Michael Schnorrenberg was born in 1696 in Leudersdorf.   On Feb. 18, 1726 in Niederehe, he married Margaretha Eicher from Oberehe, also born in 1696.   From the chronicle by Hermann-Josef Schnorrenberg: "After the general vicar of the archbishopric in Cologne granted a dispensation on 15 Feb 1726 from the decree forbidding marriage [of Catholics to non-Catholics?], On Feb. 18, 1726,Michael Schnorrenberg,  married Anna Margaretha Eicher(in) from Obermockstadt, situated four miles above Frankfurt, after she had officially renounced the Lutheran faith."  

There is a story from 1731 about a  Michael Schnorrenberg from Leudersdorf.  The attributions of time and the place seem to indicate that the story is about "our" Michael Schnorrenberg  (namely, Leudersdorf, where he was born in 1696 and Niederehe, where he lived as a married man since 1726, are directly  neighboring places about 15 kilometers from the Arenberg Fortress)¹¹.  A clarification:  the fortress was once called "Arenberg" with "n", and today is called "Aremberg" with "m". 

"Against complete drunkenness and intoxication..."

Because in the Fortress Arenberg there is more drinking than shooting - Dr. Peter Neu

In 1730 in the Arenberg fortress:  A strict and severe governor ruled the fortress in the name of the Duke Leopold from Arenberg. The governor, Ludwig Anton de Romagnol, had come as a stranger to the Eifel area and had never felt at home there. "One ruler - one country" was his motto. He tolerated no opposition.  Whoever opposed him, was disciplined by blows from a whip delivered by him personally.  It is no wonder that the man was as much hated by the simple people as by his soldiers in the fortress.  

  On the Sunday after Easter in 1730, on the way from the fortress into the valley, a resident of Antweiler lay in ambush for the hated governor and laid him out him with two shots from close range. The governor managed to drag himself into the village, but succumbed to his wounds a few days later. 

 The people of that area were relieved - one hoped for better times and more benevolent officials. Even the soldiers in the fortress appeared not to be particularly saddened by the death of the officer. Now they could make up for lost (drinking) opportunity. How that situation deteriorated,  however, is shown in a decree, which was deemed necessary in 1731, one year after the death of the strict governor.

We do not know whether this regulation could put an end to the drinking in the fortress, but certainly it did not fail to have its effect as a warning. The names of the drunkards among the soldiers who had guard duty in 1731 in the Arenberg fortress have come down to us today.  In service at the time as soldiers were a certain Sergeant Philipp Werner; a Lance Corporal Andreas Perizzi; a Corporal Michael Schnorrenberg, born in Leudersdorf; a Sergeant Major Max Nigrin; a Drummer Johannes Marian and 14 regular soldiers. 

Source:  Ducal Arenberger Archives Enghien D 1416, D 1418. 

¹¹ Heimatjahrbuch Kreis Ahrweiler, 1996

The Fortress Aremberg¹²

After the destruction of the fortress by the French at the end of the 17th century, the Duke began early in the 18th century to reconstruct the former fortress and a baroque residential palace, which is confirmed by a picture of the grounds around 1725. The builder was almost certainly Leopold Philipp (1691-1754), a prince who loved pomp and circumstance. There is evidence that building was underway in the year 1720 - there was talk at the time of the felling of six wagonloads of wood to be used for building the residence. The mansard roofs were also in the style of the time; one can see them in the drawing of Roidkin from around 1730.    This Walloon painter (Roidkin) passed through the west German country in the 20's and 30's of the 18th century to paint palaces, churches and towns.  He made sketches on site, which he later reworked as pictures in ink-wash technique, which he then sold.  The sketches of Roidkin are especially valuable because the sketch-artist placed great value on the exact reproduction of the architectural features   He depicted the residential palace from the west side, from approximately the fork in the road where the ways to Antweiler and Lommersdorf diverge.  The Fortress Arenberg must have appeared this way to Michael Schnorrenberg  when he returned from leave at home to military service.  We can see in the drawing of Roidkin the drive leading up to the palace, and parts of the mighty bastion not yet covered by forest.  One sees a long, two-story wing on the west front, which seems to unite two wings with mansard roofs situated to the north and south.  Since the drawing was made from the west side, the buildings on the east side were hidden from the view of the artist.	A view of Leudersdorf and the Aremberg on the right horizon
	Plan of the Arenberg Fortress destroyed by Frenchmen with the village Aremberg about 1682/83.

¹² Heinrich Neu, The Residential Palace and the Fortification Arenburg - A Monograph on the Hereditary Castle of the Dukes of Arenburg, in :Rhenish Monographs,  Vol. 1, no place of publication, no date. 

The ruins of the Fortress in the year 2002.