Valvasor's godfather Konrad Ruess baron Ruessenstein at the Strmol castle

Abstract

Konrad III Ruess baron Ruessenstein (1604–1668) was by birth from the vicinity of Beljak where Protestantism consolidated strongly in the second half of the 16^th century. He was the grandson of a Lutheran pastor in Paternion and of a competitive Salomon Zeidler, a many-year manager of Dietrichstein's Carinthian estates. Towards the end of his life he bought the castle and seigneury Hmeljnik and moved with the family of his daughter Dorothea, married Ruess, to Carniola. The Ruess family were ennobled; they accumulated land property and became members of the provincial nobility. After the early death of the only son, Konrad and his wife decided to donate the money they saved for their son to the Augustinians in Ljubljana in order they could build a new church. He gave Hmeljnik to his daughter and his son-in-law, and withdrew with his second wife to the Strmol castle where he was occupied with natural science and probably with alchemy.