Emperor Ludwig IV. (1286 – 1347), known as Ludwig the Bavarian, grants Ulrich von Ems permission to build Neu-Ems Castle, also known as Glopper Castle.
Ulrich I of Ems (1295 – 1357), who established the territorial sovereignty of Ems, builds Castle Glopper. The fortified octagonal residential tower is built first.
King Ruprecht III of Wittelsbach (1352 – 1410) enfeoffs Marquard III of Ems (d. 1414) amongst other things with the “new burg zu Emptz” [new castle at Ems]. First documented mention of Glopper Castle
After an eight-week siege by the Appenzellers against the two castles at Ems, Ulrich V of Ems capitulates († 1430). Both constructions are torn down by the Swiss victors.
Reconstruction and extension of the palace. Hans Ulrich I († 1449), founder of the Dornbirn Ems line. Second marriage to Adelheid von Ellersbach. Emperor Sigismund (1368 – 1437) of Luxembourg gives Hans Ulrich the “Newe Burg zu Emptz in der Ruti” [New castle at Ems in Ruti]
Ulrich’s sons, Hans Ulrich III († 1494) and Jakob I († 1508) return the mortgaged Neuems Castle to Duke Sigmund of Austria-Tyrol (1427 – 1496) in 1456.
Jakob II († 1512), a mercenary captain, falls in battle at Ravenna, his nephew and heir Hans II. († 1559) is the last of the Ems-Dornbirn line. The castle is returned to the main line of the Imperial Count of Hohenems. He subsequently serves as Marshall to Earl Gabriel († 1581).
Earl Kaspar of Hohenems, Vaduz and Gallerate (1573 – 1640) refurbishes Glopper Castle. In honour of his father, Jakob Hannibal I (1530 – 1587) and his mother Hortensia Borromeo (1551 – 1578), sister of St. Carlo Borromeo (1538 – 1584), he has a chapel built into the tower.
After the death of the last Earl of Hohenems, Count Franz Willhelm III (1692 – 1759), Neu-Ems/Glopper comes to the Imperial House of Lorraine as part of the estate of the Imperial Counts of Hohenems.
Glopper Castle passes to Empress Maria Theresia (1717 – 1780). The last Habsburg Empress marries Franz Stefan of Lorraine (1708 – 1765) in 1736. The title of Count of Hohenems passes to the House of Lorraine. Maria Theresia is godmother to Maria Walburga (1762 – 1828), the Hohenems heiress, who is married to the first Count of Waldburg-Hohenems.
The castle chapel falls into disuse in 1789. The important Flemish winged altar (1515/1520) has been in the Ferdinadeum Tyrolean State Museum in Innsbruck since 1835. Depicts: Left, “The Birth of Christ”, centre, “The Adoration of the Magi”, Right, “Jesus in the Temple”
Former castellan Josef Peter buys Neuems Castle from the Austrian crown in 1834.
Count Maximilian Clemens of Waldburg-Zeil-Lustenau Hohenems (1799 – 1868) inherits Neuems (Glopper) Castle in 1842. Maximilian, the second son of the first Duke of Waldburg at Zeil and Trauchburg (1750 – 1818), inherits Hohenems from his uncle, Count Clemens Alois of Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems (1753 – 1817) in 1817. Until 1830, he is the last reigning Count of Lustenau.
Until 1910, Glopper Castle is managed by the last castellan of “Castle Seppele”, Josef Waibel of Hohenems.
Emil Nolde (1867 –1956) paints Glopper Castle at Hohenems, 1893. The renowned Expressionist painter is a teacher at the Zeichnungsschule für Industrie und Gewerbe [Trade and Industry Design School] in St. Gallen from 1892 to 1897.
Count Maximilian (1870 – 1930), son of Count Clemens (1842 –1904) constructs a new roof for the tower, which still dominates the castle’s profile today.
Cardinal Achille Ambrogio Damiano Ratti (1857 - 1939), later Pope Pius XI (from 1922) resides at Glopper Castle in 1908 and 1911, and writes his biography of St. Carlo Borromeo and his sister Hortensia.
Between 1918 and 1922, the restaurant is leased by landlord and castle watchman Karl Waibel. Between 1929 and 1934, Johann Georg Amann from Hohenems leases the castle during the summer. His daughter, Anna Mathis, runs the restaurant with her husband, Rudolf. The last landlord of Glopper, who leaves in 1945, is Mitzi Lotte Lanzl from Dornbirn.
Danish Baron Paul of Reitzel-Nielsen (1881 – 1961) and his wife Anna Soffy Nielsen (nee Maartensen) and their 3 children rent parts of the castle until 1936. Paul von Reitzel writes the Chronicle of Glopper manuscript between 1922 and 1927. This historical work (461 pages) is printed and published by the Hohenems Cultural Society in 2016.
After Count Maximilian’s early death (1870 – 1930), his oldest daughter Clementine (Clea) Miller of Aicholz (1908 – 2000) inherits the Ems estate. Clea lives with her mother Ala nee Countess of Wolkenstein-Trostburg (1882 – 1979) until her death in Villa Emslieb in Hohenems.
Count Franz Josef (b. 1927), the oldest son of Count Georg (1878 – 1955) and Elisabeth, Archduchess of Austria (1892 – 1930), inherits the main Hohenems property and Glopper Castle from his cousin Clea.
Together with his wife, Priscilla, Countess of Schönborn-Wiesentheid (b. 1934), he converts two apartments for rental.
In 2016, Count Franz Josef bequeaths his Vorarlberg estate and Glopper Castle to his eldest son, Count Franz Clemens (b. 1962) Together with his wife Stephanie (Nini) nee Countess von Blanckenstein, he completely refurbishes Glopper Castle over 13 months, bringing it up to the latest standards. In 2018, Glopper Castle is opened as a 5* Luxury Secret Escape for guests from all over the world.
