Haunreit - a former seat of nobility in the Inn valley.

Up to the 20th century [there was] a river crossing here - a legendary town

Simbach. Where the Turkenbach forms the border between the coun-ties of Altotting and Rottal-Inn and thereby separates Upper Bavaria from Lower Bavaria, at its mouth on the Inn lies the quiet town of Haun-reit on a small river terrace. If one hears the name of this town, one naturally thinks of the well-known saga of the "Riverman from Haun-reit". But also in a historical per-spective, Haunreit is not an unim-portant town, for centuries here there was a river crossing (ferry) over the Inn. A noble seat is also documented in Haunreit. This was responsible for overseeing the ferry and the land transport.

Its origin is probably due to a certain "Huno". He cleared the forest here and settled with his family. This settlement was named Hunoreut af-ter him, later Haunreut. At this time the ferry probably was there as well. One assumes that it crossed the Inn by that time. During the reign of Duke Tassilos (748-788), the Abbey of Passau received rich donations from the old settlements of Stammham, Haiming, and Nieder-gottsau. A ferry must have made the connection between these three vil-lages on both sides of the Inn.

The first written records of the ferry-age and village of Haunreit appear in the year 1469. Wolfgang of Urfar (Urfar + ferryage) at Haunreit had an argument with Karl Heinrich Pergkhaimer because of a meadow. The opponents asked the sovereign duke Ludwig the rich for his advice and he determined that the "meadow together with the adjoin-ing property" had already been placed under the jurisdiction of the Urfar estate by duke Heinrich the 14th in 1331. So the meadow was again given to Haunreit. A docu-ment dated 1528 makes mention of a Matheus Haunreiter, citizen of Marktl. He was probably also a de-scendant of the "Urfar estate " of Haunreit.

During the 16th century the "freehold" status of Haunreit is con-firmed. Earth moving operations on the property have uncovered many old walls and masonry that un-doubtedly stems from the fortifica-tions of the noble residence. A de-scription dated 1589 contains the following entry: "Haunreut, a free-hold, is exempt from all taxes and compulsory labour, but he must keep horse and its armour at the ready". A similar description dated 1597 reads: "The farm Haunreut, may be cultivated by princes and has the status of noble freehold". The Haunreiter family most proba-bly obtained this "tax exemption and a noble persons freedom" from the ruler of the county when they were assigned the duty of supervising the ferry and the ferryage. The sover-eign ruler was the original owner of the rights to the passage or ferryage. He could transfer this right as he pleased. This is most likely how the ferryage became the property of Haunreit.

A gravestone in Stammham is mounted in the entrance of the church tower. It carries, on a shield, an armed knight mounted on a horse and on the two top corners a tiller and an grappling iron, the symbols of a Ferryman. Underneath is the following inscription. "Here lies buried the respectable and noble Piliph Haunreuter zu Haunreut and Margret Mittermeier, zu Lengtal, his wedded wife." As the date of death is missing, one would assume that the gravestone was carved while the couple were still alive. It is esti-mated to be from around the year 1600.

In the year 1800 the Haunreuters were still on the 140 'Tagewerke'** country manor, Josef and Anna were the owners at that time. The house and grounds were registered at the Burghausen Registry Office. A sawmill belonged to the estate as did a riverbank hut in which the ferry-man Thomas Knogler lived. Thirty years later the estate was partitioned into smaller sections and the saw mill was split from the manor. The ferry was sold to a gentleman from Nidergottsau. It now had its station on the other bank of the river Inn. In 1900 the ownership changed once more. It no longer ran between Haunreit and Niedergottsau but Stammham instead. On the Haunreit property under the gable of the wooden farmhouse is painted a boat with passengers as a memorial to the former ferry. Almost six centuries was this ferry in service. Just as long can we trace the Haunreiter lineage and it continues on to this very day.

There are also two legends that are told about the lonely hamlet on the banks of the river Inn. The first re-counts the story of one bold man of Haunreit. After the great war be-tween Bavaria and Austria, this man came riding in full armor, tall on his horse, over the remains of the nearly destroyed bridge between Simbach and Braunau. With his battle axe, he pounded on the heavy city gates of Braunau until they were opened for him. His bold act set into motion negotiations for peace between the two lands. He is referred to as the "hammer rider" because of of the "hammer" (battle axe) he carried as he rode up to the city gates.

The other story is said to originate from the time of the plagues, in 1521. One stormy night, the ferryman of Haunreit took aboard a sinister pas-senger from the far bank. This per-son was enveloped in a blood-red overcoat and had a deathlike visage. When they reached the other side, he asked the price and said: "If you will demand nothing of me, I will in turn require nothing of you." He gave the ferryman a musket ball of gold and admonished him to keep it with him at all times if he wished to be spared from the plague. The stranger then told the ferry-man that he was on his way to Zeilarn and Tann where, so he said, as many people would die as the year has days. The ferryman was indeed spared, but in Zeilarn and Tann the plague broke out and claimed many more lives than 365.

Even if there is no longer a ferry in Haunreit, and no longer a ferry-man, he still lives on in that famous saga, which is several hundred years old, and has been passed on from gen-eration to generation by word of mouth up to the present.