Heinrichsberg Castle
The castle Heinrichsberg is in ruins north of Harzgerode hamlet Mägdesprung near the national highway 185 in the Harz district in the state of Saxony-Anhalt .
history
It is said to have been built as a protective castle for the nearby iron and steel works by the counts and later princes of Anhalt , whose ancestral castle was only about 3 km away in the Selketal . From 1307 the Counts of Stolberg are referred to as the Anhalt feudal bearers of Heinrichsberg. The original protective function of the castle changed, however, under the Stolberg occupation, because the fortifications located on the northeastern periphery of the count's possessions served as a base for highwaymen on the Harzstrasse that passed by. According to Cyriacus Spangenberg's Mansfelder Chronik, the castle was conquered by Count Dietrich and Heinrich von Hohnstein and their sons in 1344 and the muggers who lived there were executed.
The renewal of the Anhalt feudal letters about Heinrichsberg for the Counts of Stolberg took place in the years 1377 and 1381. Thereafter, for decades there was no written evidence of the castle complex , which was visibly falling into disrepair and was described as a desolate castle as early as 1491 , which was in the possession of Friedrich von Hoym found. At that time, the Lords of Hoym were also bearers of the Anhalt fiefs of Bärenrode , Bolkendorf and half of the village of Dankerode . They pledged these goods to the Counts of Stolberg, including Prince Bernhard VI. von Anhalt-Bernburg gave his consent as a feudal lord in 1452. In 1461 Count Heinrich zu Stolberg paid the owed sum of 450 Rhenish gold gulden to Friedrich the Elder. Ä., Friedrich d. J. and Heinrich von Hoym for the purchase of the two desert areas Olvesfelde and Mußeberg as well as half of the village of Dankerode.
In 1514, the princes Ernst and Wolfgang von Anhalt renewed the enfeoffment of the Stolbergs with the Heinrichsberg Castle and accessories, the village of Breitenstein , the then deserted village of Ammacht, the trees near the Graefenteich, a field near Güntersberge and the field at Lingesbach, half of the village of Dankerode and other justice. In the said feudal letter, the Stolbergian claim to several Harz estates, in particular three deserted areas between Güntersberge and Harzgerode, whose feudal bearers were the Lords of Hoym at that time, is documented. However, Count Botho was already in purchase negotiations with Knight Magnus von Hoym. The Stolberger had become sufficiently financially strong in order to establish a connection between the cities of Güntersberge and Harzgerode , which were already in his possession, through land acquisition and thus to expand the Stolberg area of power in the northeast. However, Magnus von Hoym died before the purchase contract was signed. He left behind the underage son Friedrich von Hoym, with whose guardians Count Botho zu Stolberg concluded the inheritance contract in 1518. The purchase price for these Anhalt fiefs, which had belonged to the von Hoym family since 1430, was 1,550 guilders. After reaching the age of majority, Friedrich von Hoym ratified the completed inheritance purchase in 1530, but he increased the purchase price by 900 gold guilders, since he believed that the goods had been sold below their value at that time.
The late medieval desert of Bärenrode was made habitable again by order of Count Botho zu Stolberg in the 16th century and the Vorwerk , built there from 1535, was the administrative seat of its own office. The castles of Erichsberg and Heinrichsberg, only a few kilometers away , which had sunk into insignificance due to increasing decay, were now administered from the Bärenrode office. Of the possessions of both castles, only the village of Breitenstein, which originally belonged to Heinrichsberg Castle, and the extensive forest areas had acquired greater importance.
Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 31 ″ N , 11 ° 7 ′ 56 ″ E