Old Castle (Eschollbrücken)

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Old castle
Alternative name (s): old castle jme broich, old purg
Creation time : probably 11th century
Castle type : Niederungsburg (moated castle or motte)
Conservation status: Burgstall
Standing position : probably: Niederadel (local nobility)
Place: Pfungstadt - Eschollbrücken
Geographical location 49 ° 48 '28.2 "  N , 8 ° 33' 23.6"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 48 '28.2 "  N , 8 ° 33' 23.6"  E
Height: 90  m above sea level NN
Old Castle (Hesse)
Old castle

The Alte Burg is a castle stable southwest of the Pfungstadt district of Eschollbrücken in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district in Hesse . It is believed that the remains of a well in the 11th century as Wasserburg landscaped lowland castle are.

Geographical location

The castle site, which no longer shows any remains above ground, is located west-southwest of Eschollbrücken and north of Pfungstadt- Hahn on what is now arable land in the Rhine plain on the edge of a former loop of the Neckar .

description

There are no known remains of the Burgstall above ground. Subterranean remains were only recognized in aerial photographs and geophysical prospecting in 1986 and 1992 and provided detailed results after previous excavations from the 1930s and 1972 brought no clues or clues. An almost hexagonal double defensive wall with a maximum diameter of 60 meters could be seen. At the open east end there was an almost circular area about 35 meters in diameter, to which a tower castle similar to a moth is assigned. A system of long-leveled moats or moats surrounded the complex and was up to ten meters wide. The water was probably supplied by the Modau or one of its tributaries before it was diverted in the 14th century. In the 1930s, piles were found in the ground that are seen as the remains of a bridge on a path leading to the northeast from the castle towards Eschollbrücken.

Documents from the High Middle Ages attest to a low-nobility family at Eschollbrücken, to whom the castle is awarded. Documented from 1122 to 1223, they are listed as de Eschelbruccin , de Escenebruche or de Eschilbruccun among the nobiles viri, the noble men in the witness lists of documents. Rupert von Eschollbrücken in particular , documented from 1188 to 1223, seems to have played a special role. As Vogt for the cloister courtyard of Haßloch near Rüsselsheim in the service of Archbishop Siegfried II of Eppstein of Mainz , he exchanged these rights for goods at the entrance to Eschollbrücken Castle, which until then had belonged to the monks of the Cistercian monastery in Eberbach in the Rheingau . Rupert is mentioned in 1222 when he lived as a monk in the Lorsch Monastery . In 1223 the lords of Eschollbrücken died out, the inheritance fell to those of Erligheim and in 1317 as a Würzburg fiefdom to Wilhelm I. von Katzenelnbogen .

Presumably the castle was destroyed in disputes between the Count Palatine and Kurmainz as early as the 13th century and possibly only partially or not at all rebuilt. Remains were used as a quarry by the residents of the surrounding villages. According to Horst Lehning, long-time chairman of the Association for Local History Eschollbrücken-Eich , it is assumed that stones were also used for the construction of the Eschollbrücken church around 1480. As late as 1460, the castle site was still referred to as "old burg jme broich" in a Dornberg invoice and in 1506 as "old purg" in an interest book . After that, there were no more documents with direct reference to it. It is not known whether the castle was abandoned or left to decay.

The site is recognized as a ground monument , but is still used for agricultural purposes . With a planned bypass road west around Eschollbrücken and Eich, there is a risk that the Burgstall and its evidence in the ground could be cut and destroyed. The Association for Local History Eschollbrücken / Eich 1982 eV is trying to preserve the remains of the castle in terms of monument preservation and to stop agricultural use in the area, as further destruction is feared.

Area names

off de baerje ( uff der Bürg , Auf der Burg), 1633, 1697, 1770 and auff the old castle 1697 are documented district names that have kept the castle's location in Eschollbrück's history alive.

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 2nd Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1995, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 524
  • 850 years of Eschollbrücken , 1972
  • Thomas Steinmetz: Early low castles in southern Hesse and adjacent areas. Ober-Kainsbach 1989,
  • Peter and Marion Sattler: Castles and Palaces in the Odenwald , Verlag Edition Diesbach, Weinheim 2004, p. 52
  • Horst Lehning: The Lords of Eschollbrücken and their castle , publisher: Association for local history Eschollbrücken-Eich 1982 eV, Pfungstadt-Eschollbrücken 1997, 44 pages

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.epperstadt.de: "1122 AD. The Lords of Eschollbrücken and their castle"
  2. ↑ Eschollbrücken's sunken castle ( memento from June 30, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) ( archeology : Horst Lehning deals with the history of the Lords of Eschollbrücken - remains of the wall underground ) from August 4, 2011, (accessed April 29, 2012; Note: Article is only available as a registered user)
  3. ↑ Sattler: Castles and palaces in the Odenwald
  4. ↑ Concern for the remains of the Eschollbrücker castle Darmstädter Echo Online: Article by Claudia Stehle: Concern for the remains of the Eschollbrücker castle , from July 7th, 2015
  5. ↑ "District name: Eschollbrücken Gem. Pfungstadt, Darmstadt-Dieburg district". Hessian field names. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).