Blankenstein Castle (Gladenbach)

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Blankenstein Castle
Blankenstein Castle - Excerpt from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian the Younger 1655

Blankenstein Castle - Excerpt from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian the Younger 1655

Creation time : around 1237
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Free nobles
Place: Gladenbach
Geographical location 50 ° 46 '17.5 "  N , 8 ° 34' 8"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 46 '17.5 "  N , 8 ° 34' 8"  E
Blankenstein Castle (Hesse)
Blankenstein Castle

The Blankenstein Castle is the ruins of a hilltop castle in the town of Gladenbach in the west of the district Marburg-Biedenkopf ( Hessen ).

history

Overview of the preserved ruins

The castle was probably built before 1237 to secure a trade route , namely to protect the formerly important "strata publica", also called "Köln-Leipziger-Straße" or " Brabanter Straße " , which ran about 1 km to the north . The castle was owned by the Lords of Merenberg . Burgmann was Ernst von Rodheim , whom the von Nordeck and von Biedenfeld drove out of the castle with the support of the Archbishop of Mainz. The castle was then taken in 1248 by Countess Sophie von Hessen ( Sophie von Brabant ), as it was in the hands of her opponents. Along with other castles in the area, it was also destroyed in order to secure the Hessian heritage for her underage son Heinrich . From 1255 the landgravine had the castle rebuilt. Then it was loaned to Gottfried von Rotenstein and Senand von Buseck .

In 1478 the Archbishop of Cologne Ruprecht von der Pfalz was imprisoned here. Landgrave Philip I of Hesse is said to have granted refuge here to the expelled Duke Ulrich von Württemberg.

In 1647 the castle was destroyed, allegedly by arson. In 1648 a new office building was built in the ruins. Today only a few ruins remain that can be visited.

literature

  • Dieter Blume, Jürgen Runzheimer : Gladenbach and Blankenstein Castle. Ed. Kur- und Verkehrsgesellschaft Gladenbach mbH, Hitzeroth Verlag, Marburg 1987, Hess. Heimatbücher, ISBN 3-925944-15-X .
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hesse - 800 castles, castle ruins and castle sites . 3. Edition. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 275-276.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 143f.

Web links

Commons : Burg Blankenstein (Gladenbach)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Blankenstein Castle in Merian's Topographia Hassiae  - sources and full texts