Boyneburg

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Boyneburg
Wall remains with donjon

Wall remains with donjon

Alternative name (s): Bemelburch, Boumeneburc
Creation time : before 1107
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status: two sides of the keep, chapel
Standing position : Ministeriale
Construction: Quarry stone, boss cuboid
Place: Wichmannshausen
Geographical location 51 ° 6 ′ 6 "  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 34"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 6 "  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 34"  E
Height: 513  m above sea level NHN
Boyneburg (Hesse)
Boyneburg

The Boyneburg , also called Bemelburch , is the ruin of a summit castle in the urban area of Sontra in the Werra-Meißner district in Hesse ( Germany ).

Geographical location

The Boyneburg mountain from the north

The Boyneburg ruin is located in the Ringgau around 2.5 km east-southeast of Wichmannshausen , a north-north-east district of Sontra. It is located on the wooded mountain Boyneburg ( 513  m above sea  level ), a limestone mountain with steep slopes that rises between the rivers Netra in the north, Ulfe in the southwest and Sontra in the west. The castle covered around 4.5 hectares of the partly unwooded hilltop area. In the northern part of the mountain are on the steep slope at around 490  m above sea level. NN the remaining castle ruins in today's nature conservation and FFH area Boyneburg and Schickeberg near Breitau .

In the valleys around the mountain in the west are the Old Boyneburg Castle in Wichmannshausen , the Boyneburgk Castle and the associated Boyneburgk estate below the western slope and the Harmuthshausen estate to the east of the mountain .

investment

The main castle is separated from the outer castle by a ditch . It has a trapezoidal shape, the wider side of which is directed towards the south-facing slope. In the north, above the sloping steep slope, is the narrow side of the castle complex. The outer bailey was secured by three trenches that can still be seen today.

Of the buildings, only two 25 meter high walls of the pentagonal keep and some foundation walls have been preserved. The gatehouse attached to the keep was only rebuilt in its original location in 1952 and 1953. The masonry shows quarry stone and boss blocks .

The ruin is still owned by the von Boyneburg family today . Both the family and the castle appear under the names Bumeneburc (1123), Boimeneburch (1137), Buonineburch (1156), Böbeneburc (1217), Boimiberg (1261), Bonneburg (1262), Bömeneburg (1292), Boyneborg (1392) in documents. Even today, the names Bemelburg, Bomeneburg or Boeneburg for the ruin and the mountain exist in the region.

history

It is certain that there was already a refuge on the Boyneburg mountain in prehistoric times . The mountain came into the possession of the Counts of Northeim in the 11th century , who probably built the first fortifications from tree trunks. It is believed that the name of the castle and the mountain was derived from this. The castle was first mentioned in 1107 as "Bemelburch" in a document from King Heinrich V , who had the castle destroyed because of raids by the castle men. Nevertheless, Count Siegfried III. von Northeim , son of Otto von Northeim , rebuilt the castle from the king as an imperial fiefdom and rebuilt it. After his death in 1108, Count Siegfried IV von Northeim took over the castle; from 1123 he was also called "Commes de Boumeneburc". He died in 1144 as the last male descendant of the von Northeim family, and the castle returned to the emperor as a settled fiefdom.

Between 1150 and 1160 Abbot Markward von Fulda took over the castle in need of repair and had it repaired again. He wanted to protect the monastery's possessions in the region from the castle. Emperor Friedrich I (Barbarossa) visited the castle for the first time in 1156, and it was called an imperial castle. Barbarossa held a court day at the castle in 1166 and a diet in 1188, and in 1188 donated income for the priesthood in the castle chapel. In 1189, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa von der Boyneburg started the third crusade, in which he died in 1190.

Since the castle was located between the important imperial estates in the Harz Mountains and in the Wetterau , it was of importance in terms of imperial politics . It was occupied by imperial ministerial castle men who named themselves after the castle from at least 1138. This family split into three branches in the 13th century.

After the end of the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession in 1264, Landgrave Heinrich I of Hesse received eight fortified villages on the Werra from Heinrich von Meißen ; Eschwege was among them. On May 12, 1292, Heinrich I was enfeoffed by King Adolf with Eschwege and the Boyneburg castle as a hereditary imperial principality and thus obtained the dignity of imperial prince. For more than two centuries this led to disputes with the former Reichsministerials at the castle, who did not recognize the feudal rule of the Landgraves of Hesse . A comparison between the Landgraves and those of Boyneburg was only made in 1449, and from 1460 onwards, the von Boyneburg held the castle as a Hessian inheritance. At that time, however, they had already left the castle and taken up residence on their property below the castle.

After 1571 a bailiff still lived in the castle, and it was still in good condition in 1595, but then began to deteriorate. During the Thirty Years' War , the castle was sacked by troops under the orders of Tilly in 1626 and partially burned down by Croats in 1637 . Nevertheless, it was occupied by a Vogt until 1672, before it was finally abandoned and served as a quarry for the people of the area.

Todays use

Church service at the castle
Castle courtyard on Ascension Day

The castle area is under monument protection , the castle hill is used for forestry. Because of its importance for the history of the empire and the country, archaeological excavations have already taken place several times. The Boyneburg is also a tourist attraction in the Ringgau. Every Ascension Day , the bread donation, the bread donation festival , is celebrated in the castle .

"Das Fräulein von Boyneburg" (in several versions) is a legend that comes from the work of the Brothers Grimm "The German sagas":

In the distant past, long years ago - when this castle was still inhabited by the von Boyneburg family, 3 sisters also lived here, united in deep love. The youngest, who was born during a thunderstorm, had once dreamed of these sisters that she would lose her life in a thunderstorm.
When she reached her 18th year, a strong thunderstorm approached the Boyneburg and stayed over it for three days and nights. Then the youngest lady remembered her dream and shared it with her sisters, who decided to sacrifice themselves for their darling; The two eldest hurried to the castle gate, begged heaven's grace for protection and were ready to die. But the thunderstorm did not give way. Then the youngest lady recognized her fate, courageously and trusting God she moved out in front of the castle, in a fervent prayer she recommended her soul to the Most High - a bolt of lightning flashed and she was gone - that too Thunderstorms were gone, it was reconciled.
This donation will be distributed in her memory.

The foundation of the donation by the doomed Miss von Boyneburg, who is said to have determined in his will - according to some of the traditional versions of the legends - "that on the day of her death the whole community should be fed and given gifts" .

This service is only allowed to be held by a pastor from the Datterode district . There is still bread and bacon here today. The bread is thrown into the crowd by the current lord of the castle, Baron von Boyneburgk. Part of the bread is distributed to the surrounding communities as well as to school children and senior citizens who live in the vicinity of the Boyneburg. The other part is thrown into the crowd in the courtyard.

literature

  • Thomas Diehl: Aristocratic rule in the Werra area. The Boyneburg court in the process of laying the foundations for early modern statehood (late 16th to early 18th century). Hessian Historical Commission Darmstadt and Historical Commission for Hesse, Darmstadt and Marburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-88443-314-0 ( sources and research on Hessian history 159 ).
  • Greaves: Travel Guide Upper Hesse-Kurhessen-Waldeck . Volume 230, Verlag Karl Thiemig AG, Munich 1981, p. 194 ff
  • Rudolf Knappe: Palaces and fortresses in North and East Hesse . Wartberg Verlag Gudensberg-Gleichen, 1996, ISBN 3-86134-237-5 , pp. 30-31
  • Gerd Strickhausen, The Boyneburg near Eschwege. Investigations into the building history of a Hohenstaufen imperial castle . Sources and research on Hessian history Volume 86/01, Marburg 1993. ISBN 3-88443-175-7 . 99 p., 67 ills., 6 plans.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 332f.
  • Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen: Kulturelle Entdeckungen Nordhessen , Volume III, Verlag Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1849-6 . Page 165

Web links

Commons : Boyneburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Water map service of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection ( information )
  2. "Burgen II, 1250–1500". Historical atlas of Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  3. ^ Uwe Fiedler: The Boyneburg near Sontra-Wichmannshausen. Settlement from the Neolithic Age, fortifications from the Celtic period, castles from the High and Late Middle Ages on the mountain plateau in the Werra-Meißner district . In: Hessian State Office for Monument Preservation, Dept. for Prehistory and Early History (ed.): Archaeological Monuments in Hessen . Issue 98.Wiesbaden 1992, p. 15 .