Bommersheim Castle

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Bommersheim Castle
Reconstructed foundation, photo from the west.

Reconstructed foundation, photo from the west.

Creation time : 11th to 12th centuries
Castle type : Niederungsburg, moth
Conservation status: Remnants of the wall reconstructed
Standing position : Ministeriale
Construction: Two-shell technology
Place: Bommersheim
Geographical location 50 ° 11 '56.6 "  N , 8 ° 36' 8.1"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 11 '56.6 "  N , 8 ° 36' 8.1"  E
Height: 175  m above sea level NN
Bommersheim Castle (Hesse)
Bommersheim Castle
Coat of arms of those of Bommersheim from the ( Siebmacher - Wappenbuch , 1605)

The castle Bommersheim is a former castle in the district Bommersheim the city Oberursel in Hochtaunuskreis in Hesse , whose foundation remains were partially exposed since 1988th

location

The former castle was located behind the current church of St. Aureus and Justina on the street Im Himmrich between Langen Straße and Burgstraße on the eastern outskirts of Bommersheim. It was on the edge of the Kalbach lowlands, nearby the Saalburgstrasse crossed with the Weinstrasse , a pre-Roman trade route that may have been used in the Middle Ages.

investment

All information on the facility and the history of its construction come from archaeological excavations over the past two decades. Due to modern disturbances and later overbuilding, the findings were quite detailed, but provide a clear picture of the history of the small aristocratic residence.

Tower Hill Castle

The oldest part of the castle is the tower hill of a so-called tower hill castle (Motte), which had a diameter of 20 to 25 meters at its base. This would have made the hill plateau a square about 10 meters in diameter on which there was a wooden residential tower . The height is estimated between 2.5 and 4 m. The tower hill was secured on the outside by a wooden palisade or a wattle fence. Finds of sharpened wooden stakes that were rammed into the ground at a distance of 15-20 cm allow both interpretations. A trench 1.8 m deep and 4 m wide was also found. There was probably another trench in front of it, but the findings are less certain.

The rough dating of the plant in the 11th / 12th The 19th century was mainly due to the discovery of a painted shard of Pingsdorf goods . The place Bommersheim already existed at this time. It was first mentioned in the Lorsch Codex in 792.

Niederungsburg

The tower hill castle had already become too small in the 13th century, and a low castle with a stone wall was built in its place . With the conversion to the ring wall castle, a 1.70 m thick ring wall was built in place of the outer wall and the interior was filled up. The masonry was carried out using the two-shell technique. The inside of the castle buildings were leaned against this wall in the form of a house on the edge, probably with the eaves facing outwards, as the numerous finds from the moat speak for. The polygonal wall section with obtuse-angled corners had a diameter of 35 m and included an area of ​​around 1000 m². Outside of today's reconstruction, it extends to the southwest into the cemetery of the Church of St. Aureus and Justina . The interior was filled with modern debris, there was no exposed masonry left of the walls. The level of walking in the courtyard is thus eroded and statements on the interior development were not possible on the basis of this finding.

A ditch more than 9 m wide and about 2 m deep ran around the curtain wall. The earliest ceramic finds from this ditch date back to the first half of the 13th century. The building type of the Niederungsburg is very similar to the nearby Bonames Castle , which was built at the same time.

Finds

Due to the maintenance of the moist soil , abundant finds were recovered, especially in the moat. Because of the destruction of the castle, the later finds are particularly numerous and represent the inventory of the castle at this definable point in time. For example, an almost complete castle house inventory with medieval ceramics (mainly utility ceramics such as pots, jugs and tiles, but also soup cups) has been found in the damp ground made of glass are documented) from the 13th to 14th centuries as well as carefully carved door and window cornices made of red Main sandstone . The eating habits of the castle residents could be reconstructed by examining the plant remains and animal bones found.

Metal objects come in the form of knives and spoons, keys, iron fittings, jew's harps and arrowheads. The gem of this group of finds is an iron tournament lance tip in the shape of a crown. From the clothing of the castle residents, parts made of leather have been preserved (vest parts, remains of jackets and belts as well as shoes). Fittings, buckles and clasps, needles, gold wires and pearl necklaces made of amber and rock crystal are also often part of clothing . Cast pilgrims' badges and scallops , which probably point to journeys to Santiago de Compostela , bear witness to the pilgrimages of the inhabitants . The battle for the castle is evidenced by crossbow bolts and basalt cannon balls . This is one of the earliest evidence that stone cans were used in the siege of castles. A few decades earlier, however, such evidence is available for Hohenfels Castle in the Donnersbergkreis, which was destroyed in 1351, in the form of a sandstone ball.

Numerous finds from the excavations are exhibited in the Voraunusmuseum Oberursel.

Monument protection

The castle grounds and the monuments in the area are cultural monuments according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . All research, be it excavations, prospecting, digging, targeted collections of finds and changes to the inventory are subject to approval. Accidental finds are to be reported to the monument authorities.

history

Ganerbeburg

In the last quarter of the 13th century, the castle was among the descendants and heirs of Werner II rogue Bommersheim (branch of. Pranksters from Bergen ) to a Ganerbenburg . Werner II rogue Bommersheim (mentioned 1255-1282)

  1. Wenzelin (mentioned 1276) and Marquard (mentioned 1274–1290) - it is unclear which of the two father of the subsequent daughters is.
    1. Luccardis / Luitgard † December 20 of unknown year ⚭ Wolfram IV. Von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen from the line of the Reichserbschultheißen (called # 1302–1320); † November 6th of unknown year
      1. N. von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen ⚭ Ruprecht Schenck zu Schweinsberg , mentioned 1308–1350
        1. Wolf Schenck zu Schweinsberg (mentioned 1337–1374) ⚭ Elisabeth von Büches
          1. Ruprecht Schenck zu Schweinsberg (mentioned from 1367)
          2. Konrad Schenck zu Schweinsberg (mentioned from 1367)
          3. Henne Schenck zu Schweinsberg (mentioned from 1367)
    2. NN ♀ (mentioned 1304–1308) ⚭ Frank von Kronberg
      1. Walter von Kronberg (mentioned 1318–1353) ⚭ Elisabeth von Ingelheim
        1. Frank von Kronberg (mentioned 1339–1378) ⚭ NN von Reifenberg
          1. Else von Kronberg (mentioned 1360–1395) ⚭ Hans von Hirschhorn
          2. Lisa von Kronberg (mentioned 1364–1410) ⚭ Johann Schenk von Waldeck (mentioned 1354–1404)
    3. Hedwig (mentioned 1321–1333) ⚭ Johann von Kronberg
      1. Bingel (mentioned 1354) ⚭ Winrich von Langenau (mentioned 1332–1354) ⚭ Winrich von Langenau (mentioned 1332–1354)
        1. Johann (mentioned 1357-1384)
          1. Johann von Langenau (mentioned from 1381)
          2. Winrich von Langenau (mentioned from 1381)
  2. Dietrich Zenichin von Bommersheim (mentioned 1281–1304)
    1. Heilmann (mentioned 1303-1318)
      1. Irmengard von Bommersheim ⚭ Sigfried von Lindau (mentioned 1336)
        1. Elisabeth von Lindau († 1371) ⚭ 1st Hermann von Biegen, ⚭ 2nd Peter, called von Bechtoldsheim, treasurer of Worms , † March 13, 1387
          1. Peter Chamberlain of Worms
          2. Irmgard Kämmerin von Worms (mentioned 1387) ⚭ Dieter Landschad von Steinach (mentioned 1387–1427)
          3. Demud Chamberlain von Worms (mentioned 1395–1425) ⚭ Eberhard von Hirschhorn (mentioned 1380–1421)
      2. Konrad von Bommersheim (mentioned 1322–1368)
        1. Wolf von Bommersheim (mentioned 1375-1382)
          1. Wolf von Bommersheim (mentioned 1391–1444)
          2. Ruprecht von Bommersheim (mentioned 1391–1409)

destruction

Attack on a moth (Dinan Castle), contemporary representation on the Bayeux Tapestry

Towards the end of the 14th century, the imperial city of Frankfurt increasingly came into conflict with the surrounding aristocracy, some of whom formed the Lion League , while Frankfurt joined the Rhenish League of Cities . The background was the increasing impoverishment of the lower nobility , whose relatives attacked traders and merchants on the way to Frankfurt (so-called robber barons ). The brothers Ruprecht and Wolf von Bommersheim also took part in this. On January 29, 1382, Frankfurt announced the feud to the owners of the castle and evidently took action quickly: The Bommersheim knights' complaints about the destruction of the castle in Frankfurt reached as early as March 9, which means that the war began on February Year narrows. Efforts by the Lords of Kronberg, who were at times also involved in the castle as heirs, to organize a relief for the castle by the Archbishop of Mainz were unsuccessful.

In the course of this punitive action, other castles in the area were also attacked by the Rheinische Städtebund. Previously, the Schelmenburg in Bergen had been taken without a fight and the Eppsteiner Schloss in Schotten , Johann von Rodenstein's inheritance, as well as some taverns in Schweinsberg , were destroyed. Bommersheim Castle was not rebuilt. The gan heirs involved fought unsuccessfully for damages before the Imperial Court until well into the 15th century, until the process was finally abandoned.

Structural remains

The area was partially leveled towards the end of the 19th century to create a notch , whereupon its exact location was forgotten. When a fire-fighting pond was dug in 1941, its walls were cut and examined by Ferdinand Kutsch . In the following period, remnants of the wall were found several times during canal works, including in 1988, when the find led to an archaeological investigation lasting several years thanks to the increased historical awareness of some citizens and the city council . Today, part of the circular wall foundations is bricked up to a height of 0.50 - 0.70 m and integrated into the outdoor area of ​​a day care center.

literature

  • Reinhard Friedrich / Harro Junk / Angela Kreuz / Jörg Petrasch / Karl-Friedrich Rittershofer / Peter Titzmann / Christina von Waldstein: The high medieval motte and ring wall castle of Oberursel-Bommersheim, Hochtaunuskreis. Preliminary report of the excavations from 1988 to 1991. Germania 71, 1993, pp. 441-519.
  • Reinhard Friedrich: To determine the origin of the ceramics from Burg Bommersheim against the background of the development of ceramics in southern Hesse. Journal for Archeology of the Middle Ages 33, 2005 pp. 173–182.
  • Frank Lorscheider / Udo Recker : Urban self-assertion versus knightly violence - the end of Bommersheim Castle in 1382. In: Hessen-Archeologie 2007 , pp. 136-139.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 465.
  • Jörg Lindenthal: Cultural Discoveries. Archaeological monuments in Hessen. Jenior, Kassel 2004, pp. 174f. ISBN 3-934377-73-4
  • Elsbeth Orth: The feuds of the imperial city of Frankfurt am Main in the late Middle Ages. Feud law and feud practice in the 14th and 15th centuries. Frankfurter Historische Abhandlungen 6 (1973), esp.p. 134f.
  • Jörg Petrasch / Karl-Friedrich Rittershofer: The castle of Bommersheim, town of Oberursel (Taunus), Hochtaunuskreis. Castle of the lower nobility and castle of the inheritance of the high and late Middle Ages . Archaeological monuments in Hessen 101, Wiesbaden 1992. ISBN 3-89822-101-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Can only be estimated due to the small-scale excavation sections. According to Petrasch / Rittershofer 1992 20 m, according to Friedrich / Junk / Kreuz / Petrasch / Rittershofer / Titzmann / von Waldstein (Germania 71, 1993) p. 449 25 m.
  2. ^ Friedrich / Junk / Kreuz / Petrasch / Rittershofer / Titzmann / von Waldstein (Germania 71, 1993) p. 446.
  3. ↑ according to Petrasch / Rittershofer 1992 800 m².
  4. ^ Friedrich / Junk / Kreuz / Petrasch / Rittershofer / Titzmann / von Waldstein (Germania 71, 1993)
  5. ↑ Gerd Strickhausen: Comments on early firearms in the 14th century. In: Olaf Wagner / Heiko Laß (eds.): ... threw in stones, large and niht small ... sieges and siege systems in the Middle Ages. Lang, Frankfurt 2006, ISBN 3-631-55467-2 ( supplements to Mediaevistik 7 ), pp. 47–57, here: p. 55.
  6. ↑ Petrasch / Rittershofer 1992 p. 1
  7. ↑ Information from Walther Möller: Family tables of West German noble families in the Middle Ages . Vol. 3 = Manfred Dreiss (Hrsg.): Library of Classical Works of Genealogy Vol. 2.3. Darmstadt 1936. ND: Neustadt an der Aisch 1996.
  8. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables. Family tables on the history of the European states . New series, vol. 9: Families from the Middle and Upper Rhine and from Burgundy . Marburg 1986. Without ISBN, plates 55.
  9. ↑ Orth 1973 p. 135.
  10. ↑ For the course of this feud see Orth 1973 pp. 132–135.
  11. ↑ Petrasch / Rittershofer 1992 (see literature list), p. 3.
  12. ^ Ferdinand Kutsch, The castle of (Oberursel-) Bommersheim. Nassauische Heimatblätter 41 (Soil antiquities in Nassau 1), 1951, 48–51