Beningaburg (Werdenum)

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Beningaburg
Creation time : around 1200 to 1300
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Burgstall
Standing position : Gentry
Place: Willum
Geographical location 53 ° 28 '37.2 "  N , 7 ° 11' 29.8"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 28 '37.2 "  N , 7 ° 11' 29.8"  E
Beningaburg (Lower Saxony)
Beningaburg

The Beningaburg was the ancestral seat of the old East Frisian chief family Beninga , whose most prominent offspring is the chronicler Eggerik Beninga . The remains of the former moated castle are on two terps between Werdenum and Grimersum in the Aurich district in Lower Saxony .

location

The marsh villages of Grimersum and Werdenum are located within a late medieval dike, on both sides of a sea bay that has silted up after being dammed. The Beningaburg is located east of the former narrow sea bay on the edge of the district of Werdenum and had direct access to the sea.

investment

The small fortification is a typical example of a chief's castle, as it was often built in East Friesland. The northern hill is around 130 m long, 80 m wide and reaches a residual height of + 4.7 m above sea level. The southern one is significantly smaller at 85 m long, 70 m wide and a residual height of +3.5 m above sea level.

The castle was explored in 1999 and 2000. Accordingly, the system was divided into two parts. In the east was the fortified tower, in the west a hall building over 30 meters long. The entire complex was surrounded by a ditch that had access to the sea.

history

The two terps of the former castle.

Documentary evidence of when the castle was built has not yet been found. According to the current state of research, the terp on which the castle was later built was probably raised over the bank of a creek in the late High Middle Ages. At that time a bay stretched as far as Grimersum. Thus the plant had a natural access to the North Sea, which was kept artificially free. The first lord of the castle known by name is Liudward Beninga (before 1354), the ancestor of the Willum line of Beninga. Apparently the castle was built by the family on a navigable arm of the sea leading to Grimersum in order to be able to control the sea trade of Werdenum.

The first construction activity on the terp is dated to the late 12th century, although it is still unclear whether this was a defensive building, such as a defense tower (such as the Bunderhee stone house ), or a purely rural building. In a later settlement horizon, foundation trenches of a stone tower and a hall building adjoining the tower were found on the larger hill. Overall, these buildings were around 44 meters long and eleven meters wide. It was built in the last phase of construction in the 14th century. The fact that the castle must have been a stately building is proven by the finds of semicircular shaped stones, roof tiles of the monk-nun type, green rolled window glass and remnants of lead glazing.

In the late 14th century, Liudward Beninga ruled in the area of Grimersum , Uttum and Jennelt as well as Werdenum, Old and New Walsum ( submerged in the Leybucht in the late 14th century ) over a property of approximately 700 hectares. The property was then divided between his sons Gerald and Tiadger. Between 1376 and 1379, the half of the castle left by Tiadger was bought by Ocko I. tom Brok , along with the rights to rule over old and new Walsum and Borkum . Around this time the Beninga family began building a new castle in Grimersum, which later became the family headquarters. In the second half of the 15th century the family apparently managed to take full possession of the castle, which had lost its strategic importance due to the dike in the bay and the resulting silting of the sea access. The castle was then destroyed in the dispute over supremacy in East Frisia, which took place between the tom Brok and the Ukena and later the Cirksena and the Ukena with their respective partisans and allies. The Beninga were allied with the Ukenas, which were ultimately defeated, at that time. A punitive expedition of the Hamburg allies with the Cirksena to fight the piracy tolerated by the East Frisian chiefs finally sealed the end of the castle and the rule of the Beninga in 1426.

Web links

Commons : Beningaburg (Werdenum)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Ostfriesen-Zeitung of June 18, 2000: Fortified castle with a tower .
  2. ^ A b Biographical Lexicon for East Frisia: Beninga .
  3. ^ Rolf bear catcher : East Frisian defense: stone houses and castles . In: Matthias Utermann (Ed.): Archeology of medieval castles . German Society for Archeology of the Middle Ages and Modern Times V., Paderborn 2008, ISSN  1619-1439 (print), ISSN  1619-148X (Internet), p. 71 (communications from the German Society for Archeology of the Middle Ages and Modern Times No. 20) ( online ( Memento des Originals from 25 November 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice .; PDF; 3.7 MB). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dgamn.de
  4. East Frisian landscape: Excavation Report 1999 .