Blankenhorn Castle (Eibensbach)

Blankenhorn Castle
Blankenhorn castle ruins
Creation time :	1220 to 1230
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Construction:	Humpback cuboid
Place:	Güglingen - Eibensbach
Geographical location	49 ° 2 '29.6 "  N , 8 ° 59' 27.9"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 2 '29.6 "  N , 8 ° 59' 27.9"  E
Height:	378.6  m above sea level NN

Blankenhorn Castle is the ruin of a hilltop castle above Eibensbach , a district of Güglingen im Zabergäu in the Heilbronn district in Baden-Württemberg .

The castle was probably built around 1220/30 by the Lords of Neuffen and belonged to Württemberg until 1327 . It was once of strategic importance on the Rennweg , an old mountain trail on the Stromberg . After the Rennweg lost its importance, the importance of the castle was also lost, which deteriorated in the 15th century and was dismantled from 1479 and used as a quarry.

Geographical location

The castle ruins stand on a heavily forested mountain spur ( 378.6  m above sea  level ) protruding north from the Stromberg above or south of Eibensbach . To the south the castle is cut off from the mountain range by two ditches .

history

According to the building findings on the oldest humpback blocks, the castle was built as a shield wall castle around 1220 to 1230 and was first mentioned in 1241. When it was first mentioned, the castle was owned by the Lords of Neuffen , a family of ministers from the Hohenstaufen dynasty . Heinrich II. Von Neuffen was in the service of Emperors Friedrich II. And Heinrich (VII.) , His brother Berthold was Protonotarius at the royal court from 1212 to 1216 and later Bishop of Brixen. In 1180, the nearby Güglingen was still a Hohenstaufen allodial property , so that the land around Blankenhorn Castle was probably given to the Neuffeners as a gift from the Hohenstaufen dynasty around 1200 and Heinrich II. Von Neuffen had started building the castle there. The castle probably got its name from the Neuffen coat of arms, which shows three horns. The reason for choosing the place to build the castle is to be found in the Rennweg , an old high path on the ridge of the Stromberg, along which numerous castles were built in the high Middle Ages, from which traffic was controlled and the right of escort was exercised. In addition, the Lords of Neuffen tried to build up a larger, closed rule around Güglingen, which, however, failed within two generations.

After the death of Heinrich II. Von Neuffen, the castle passed to his son, the minstrel Gottfried von Neuffen , who divided the property between his children Rudolf and Maria. Maria married one of the lords of Magenheim , with which half of Blankenhorn Castle fell to this family. The Magenheim half of the castle came through two inheritance to Burkard von Hohenberg, who sold the ownership share to Württemberg in 1321 . Rudolf von Neuffen initially pledged his half of the castle with all of Güglingen to Konrad von Weinsberg , but sold the property to Gerlach von Breuberg in 1296. Rudolf's son-in-law Konrad von Flügelau bought the property back and bequeathed it to the Count of Eberstein in 1313 . In 1327, however, this part of the property and thus the entire castle was also in the hands of Württemberg.

Württemberg initially pledged the castle to Mainz. In 1472 the castle came to Hermann von Sachsenheim as a fief, but contrary to the conditions imposed on him, he let the complex fall into disrepair. Apparently the Rennweg had lost its importance and with it the castle. From 1479 the dismantling of the castle began by forester Bartel Luz, who sold the castle timber and bricks. The ruins later served as a quarry.

The ruin is now a popular destination. It is open and accessible all year round without admission. A roofed barbecue area has been set up inside the courtyard.

investment

The castle was built on a rectangular floor plan, the narrow sides were in the north and south. To the south towards the moat, the castle was reinforced by an 18-meter-high and 3-meter-thick shield wall made of sandstone humpback ashlars , which still makes up the most impressive part of the ruins. The former access to the castle was on the western long side of the complex, where a simple arched portal leads into the inner courtyard. In the southern part of the castle complex there was a four-storey residential building ( Palas ), which was leaned against the shield wall. The number of floors 2.20 to 3 meters high can still be recognized by corbels and beam holes in the masonry. In the north, the facility has been largely destroyed, so that there is no information about the remaining building stock. Blankenhorn Castle does not seem to have had a tower or keep . On the mountain side of the inner moat there is a sloping Eskarpemauer , which supports the terrain and should be another obstacle against attackers in the inner moat, and which is only found in a few medieval castles.

• 

  Blankenhorn castle ruins in Andreas Kieser's forest camp books (1684)

• 

  Floor plan of the ruin (north is on the right)

• 

  Shield wall from the southwest, including the Eskarpemauer in the moat

• 

  Western castle wall

• 

  Hunchback cuboid with stonemason's mark

• 

  Remains of the four-story hall

• 

  View through a window of the hall into the castle to the entrance gate in the west wall

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Map services ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the BfN 

literature

• Alexander Antonow: Castles of southwest Germany in the 13th and 14th centuries - with special consideration of the shield wall . Verlag Konkordia, Bühl / Baden 1977, ISBN 3-7826-0040-1 , pp. 120-123;
• Karl-Heinz Mistele: The castle Blankenhorn and Güglingen - a property of the lords of Neuffen . In: Swabia and Franconia. Local history supplement of the Heilbronn voice . 4th year, no. 1 . Heilbronner Voice publishing house, February 1, 1958, ZDB -ID 128017-X .

Web links

Commons : Burg Blankenhorn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files