Bernstein Castle (Alsace)
| Amber Castle | ||
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 Upper castle of Bernstein Castle, southwest view |
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| Alternative name (s): | Château du Bernstein | |
| Creation time : | late 12th century | |
| Castle type : | Hill and hillside castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Dambach-la-Ville | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 19 '19 " N , 7 ° 23' 59" E | |
| Height: | 562 m | |
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The Burg Bernstein ( French Château du Bernstein ) is the ruins of a medieval hilltop castle near the village of Dambach-la-Ville in the Lower Rhine . According to a legend, its name comes from "Bärenstein" and not from the name for fossil resin . A nearby rock is called Falkenstein .
location
The castle ruins stand at an altitude of 562 meters above sea level in a wooded area between Dambach-la-Ville in the east and Thanvillé in the west. It is built on a granite rock and can only be reached via hiking trails.
history
Bernstein Castle, which was first mentioned in writing around 1009, is one of the oldest castles in Alsace. The walls visible today, however, date from the early 13th century.
Originally the castle belonged to the Counts of Egisheim - Dagsburg , Landgraves of Lower Alsace. The first documentary mention goes back to Hugo IV von Egisheim, who supported the Roman-German Emperor Heinrich II against the Bishop of Metz . The count let his wife Heilwig von Dagsburg live at Bernstein Castle in order to protect them from attacks. Heilwig was the mother of Pope Leo IX. who was born as Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg. The castle was from 1144 to 1225 allod of those of Egisheim-Dagsburg.
The original facility was probably destroyed by Philip of Swabia in the course of a punitive expedition at the end of the 12th century . Earlier, Count Adalbert II had allied himself with others against Philip during the German throne dispute. Bernstein Castle was later rebuilt in its current form by the Counts of Egisheim.
The two sons of Adalbert II died at a tournament organized by Baldwin IV of Flanders . His daughter Gertrude married Theobald I of Lorraine . With the death of Count Adalbert II in 1211, Bernstein Castle came into the possession of the Dukes of Lorraine . With the death of Gertrude von Dagsburg in 1225, conflicts arose over ownership. Supported by the Bishop of Strasbourg , Count Sigismund von Leiningen , Gertrude's third and last husband, occupied the castle. But the bishop changed sides and besieged the complex in 1227 and was able to conquer it. Finally, with the consent of the Roman-German Emperor Friedrich II , the facility was handed over to the diocese in 1236.
Bernstein Castle has been the seat of an episcopal bailiwick since 1236 . From 1354 to 1365 Johann II. Von Lichtenberg resided there , Lamprecht von Brunn only at the end of his time as bishop in 1374.
During the Dachstein War , mercenaries and citizens of Dambach surrounded the castle in 1421, before the armed conflict ended in 1422. The Armagnaks who came to the area in 1444 ignored the peace agreements. Insurgents of the Bundschuh movement used the castle as a shelter.
In 1580, the episcopal bailiwick was moved from Bernstein Castle to Benfeld . The castle was unused from this point on. In 1632 the complex was looted during the Thirty Years' War and then largely destroyed during the French Revolution .
In December 1932, Burg Bernstein as a monument historique under monument protection provided.
description
Bernstein Castle was built on a granite rock on the eastern slope of the roof ridge . The upper castle forms the western third of the complex facing the mountain. There is the approximately 16 meter high, pentagonal keep . Its battlements were preserved until the 20th century. A dungeon and the toilet are also part of the structure . Just east of the keep are the cistern and the two-storey palace . Its southern wall has nine windows and two loopholes . Its northern wall is less well preserved, but it still extends to the height of the former upper floor. To the east of the Palas is the chapel tower, which contained the castle chapel of St. Margaret on the upper floor . A barbican forms the transition to the lower castle .
The lower castle was built on the eastern part of the rock. The gate tower , which was only built in the 15th century, stands near the Romanesque chapel tower of the upper castle . It has several loopholes and, due to its location, offers an advantageous overview of the lower castle. At around 20 meters, the lower castle is significantly wider than the upper castle. Other buildings used to stand along its walls. However, it is not certain whether these were one or two-story, as this part of the complex has hardly been preserved. The northeast corner of the lower castle is occupied by the remains of a hunting lodge from the 19th century.
Further walls were erected below the rock and thus outside the actual castle complex. There is an outer castle gate south of the palace. The inner castle gate is located near the entrance from the lower to the upper castle. Important defenses were built to the west of the outer castle gate and thus southwest of the keep.
The elongated granite rock offered an extremely good location. The owners were able to defend themselves very effectively against attackers. The pentagonal shape of the keep was designed in such a way that there was no weak point on this narrow face of the complex. But Bernstein Castle also had disadvantages: its heavily fortified and difficult to access western part is located on the mountainside. Most of the attackers came from the Upper Rhine Plain in the east, where Dambach-la-Ville is also located. In addition, the water supply was very limited. There were no wells on the rock, only rainwater could be collected, which could be a problem in the event of a siege. Over time, the castle was expanded to include external defenses. Safe access to water was created and the lower castle was additionally protected. A similar example is the nearby Ortenberg Castle , which also stands on a rock spur .
literature
- Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The late Romanesque castle building in Alsace (1200-1250). (The Castles of Alsace Volume II) . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-422-06635-7 , pp. 184–194.
- Raphaël Bouillon: Dambach-la-Ville, des origines à nos jours . Coprur, Dambach-la-Ville, Strasbourg 1983.
- Jean Braun: Guide des châteaux forts d'Alsace . SAEP, Ingersheim 1978.
- Jean-Marie Gall: Le Bernstein, étude d'un site . In: Annuaire de la Société d'histoire et d'archéologie de Dambach-la-Ville, Barr, Obernai . No. 4, 1970, ISSN 0990-2473 , pp. 23-32.
- 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. 35–37.
- Charles-Laurent Salch: Dictionnaire des châteaux de l'Alsace médiévale . Publitotal, Strasbourg 1978.
- Dominique Toursel-Harster, Jean-Pierre Beck, Guy Bronner: Dictionnaire des monuments historiques d'Alsace . La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 1995, ISBN 2-7165-0250-1 .
Web links
- Cross-section and floor plan of the keep on burgenwelt.org
- View of the upper castle from the outer bailey
- Jean-Marie Nick: Le Bernstein. L'alignement donjon - logis - dépendances ... (French)
- Bernstein Castle on richesheures.net (French)
- Bernstein Castle in Base Mérimée : Entry 1 , Entry 2
References and comments
- ↑ Burg Bernstein on the website of the Center d'Étude des Châteaux-Forts , accessed on September 22, 2010.
- ↑ J.-M. Gall: Amber, étude d'un site .
- ↑ entry of the castle under IA00115225 in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French), accessed 22 September, 2010.
- ↑ entry of the castle under PA00084678 in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French), accessed 22 September, 2010.
- ↑ The battlements can still be seen in a photo by photographer Henri Graindorge .
- ↑ The hunting lodge was built by Félix de Dartein in the 19th century using materials from the castle. It was destroyed by fire in 2005.