Braunsberg Castle
| Braunsberg Castle | ||
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 Braunsberg Castle from the west, aerial photo (2015) |
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| Alternative name (s): | Braunsburg | |
| Creation time : | around 1200 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, rocky location | |
| Conservation status: | Ruin (upper castle) , essential parts preserved (lower castle) |
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| Standing position : | High nobility | |
| Place: | Anhausen | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 29 '31.9 " N , 7 ° 31' 17" E | |
| Height: | 265 m above sea level NHN | |
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The castle Braunsberg , also brown castle or fortress castle Brown called, is the ruin of a rock castle on the eastern flank of the Aubachs within the boundaries of the local community Anhausen in northern Rhineland-Palatinate . It is one of the family castles of the Wiedische Counts .
location
The ruin of the Höhenburg lies on a rock spur above the Aubach valley . It can therefore only be easily reached from one side. This attack and access side was optimally protected against attackers by a wide ditch sunk into the rock as an obstacle to approach and a natural rock. All other three sides are protected by quite steep slopes down into the Aubach valley and are therefore difficult to access. A storming of the castle was out of the question from these sides, so that one can attest to the builders' great expertise in the choice of the location.
In terms of landscape, the castle ruins are located on the Burgberg (field name Braunsberg) on the Sayn-Wied plateau belonging to the Niederwesterwald at an altitude of 265 m above sea level. NN , air line approx. 2 km west-southwest of the village of Anhausen, north-northeast of the reservoir in the Aubachtal, on an imaginary line between Altwied (district of the city of Neuwied ) and Anhausen, approx. ¾ km northwest of the center of an imaginary line between Oberbieber (district of the City of Neuwied) and Anhausen.
history
Braunsberg Castle was built around 1200 by Bruno I von Isenburg - later Isenburg-Braunsberg. Bruno was married to Theodora von Wied. After the death of the last male heir, Bruno's son Bruno II founded the second count house of the Counts of Wied.
The castle site is owned by the Wiedian princely family and to this day (as of 2010) the seat of a district forester of the Princely Wiedian forest administration.
investment
Architecturally, it was a rare form of a multi-edged, squat residential tower . However, this is the result of later modifications and additions, as can still be seen from the remains that have been preserved (as of September 2007). The original shape cannot be reconstructed from the remains or from existing historical photographs from the interior of the ruin. An archaeological investigation could possibly provide information here. This option seems particularly interesting because the Burgplatz has been largely abandoned since the 18th century and therefore there was no large-scale overbuilding, so there are no disruptions. The walls, some of which rose to the roof, were almost completely destroyed by US artillery fire in March 1945. Repairs to the war damage in the part of the lower castle used by the forestry department resulted in a modern forest operation with a living area in the middle of the castle grounds. Probably, however, the destruction in the controversy that entered regional historiography as the “Braunsberg War” between the Neuwied city founder, Count Friedrich III. zu Wied, as well as troops from the Electorate of Cologne and Palatinate, severely disrupted the original character of the complex in the period after the Thirty Years War . There is said to have been a siege and deaths, so you weren't squeamish - since guns played a decisive role in warfare back then, the defenses of the castle will have suffered.
literature
- Frank Hachemer: Braunsburg - a forgotten castle ruin. In: Rheinische Heimatpflege . Vol. 30, 1993, pp. 25-28.
- Heinrich Neu, Hans Weigert: The art monuments of the district Neuwied. L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1940, pp. 67-70.
Web links
- Entry on Braunsberg Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute