Bilstein Castle (Eschwege)
| Bilstein Castle | ||
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| Castle type : | Höhenburg, summit location | |
| Conservation status: | Castle stable, remains of walls, rubble, trenches, walls, remains in newer parts | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Eschwege - Albungen | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 13 '38.3 " N , 9 ° 57' 52.9" E | |
| Height: | 284 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Bilstein Castle is an Outbound hilltop castle in Eschwege , in northern Hesse ( Germany ).
The complex, of which small remains of the wall as well as traces of the cellar and fountain have been preserved, was the seat of an influential Thuringian counts who called themselves Counts of Bilstein from around 1140/1145 onwards and which became extinct in the male line in 1306.
Geographical location
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The ruins of the castle are located at 284 m above sea level. NN high Bilstein, which has been a nature reserve with hornbeam and oak forests since 1960 and oak and service berries on the southern slope . It is located west of the village of Albungen , a north-western district of Eschwege. The Bilstein rises about 100 m above the valley of the Berka stream , not far from its confluence with the Werra . Its rocks fall almost vertically towards the Berka. The Berkatal is very narrow and steep-walled at this point and is therefore called Höllental .
history
Bilstein Castle was built by the Counts of Bilstein, probably on the remains of an earlier but then destroyed complex. The ancestors of the family have been documented at least since Wigger I in the second half of the 10th century. In 974 he was count of the Germanmark belonging to Thuringia. After being destroyed again around 1100, the castle was rebuilt by Count Rugger II (Rüdiger II) in 1120 with a floor area of 40 × 25 m, and from around 1140/45 on, Rugger and his descendants called themselves "von Bilstein". This name was later used in historiography for the ancestors up to Wigger I. Count Rugger II founded the Germerode monastery in 1144/45 , to which he and his descendants gave rich gifts.
Around 1283 the castle was mentioned as owned by Heinrich von Treffurt , who also called himself Heinrich von Bilstein. Landgrave Albrecht of Thuringia, who accused the Bilsteiners of highway robbery and breach of the peace, besieged and conquered the castle in 1291; it was probably severely damaged in the process. Ten years later, in 1301, the last Count of Bilstein, Otto II., Sold the castle - as well as his entire fief and allodial property - to Landgrave Heinrich I of Hesse. Otto died impoverished in 1306.
The castle was then administered by Hessian castle men or temporarily pledged to various noble families; so z. B. from 1350 to 1372 to the Lords of Treffurt. Already in the 13th century a Dietrich Burgmann was mentioned on the Bilstein ("Theodericum dicti de Bilsteyn castrensis" with three bushes of feathers in the seal), in 1317 a Conrad von Bilstein (seal with three stakes above and three roses below) is mentioned. Until the 16th century u. A. the lords of Hundelshausen and those of Eschwege proclaimed officials at the castle.
The castle fell into disrepair in the 16th century. It was repaired again from 1559 to 1562, but then canceled in 1594.
Possibility of viewing
From a viewing platform on the former castle grounds you can see the Berkatal to the west along the Meißner and to the east over the Werra valley to Fürstenstein Castle .
literature
- Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 60f.
- Karl Kollmann : The "Counts Wigger" and the Counts of Bilstein . Rossbach, Eschwege, 1980.
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann on Bilstein bei Albungen in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Floor plan of Bilstein Castle on burgenwelt.de