Blumberg Castle

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Blumberg Castle
Blumberg Castle as a drawing on the information board on the former castle grounds

Blumberg Castle as a drawing on the information board on the former castle grounds

Alternative name (s): Alt-Blumberg
Creation time : 12th to 13th centuries
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: Burgstall, hint of the neck ditch, remnants of retaining wall (lining wall)
Standing position : Ministerials / Nobles
Construction: Closed, together with the city
Place: Blumberg
Geographical location 47 ° 50 '22.2 "  N , 8 ° 31' 16.3"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 50 '22.2 "  N , 8 ° 31' 16.3"  E
Height: 675  m above sea level NN
Blumberg Castle (Baden-Württemberg)
Blumberg Castle

Blumberg Castle is the remnant of a hilltop castle west of the city of Blumberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar district in Baden-Württemberg .

The castle was destroyed in 1644 and demolished in the 19th century (the remains were finally cleared in 1967). The castle was originally owned by the Lords of Blumberg . Remnants of lining walls and the depression of the neck ditch to the outer bailey are still preserved from the former castle complex .

Starting position

The at 675  m above sea level. NN lying castle “was built on the hill that rises directly above the Wutach valley at the southwestern exit of the high valley. [...] Towards the southwest, the hill was protected by the steep slopes of the Wutach valley. From the north and east, the boggy high valley, later blocked by ponds, barred unhindered access away from an easily guarded road. The function of the castle went beyond that of a pure local castle from the start. It was obviously intended to cover the important Schaffhausen - Hüfingen road and thus joins the fortification system that the dukes of Zähringen began and the Fürstenbergs extended with their vassals. "

The complex had a military purpose, a settlement was not a requirement. Whether a settlement already existed cannot be clarified without archaeological evidence. However, the site is so convenient that it could well have been fortified at an early stage . It goes without saying that a medieval castle had a courtyard which, as an economic addition, “ensured food in times of peace and war. [...] The town of Blumberg emerged from this building and castle courtyard. "

Another aspect was that the area was usually assigned to older village brands, from which the castle and courtyard had to be removed, or a market community was formed with the neighboring villages. “It can be assumed that several neighboring communities had to cede part of their districts. [...] Since Hondingen was the mother church of Blumberg, one could assume that the later Blumberg village area had also been removed from its originally undoubtedly large and important mark. Hondingen was also the parish church of Fürstenberg. " Karl Siegfried Bader assumes," that the beginnings of a village Blumberg in the time before the emergence of the city complex consisted only of the building yard with its landless day laborers, the manorial mill and a few small farmers, which were essentially Servants and craftsmen (familia) of Burg and Hof Blumberg belonged. "

Construction of the castle

Since a family did not give their name to the castle in the Middle Ages when the castle was being built, but named itself after the place of the castle, it can be assumed that the hill was previously called Blumberg (Blumenberg) in the vernacular and that the castle builders therefore called themselves “ lords von Blumberg ”. Other explanations in the literature would be unusual and seem implausible.

"The owners of this castle were the Lords of Blumberg, who can be found in the interregnum as Ministeriale of the Counts of Freiburg , the Counts of Fürstenberg and especially as confidants of the Count and later King Rudolf von Habsburg ."

Founding time

The reference: "When the name Blumberg or Blobinberch first became documented in 1260 [...]" should probably be corrected to 1218, because according to Eduard Heyck , the place already existed this year - as a castle with an associated homestead and still without a village, because Ministeriale did not come from a simple settlement.

Early naming

It can be determined that Blumberg existed as a castle next to the villages belonging to it today when the last Zähringer, Berthold V, died in 1218. Its owners were presumably the Zähringer ministers, possibly also the Count of Urach .

The general assumption that the castle existed before the two documents from 1260 would have to be confirmed.

Documents from 1260

In a document dated March 1260, the first “brother Hans von Blůmberg” is mentioned as a witness in a “document of the knight Volker von Kemnat and his son Marquard”, which was issued “in the Paradies monastery ” (near Konstanz). "Brůder" can refer to him as a member of a religious order. The Paradies monastery was a women's monastery belonging to the Poor Clares .

According to Hans von Blumberg, a "Iohannes de Blobinberch" is mentioned in a document that same year, in July 1260, and referred to as "milites".

Representation of the castle

In a sketch-like representation from 1620 from the “Landtafel der Baar ” and more specifically on an oil painting by Martin Meinrad from 1688, the former clearly delineated location of the castle, town and village is shown.

The castle and the medieval town of Blumberg that developed from the outer bailey (information board)

Originally there was only a farm or building yard in front of the castle, to which then residences for craftsmen and finally a mill were attached. Gradually it was expanded to a reinforced city complex.

The construction phases are also clear on the drawing based on the prototypes on the information board at the western tip of the former castle grounds: to the west (right) the actual castle, then "the outer bailey separated by a ditch or the later expanded town." The "town" was located thus directly in front of the castle. The village (and today's city center) was (left) further away from the building ensemble shown.

history

The castle, which was built around the turn of the 12th to the 13th century, “was above all in a safe location and therefore primarily had a protective function. It was not intended as a representative center for the Lords of Blumberg; the castle watched over the connection between Schaffhausen and Hüfingen. "

The von Blumberg family

The confirmation of the newly elected King Rudolf von Habsburg to Johannes von Blumberg in 1274 to the right to the “Whitsun Market in Hüfingen” already indicated a property relationship that must have been established in the following twenty years - the Blumbergers become lords of Hüfingen.

Hüfingen was located at the intersection of two Roman military roads, which remained a traffic junction for more than a millennium and thus provided the basis for an "urban" center formation, which King Rudolf delegated to a loyal man to organize his sphere of influence and also made it possible for the Blumbergers on a smaller scale to form a stately territory.

"If Blumberg was the home castle of the family, then at the turn of the 13th to 14th century Hüfingen , which owes its expansion to a town and its town charter to the Blumbergers, became the center of the entire property."

- Bader: Blumberg, 1950, p. 12.

For the continuation of the tradition to the Blumbergers, a document from April 1, 1292 is decisive, which was connected with events in Hüfingen and which shows a multiplication of new families - an event that is connected with a "network of Blumberg castles":

The ownership of numerous towns and farms is also mentioned.

“At the end of the 13th century, the Blumbergers had extensive property in the southern Baar, on the western edge of the Hegau and in the Wutach Gorge . The center of this property was Hüfingen until 1383. "

14th Century

A "Hüfingen castle in connection with the city is known from a document dated January 5, 1356, in the Diethelm von Blumberg castle, city and village of Hüfingen half to Konrad von Blumberg and the other half to Johannes the younger von Blumberg and his brothers Rudolf and Albrecht sold. [...] A large part of the Blumberg noble family lived in this castle. [...] In the following, the source references become more and more frequent and an exact genealogical assignment of the individual Blumbergers is often not possible. "

In fact, almost every property was a fiefdom of the higher-ranking ruler, in the case of Hüfingen from the Landgrave of Baar to the Blumbergers, who, however, in 1356 “allow them the special grace to transfer this fiefdom at will and also to bequeath it to female heirs allowed to. The determination was confirmed again on April 3, 1380 by Count Heinrich von Fürstenberg the Burkhardt von Blumberg. ”This inheritance occurred in April 1382 with the death of Burkhardt: The Hüfinger inheritance received his“ sister Gueten von Blomberg, wife of Bentzen, in a will von Schellenberg , and their legitimate children. ”In addition, there was a dispute with the Blumberg cousins, which went out in Guta's favor. The "knight Berthold von Schellenberg [...], who comes from a family from Li [e] chtenstein [...] has been called Mr. von Hüfingen since 1383."

“With that, the Blumbergers had lost their headquarters in Hüfingen after more than 100 years and had to re-establish themselves. that is, they had to try to develop a new center that had the quality of Hüfingen. And this new center was Blumberg. "

- Bechthold: Middle Ages , p. 51.

This change was documented soon afterwards: “The Blumbergers withdrew from Hüfingen in a short time, as can be seen from a document dated September 20, 1384. There it says: 'I, Růdolf von Blůmberg, settled down to Blůmberg.' "

In the following years there are hardly any sources; the Blumbergers seem to have been primarily concerned with raising money.

“One hears for the first time from the city of Blumberg in connection with the Fürstenbergisch-Lupfischen feud . In a verdict ( attempted mediation) of April 15, 1413, Blůmberg stat was one of the witnesses to be summoned to the Rœmschen court . "

End of the Blumberg family

“Rudolf von der alten Blumberg” died in 1413 and - according to the historian André Bechthold - “no more impulses were to be expected from the dying Blumberg family”. His first-born Heinrich was sitting with his wife in Diessenhofen , one of the daughters “was married to Sigmund vom Stein, [...] whose family Blumberg finally passed on. [...] Rudolf the younger of the old Blumberg had died before April 30, 1451 and with him the Blumberg main line had died out. The Blumberg sidelines did not last long either. ”In Blumberg itself, Sigmund vom Stein and his family came to power.

New and old Blumberg Castle / Schloss

“On April 22, 1393, a new Blumberg castle was named: Eberhard von Blůmberg von der núwen Blůmberg . [...] Attempts were probably made to stabilize the western edge of the Blumberg property with another castle or to secure the Hüfinger access to the Wutach. The old Blumberg Castle served the majority of the Blumberg family on the one hand as financial support, on the other hand it should be expanded. "

The term “zur alten Blumberg” appears only in connection with the person “Rudolf von der alten Blumberg, who died in 1413” and his son of the same name “Rudolf, called von der alten Blumberg, sat zu Donaueschingen” [... and as] “Rudolf der younger von der alten Blumberg ”, who died before April 30, 1451: after Růdolf's departure from Altenblůmberg . The wording "von der Altenblumberg" or "von der alten Blumberg" is an attributive assignment to the last two owners, in contrast to those of the new castle and not a name for the complex. Another document dated May 1, 1473 shows that Sigmund von Stein was the heir of "Rudolf von Blumberg the younger of the old Blumberg". After that, when it was sold to Hans von Landau in 1484 and in future, only the "Blůmberg Castle" or, from 1507, the "Bluomberg Castle" is mentioned in the documents.

Further owners until the destruction

“The family v. Stein could not hold the rule of Blumberg for long ”and their successors,“ the Randeggers do not seem to have settled in Blumberg at all. ”In 1484 this interlude was over.

Blumberg came through inheritance to Hans von Landau , who systematically expanded the castle and town.

The castle was proven in the Swiss or Swabian War , when the town and the town defended themselves against the Swiss army that had been victoriously brought up from Waldshut : “Since 1499, Blumberg had the reputation of being the town that was the first to stop the Swiss train The unprotected village was burned down to make logistics more difficult for the attackers, but "it was rebuilt 'in its own ashes'."

"Lutz von Landau zu Blumberg sold [1529] the castle and little town to Hans Jörg von Bodman zu Bodman for 21,100 Rhenish guilders in gold ."

But just eight years later, on April 4, 1537, the guardianship of the still underage Hanswolf von Bodman, son of the buyer, sold "Castle and Stettlin Blomberg" with all rights and accessories to Count Friedrich von Fürstenberg . The purchase price remained at 21,000 Rhenish guilders.

The castle was destroyed in the Thirty Years War on May 4, 1644 by the French who had occupied it before they retreated. The commander La Valette gave the order to blow up, and - as an old chronicle reports - accidentally a spark fell into the powder and "he himself, his soldiers and several farmers were damaged and 10 were blown up and somehow burned."

After the destruction

The castle was not rebuilt with the exception of a "new building", which had functions as a stable and fruit house and was destroyed in a town fire in 1873.

In 1706 the main tower was blown up. In the 19th century the stones were "used to build houses in towns and villages". In 1960 all remnants were removed.

The only remnant that is still preserved today: the "lining wall" (inner part after the outer shell has been dismantled) of the moat wall.

According to an archaeological finding from 1991:

“Several small terraces can be observed on the west-facing spur, and overall the terrain there is very busy. […] In the east, the Schloßbuck is bordered by a neck ditch [… There] a corner of the wall made of large-format stones has been preserved. It is a remnant of the outermost lining wall of the neck ditch. […] Older components have been preserved in the building on the northeast corner of the city complex. [...] The south-east corner has a strong corner reinforcement, at the north corner a stronger wall is included in the gable wall. "

- Bechthold: Middle Ages. Pp. 52 and 55.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Determination of the process of naming by Helmut Maurer : "The builders did not call the castle by its name, but by the name given to the castle." (Helmut Maurer: The role of the castle in the high medieval constitutional history of the landscapes between Lake Constance and the Black Forest. Reprint from Die Burgen im Deutschen Sprachraum (Ed .: Hans Patze) in: Lectures and Research XIX, 1976.)
  2. ↑ The interregnum in German history was the "king loose time" in which due to the lack of central authority a "brutalization" of political morals took place ( robber barons ), but also unusual opportunities for advancement and opportunities offered personal power development. This applied to the Blumbergers.
  3. ↑ The following is also entered in Heyck's list of places: “Aachdorf, BA. Bonndorf. s. Ministerials von Aachdorf “(508), Hondingen (514), Opferdingen (517). (Eduard Karl Heinrich Heyck: History of the dukes of Zähringen. 1891-1892, reprint: Aalen 1980, p. 507 and 543).
  4. ↑ The Roman term milites was based on miles = soldier and in late antiquity also meant civil administrative officials. From this developed in the Middle Ages: "Ministeriale". From the 12th century onwards, parts of this originally unfree class of “servants” developed into the class of lower or “knightly” nobility - apart from the ability to cope with courtly duties, they had to be “armed” and economically secure through their own property. Thus, ministerials serving as knights were initially also "castle men" on their masters' castles, and since the 12th century they built their own fortified houses or small castles (ministerial castles) as members of chivalrous families who had become prosperous. For this they required the sovereign permission. The ministerial castles were not necessarily in the vicinity of rural settlements and villages. Their location was primarily dependent on the respective topographical situation and often secured the territory of their masters, to whom they had to "open" their castles on request.
  5. ↑ The painting is in the possession of the Princely-Fürstenberg family and is the only historical depiction for the period before the 19th century. The original is in Heiligenberg Castle . (André Bechthold, p. 81).
  6. ↑ Bader, p. 13. It was not until 1620 that Hüfingen was sold to the Fürstenberg family. (Eugen Balzer: The Lords of Schellenberg in the Baar. Baar XI writings, 1904.)
  7. ↑ The term stat (must) be seen in a differentiated manner [-… and] can also mean neutrally locality. (André Bechthold, p. 51, quotation p. 54.). Karl Siegfried Bader mentions a source from 1420 on page 11, but this could mean the same as above.
  8. ↑ Karl Siegfried Bader determines the last documented mentions in the “neighboring seat in Donaueschingen”, at Karpfen Castle and for the “Neublumberger Line”. The last naming of a Schaffhausen citizen could be determined in 1470. The castles along the Wutach Valley "had long since passed into other hands." The Lords of Blumeneck existed longer, but they were no longer related to the Blumbergers. (Karl Siegfried Bader, p. 20.)

literature

Web links

  • Entry on Alt-Blumberg in the private database "Alle Burgen".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quotations: Karl Siegfried Bader: Burg, Dorf, Stadt und Herrschaft Blumberg. 1950, p. 7 ff.
  2. ^ André Bechthold: The medieval Blumberg. In: J. Sturm: Blumberg. 1995, p. 71.
  3. ^ WUB 5 [Wirtembergisches Urkundenbuch], No. 1578; ThurgUB 3 [Thurgau Document Book], No. 421. Quotation and source from André Bechthold, 25 ff.
  4. ↑ Bechthold, pp. 37-42.
  5. ↑ André Bechthold, p. 42, cites: August Vetter: Hüfingen under the Lords of Blumberg. 1984, pp. 60-86.
  6. ↑ André Bechthold, p. 44 ff.
  7. ^ André Bechthold, p. 51.
  8. ^ André Bechthold, p. 53, after Karl Siegfried Bader
  9. ^ André Bechthold, p. 60 ff.
  10. ^ André Bechthold, 53 f. Source for the document: FUB 2, No. 548 / for the location: Karl Siegfried Bader: Burg, Dorf, Stadt, p. 458; Sigmund Riezler : In: SVCB 1880, p. 289 / on the presumption of protection: Karl Siegfried Bader, p. 485 f.
  11. ↑ Certificate FUB 6, p. 37 No. 22 in André Bechthold, p. 60 ff.
  12. ↑ FUB 3, No. 603 in: André Bechthold, 62, note p. 63.
  13. ↑ FUB 7, p. 188.
  14. ^ André Bechthold, 65 and 68.
  15. ^ Karl Siegfried Bader, p. 21.
  16. ^ André Bechthold, p. 70.
  17. ^ Karl Siegfried Bader, p. 27. Documents in: Karl Siegfried Bader: Documents and Regesta for the history of the city and rule of Blumberg. 1953, pp. 33-36.
  18. ↑ Quotes in the section: André Bechthold: Middle Ages. P. 52 f., 68 and 95. Sources given there.