Arnstein Castle (Saxony)
| Arnstein Castle | ||
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 Summit plateau of the former castle complex |
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| Alternative name (s): | Ottendorfer robbery castle | |
| Creation time : | before 1436 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, rocky location | |
| Conservation status: | Castle ruins | |
| Standing position : | Nobles | |
| Place: | Ottendorf | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 55 '43.8 " N , 14 ° 17' 21.5" E | |
| Height: | 327 m above sea level NN | |
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The popularly Ottendorf's robbery castle called Castle Arnstein is the ruin of a rock castle , the right side of the Kirnitzschtales located on the homonymous mountain (327 m above sea level. D. M.). Today you can still find beam bearings, stone steps, a castle dungeon, rock brackets, beam bearings for the former keep , the cistern , a cave with traces of work and rock drawings.
Location and surroundings
The Arnstein is located in the Upper Saxon Switzerland at the confluence of the Dorfbachgrund, which descends from the Ottendorf district of the city of Sebnitz, into the Kirnitzsch . In the immediate vicinity - in the Kirnitzschtal - are the old Neumannmühle and Buschmühle sawmills . The Arnstein cave, which was largely involved in the construction of the castles, has the number 5051 / SH-03 in the Saxon cave cadastre.
history
Arnstein Castle was first mentioned on August 4, 1436, when the hill fort was pledged by the owner Berken von der Dubá to Siegmund von Wartenberg († 1438) from Tetschen , a Bohemian nobleman.
Since Siegmund von Wartenberg, who was belligerent at the time, also threatened Saxon and Episcopal Meissnerian territories and the trade routes of the Upper Lusatian Six Cities on his raids , the castle was besieged in 1436 by the Electorate of Saxony and the Six City League. The knight gave up, signed an armistice and on October 19, 1436 a peace treaty followed before Emperor Sigismund in Prague.
Half a year later, one of the knight's accomplices, the Tetschen citizen Rauchfuß, called Bauerfeind, attacked six villages including Krippen , Schöna and Reinhardtsdorf . The farmers in the villages lost all of their livestock (360 cattle, 120 horses and 200 sheep) and the villagers were taken to the Arnstein and held captive there.
Thereupon the Saxon princes allied themselves with Heinrich von der Dubá von Wildenstein on August 17, 1437 , the castle was besieged again and burned down. Siegmund von Wartenberg gave up and was forced into the peace treaty in Altenburg on April 17, 1438. To prevent further disputes, Siegmund von Wartenberg had to sell Arnstein Castle to the Elector of Saxony for 500 groschen. The castle was then left to the Berken von Dubá auf Wildenstein, who only restored it in a makeshift manner.
Building
In the first construction period in the 14th and early 15th centuries, the residential tower , the living and kitchen buildings, the gates of the core castle and the farm buildings and fortifications of the outer castle were built. The entire structure was able to compete with the nearby Wildenstein Castle and was at that time one of the larger castle complexes in the area of Saxon Switzerland.
Due to the destruction in 1437/38, a second but much smaller construction period can be assumed. The lowest rock of the core castle was abandoned and the access was relocated directly from the outer castle to the middle core castle. This seems to go hand in hand with a task of any representative claim of the castle, since it could now only be entered through a narrow and difficult-to-pass crevice. With the transition of the castle to Saxony, the complex finally fell into disrepair.
Access
The best starting point for a visit to the Arnstein is the Buschmühle in Kirnitzschtal. From there, a marked footpath leads up to the castle rock in 40 minutes. In addition, several marked hiking routes lead past the Arnstein.
legend
The legend of Arnstein Castle tells that the last robber baron was braided on a wheel on a rock in front of the south and was cruelly killed in the process. He is said to have hidden a treasure in the castle. But he never revealed the hiding place. Based on the stories in the legend, excavations were carried out in the cistern in 1987/88. But no treasure was found.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brockhaus travel guide: Saxon Switzerland / Eastern Ore Mountains (1972)
- ^ A b Matthias Donath: Castles in Saxon Switzerland and in the Eastern Ore Mountains. Edition Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden 2006
- ↑ Hermann Lemme, Gerhard Engelmann: Between Hinterhermsdorf and the Zschirnsteinen. Series Values of the German Homeland , Volume 2, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1959
- ^ Alfred Meiche : Historical-Topographical-Description of the Pirna Administrative Authority , Verlag Buchdruckerei von Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1927
literature
- Claus Bartz, Eberhard Stimmel: The Arnstein - a dilapidated fortress in Saxon Switzerland . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter Heft 5/1970, pp. 202–207
- Hermann Lemme , Gerhard Engelmann: Between Sebnitz, Hinterhermsdorf and the Zschirnsteinen (= values of the German homeland . Volume 2). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1959.
- Anne Müller, Matthias Weinhold: Rock castles of Saxon Switzerland. Neurathen - Winterstein - Arnstein. Series of castles, palaces and fortifications in Central Europe, Volume 23, Verlag Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7954-2303-2