Altwindstein Castle
| Altwindstein Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 The castle ruins around 1900 |
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| Creation time : | 12th Century | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, rocky location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Ministeriale | |
| Place: | Wind stone | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 59 '55.8 " N , 7 ° 40' 54.6" E | |
| Height: | 340 m | |
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Altwindstein (French Vieux-Windstein ) is the ruin of a medieval castle in Windstein in Alsace .
geography
The rock castle stands directly above the village at a height of 340 meters. The Altwindstein double complex forms the Windstein group of castles with the Neuwindstein castles - also a double complex - and Mittelwindstein Castle .
history
middle Ages
Until 1130 the area of the Northern Vosges around Windstein was largely empty of settlements. The oldest surviving mention of the castle comes from 1205 in a document from King Philip . The text of the document - the Hohenstaufen Reichsministeriale Heinrich von Windstein had the castle of Philip's predecessors as a fief - suggests that the castle was much older. According to allegations, the wind would Steiner highway robbery operate, it came in 1332 to the siege of du Vieux Windstein by the Bishop of Strasbourg , the city Hagenau , the lords of Lichtenberg and the Governor Rudolf von Hohenberg. The castle was captured after ten weeks of siege, in which 80 miners , four throwing machines and two mobile protective roofs were used. Despite a ban, the castle was restored.
In 1362 it was owned as a Ganerbeburg by four owners who had previously quarreled:
- Ludwig von Kirkel, an heir of Wilhelm von Windstein (1/2),
- Lords of Lichtenberg (1/6),
- Gerhard Harnesch von Weißkirchen, married to Katharina von Windstein (1/6) and
- Cunz von Windstein (1/6).
After the Lords of Kirkel died out in 1386, their imperial fiefs , including half of the castle, fell back to the empire. Fiefdoms of the empire for the Electoral Palatinate from 1387 and 1398 to the "Veste Weynantstein", the location of which remained unknown for a long time, refer to Altwindstein according to current research.
After 1470 the Windsteiners died out in the male line .
Modern times
It is disputed whether the castle was damaged in the Peasants' War . Electoral Palatinate soldiers defended Altwindstein in the Thirty Years' War , during which the castle was badly damaged or destroyed. The final destruction took place in 1676/1677 by French troops under General Monclar . Since not only the defenses, but also lands, forests and rights belonged to a castle, Altwindstein was still a property that was listed in the corresponding registers. In the 18th century, a third of the castle belonged to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt and was assigned to the Niederbronn office there. The other two thirds belonged to the Lords of Dürckheim .
With the upheaval that began with the French Revolution , the castle finally came under French sovereignty.
investment
Altwindstein consists of two independent systems that lie on a common rock ridge that is around 160 meters long in north-south direction and are separated by an artificially extended, 25-meter-long incision.
The south facility, also known as the front castle, towers over an approximately 20 meter high vertical rock that is no longer accessible today. There are two rock chambers on the rock, including a cistern . The stairway to the top rock was on its west side, probably within a leaning building. The castle fountain and the remains of a chapel are located in the upper castle south of the tower . a preserved round arch frieze is assigned to the chapel and dated to the 12th century. The upper castle is accessed from the northeast via an artificially sloping rock ditch, which is surmounted by two bridges, and then runs through a rock corridor to which several rock chambers connect. There is another access to the well shaft from a rock chamber. The lower castle lies east and south of the rock ridge; at present it is built on with a residential building and is not open to the public. The lower castle is structured in terraces by carved rock steps; In the rock face of the upper castle there are rock cellars and beam holes, which indicate buildings that have been built here. The main gate of the south facility was at the south end of the rock ridge.
To the west of the south complex there are two underground passages from the time of the siege of 1332. A siege passage ends below an overhang of the rock ridge; Another short walk crosses the rock ridge and ends above the lower castle. A tunnel driven by the defenders of the castle starts at the main gate of the castle and ends blindly a few meters before the corridor of the besiegers.
The north enclosure, also known as the rear castle, has a similar structure to the south enclosure. On the basis of building remains that still exist today, the buildings are dated to the 14th and 15th centuries; The north facility was probably only built after the south facility was destroyed in 1332. The stump of a pentagonal tower , probably built in the 14th century, has been preserved on the top rock of the north installation . The tower was accessed from the upper castle to the north , from which a rock chamber and a cistern have been preserved. The lower castle is mainly to the east of the ridge; the rock staircase leading to the upper castle begins within a trapezoidal tower built on the rock from the 15th century. One and a half storeys high wall remains with rectangular windows remain from another building. Processing on the rock and numerous beam holes testify to another building on the rock face. A short walk through the rock leads to a narrow building that no longer exists, the only one west of the ridge. To the south, the lower castle is closed off by an artificially sloping rock ditch.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Considerations on sieges and opposing castles using examples from the southwest German language area. (PDF; 3.6 MB) p. 11.
- ^ Johann Henrich Bachmann: Palatinate Zweibrükisches Staats-Recht. Tübingen 1784, p. 151 f. ( books.google.de ).
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↑ August Heintz: Lost place names. In: Historical Association of the Palatinate, Historical Museum of the Palatinate: Mittheilungen of the historical Association of the Palatinate. Volume V, Speier, 1875, p. 116 f. ( books.google.de );
Steffen Bergner, Jürgen Keddigkeit: Weinantstein. P. 276. - ^ Friedrich Knöpp: Territorial inventory of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg Hesse-Darmstadt part . [typewritten] Darmstadt 1962. [Available in the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt , signature: N 282/6], p. 14.
literature
- Thomas Biller: The Windstein group of castles and the building of castles in the northern Vosges. Architecture department of the Art History Institute of the University of Cologne, Cologne 1985.
- Peter Pohlit: Alt-Windstein. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit , Alexander Thon, Karl Scherer, Rolf Übel (eds.): Palatinate Burgenlexikon. Volume 1: A – E (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate. Volume 12.1). Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2003, ISBN 3-927754-51-X , pp. 152–167.
- Steffen Bergner, Jürgen Keddigkeit: Weinantstein. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit, Alexander Thon, Rolf Übel (eds.): Palatinate Burgenlexikon. Volume 4.2: St – Z (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate. Volume 12.4.2). Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2007, ISBN 978-3-927754-56-0 , p. 276.
- Nicolas Mengus, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Châteaux forts et fortifications médiévales d′Alsace. Dictionnaire d′histoire et d′architecture. La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2013, ISBN 978-2-7165-0828-5 , pp. 350–353.
Web links
- Pictures of Altwindstein Castle on Burgenparadies.de