Old Warberg Castle
| Old Warberg Castle | |
|---|---|
| Alternative name (s): | Old Warberg Castle |
| Creation time : | approx. 11. / 12. century |
| Castle type : | Hill castle, moth |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall, remains of a wall |
| Standing position : | Aristocratic residence |
| Place: | Community-free area Schöningen |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 10 '10.8 " N , 10 ° 53' 58.5" E |
| Height: | 237 m above sea level NN |
The Old Warberg Castle was a high medieval hill castle ( Turmhügelburg ) (Motte) belonging to the von Hagen family on the eastern slope of the Elm ridge in the community-free area of Schöningen west of Warberg . According to historical tradition, the castle was stormed and violently destroyed in a campaign of revenge during the throne dispute between the Guelphs and the Staufers , which is confirmed by archaeological research in the 1960s. After the destruction, the noble owners founded the Warberg moated castle about two kilometers north-east in the lowlands .
location
The remains of the Warburg are now under forest on the eastern slope of the Elm , about two kilometers southwest of Warberg . They can be reached on a forest path that leads from the Warberg-Räbke road up to Elmautostraße. About halfway (1200 meters) along the path, which is partly accompanied by the Güldenspring stream, a sign points to the Warburg ramparts, which are about 50 m west of the path.
description
At the castle site of the moth type there are no earlier stone remains today. Two earth walls and a double system of ditches protected the castle plateau with a diameter of around 45 meters. There is no elevation of the plateau due to an embankment. The inner and outer trenches are now up to 20 meters wide and around three meters deep. Originally the trench depth was five meters. The ditch is missing in the north. Even today, the surrounding ramparts are several meters high. It is estimated that the castle was built around the year 1100.
history
Historically, the castle is assigned to the von Hagen family. The background to their destruction was the dispute for the throne between the Staufers ( Philipp von Schwaben ) and Welfen ( Otto IV ). King Philip of Swabia celebrated Christmas in 1199 in Magdeburg, where the decision was made to launch an army campaign against the Guelph Braunschweig in mid-1200. The Guelph Palatine Heinrich learned of the plan and anticipated the attack by the Staufers by destroying Calbe in Magdeburg . As a punitive action, the Hohenstaufen partisan Archbishop Ludolf von Magdeburg took his army against the Warburg in 1200, which he captured and destroyed in a hard fight. Previously, he had caused serious damage in Helmstedt . After the destruction of the Warburg, the noble lords moved their headquarters to the valley and built Warberg Castle as a moated castle not far away during the first decades of the 13th century .
excavation
From 1962 to 1965, the archaeologist Hans Adolf Schultz undertook excavations on the area , which should provide information about the type of high-medieval hill-towers, which has hardly been researched in this area. Particularly promising was the fact that the castle was violently destroyed in 1200 and afterwards no reconstruction took place. An almost original find situation without later disruptions was thus to be expected. The excavation work was carried out on the castle hill, as only here remains of buildings were to be expected. The archaeologists came across foundation walls at a depth of 3.8 m. The find at this great depth is explained by the fact that the stone material of the destroyed castle was later removed as building material. Only the cellar of the residential tower with the dimensions of 13 × 13 meters could be found. The foundation walls were 3 m thick. On the castle hill there was a heating building with the dimensions of about 5 × 5 meters and a gatehouse of 7 × 9 meters, which also served as a farm building and in which two brick stoves stood. Other unearthed facilities were the castle fountain , an iron melting furnace and an oven. In the approximately 20 cm thick cultural layer of the rubble, the archaeologists made rich individual finds of everyday objects of the castle residents such as arrowheads , spurs , horseshoes , knives. The most important find is a 8.5 cm high, carved tablet made of bone depicting three towers. Initially, the image of a medieval residential tower was seen in it. Today it is interpreted as a stylized cityscape. A striking 3.5 cm long fitting made of bone with the allegorical image of a winged dog .
More Elm castles
On the wooded ridge of the Elm , other medieval castle locations have been identified in various places :
- The Elmsburg was from the 11th century castle surrounded by a prehistoric ring wall . Their remains are in the Schöninger Forest at around 270 m above sea level, above the town of Twieflingen .
- At the former settlement of Langeleben , the gable wall of an old moated castle has been preserved on a hill protected by ditches .
- The Reitling fortifications as prehistoric ring walls in the Reitlingstal . As a plateau inside the "Krimmelburg" there is a medieval castle site.
- Moated castle of the Teutonic Order on the Great Pond in Reitlingstal , later Vorwerk , no remains, today pasture and farm.
literature
- Hans Adolf Schultz : Castles and palaces of the Braunschweiger Land. Braunschweig 1980, ISBN 3-878840128
- Hans-Wilhelm Heine : Warberg, the "old castle" in the Elm . In: The Braunschweiger Land . Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany 34 , 1997, pp. 259–264.
- Gundula Müldner: The old Warberg castle in the Elm, Helmstedt district. A tower castle from the 11th and 12th centuries in the eastern Braunschweiger Land. In: Burgen und Schlösser 42,3, 2001, pp. 130–135.
Web links
- Entry by Sandy Bieler on Warberg, Alte Burg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Old Warberg Castle in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Description of the castle in the Braunschweig-Ostfalen region
- Warburg Castle on Braunschweig tours
- Reconstruction drawing in the medieval state