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| Timeline of Bibra Family |
| Large scale map showing Bibra locations of interest. |
- 1151 Document witnessed by Bertholdus de Bybera and his two sons
Bertholdus and Tagino
- 1245 Continuous family tree begins with Berthold de Bibera and his wife
Mechthildis
- 1467 21 cousins met at Bibra from the 5 lines then existing and concluded
a Castle Peace Treaty. All male Bibras were then joint owners of the castle and
lands at Bibra as well as having their own properties elsewhere. The Treaty
forbid insults and punished attackers with ostracism: one month for using a
knife, three months with a sword, a year if a wound inflicted, and forever or until
judged reformed in case of death.
- 1486 Emperor Friedrich III conferred to the village of Bibra the right to be a
market town.
- 1490 Wilhelm von Bibra, emissary to Rome dies in Verona, Italy.
- 1492 Started construction of the present church in Bibra.
- 1494 Dr. Kilian von Bibra, statesman, head of the cathedral council at
Würzburg, advisor to Emperor Maximilian etc., dies.
- 1495-1519 Lorenz v. Bibra elected Prince Bishop of Würzburg, Duke in
Franconia.
- 1525 Castle Bibra, along with other castles in region, are burned and
destroyed in the Peasants War, contents lost. (Family archives previously sent
to Irmelshausen where remained until recently moved to Würzburg.)
Irmelshausen left intact due to settlement with peasants. Peasants defeated at
Würzburg.
- 1540-1544 Conrad v. Bibra elected Prince Bishop of Würzburg, Duke in
Franconia.
- 1500's The family continues in growth in power and numbers. Then at its peak
of power, plague, an extra large number of males entering the church, and high
ratio of daughters reduces the family to very few.
- 1602-1681 Heinrich von Bibra dies childless but with many fief properties which
he tries to leave to his only living Bibra relatives, the protestant descendants of
Bernard and his recently deceased brother Valentin. (All living Bibras are
descended from these two brothers. The family was divided into two branches
and eventually into seven lines.) The Prince-Bishop of Würzburg opposed this
transfer and a legal battle ensued until a settlement was reached in 1681 almost
eighty years later.
- 1618 Thirty Years War 1618 - 1648
- 1646 The rebuilt castle Bibra is attacked and burned for a second time.
- 1669 Hans Caspar, Jr. becomes the single owner of Bibra and begins the
reconstruction.
- 1759-1788 Heinrich von Bibra Prince Bishop and Abbot of Fulda
- 1772 Brothers Friedrich Gotthelf of Brennhausen and Carl of Höchheim (later
became Bibra-Bibra line) are raised to Imperial Barons from Imperial Knighthood.
- 1808 Napoleon redraws the map of Europe. Following the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire, Franconia is made part of the new Kingdom of Bavaria.
(Later Bibra is transferred to Sachsen-Meinigen. Sachsen-Meinigen becomes
part of Thuringia which becomes part of the Russian Zone which becomes East
Germany.) To reflect the new political order various lines are made Barons in
this new Kingdom of Bavaria (1815-1828).
- 1839-1843 Southerly defense wall removed and a stone bridge built across
the moat on the west side.
- c.1930 The farm and forest land at Bibra are sold off.
- 1946-1988 Castle Bibra allowed to stay in family hands although with limited
control.
- 1996 Apparently, the longest continuously owned castle by one family in
Thuringia.