13 th Century

The root family of the K(C)oberstein line is the K(C)ob(v)ern line. The earliest person is Gobel Romilian Von Cobern. The first name is unique, here is an interesting analysis of this name. "Goebel Name Meaning: from the personal name Göbel, a pet form of the Old High German name Godebert, composed of the elements god ‘good’ or god ‘god’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’." Romilian appears to be a name form used for this line of nobility. Von is a nobility indicator.

My sourse of this person is the Pedigree resouce file on FamilySearch. He is the oldest person in this pedigree of four generations as follows:

1. Gobel Romilian Von Kobern (1280- )
2. Ritter (Knight) Gobel / Rumilian Von Kobern (1310-1360) married to Peterse Von Kobern (1320-1360)
3. Johann Rumlian Von Cobern (1340-1380) married to Jutta Walpod Von Girsenach (1345- )
4. Ritter (Knight) kurtrierscher Rat Johann Romilian Von Cobern (1375-1420) married to Agnes Von Langenau (1361-1438).
5. They had a daugher named Agnes Von Cobern (1400-1461) who married Hans Von Eltz (1399-1480).

The famed Eltz family of the Eltz Castle which is on the Moselle river betwen Koblenz and Trier. This is one of the few castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed and you can stay here.

The marriage between the noble Kobern family (Agnes Von Cobern) and the Eltz (Hans Von Eltz) family is a typical way of forming alliances.

Here is the Eltz Castle built in the 1200s, and has remained safe and hidden since then, it is not directly on the Mosel, but a few miles inland, in its own Valley.

Up the river is the city of Kobern-Gondorf which has this castle series with the oberburg (upper castle) on the upper right and niederburg (lower castle built in the 1100s using the latest in defense architecture) in the middle and Koberner Pfarrkirche on the lower left (tower above the village).

Interestingly the Koberer Knights would have been established by the Kobern family probably accounts for an oddly out of place Koberstein Castle located in the current boundries of the Czech Republic. This castle is in ruins, with only the central keep still standing, as shown below on the left and a reconstruction sketch of what it looked like originally on the right. It can be concluded that the Kobern Knights were sent and founded this defensive castle. All we know is this castle was constructed some time in the 13th century.