafels is the birthplace of the

academic painter Johann Maier, (d.7/9/1840) who

painted a huge image of Mary for the church in Weseritz

at the age of 70. He made a name for himself as a painter

of sacred images.

The inhabitants of Mariafels who were expelled went to

Bavaria, Hesse, and to the Soviet Zone.