Dorfelden Castle

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Dorfelden Castle
View of the castle ruins from the south. In the foreground the moat.

View of the castle ruins from the south. In the foreground the moat.

Alternative name (s): Niederdorfelden castle ruins
Creation time : around 1200 to 1234
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: ruin
Construction: Mainly quarry stone, one tower contains humpback blocks in the lower area
Place: Niederdorfelden
Geographical location 50 ° 11 '49 "  N , 8 ° 48' 9"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 11 '49 "  N , 8 ° 48' 9"  E
Height: 110  m above sea level NHN
Dorfelden Castle (Hesse)
Dorfelden Castle

The castle ruin Dorfelden is the ruin of a moated castle in Niederdorfelden near the city of Hanau in the Main-Kinzig district in Hesse .

location

The castle stands on an artificially raised hill, around which the Nidder flows . The river also supplies the water for the moat, which is circularly built around the castle complex . The ruin is located directly north of the old town center of Niederdorfelden and can be reached in a short walk via dirt roads.

history

While the village of Dorfelden was first mentioned as Turinfelde in 767 , the castle was first mentioned in a document in 1234. The reason is an inheritance split between Reinhard III. von Dorfelden and his brother Heinrich. The family is mentioned for the first time in 1166 and is likely to have succeeded the Lords of Buchen, who were previously documented for this area. They probably owned the neighboring castle Wachenbuchen .

The successors of Reinhard III. name themselves after the castle Hanau (de Hagenowe), beginning with Reinhard I. von Hanau , the progenitor of the lords and later counts of Hanau .

As a result, there were pledges and transfers of ownership and the like. a. to the Falkensteiner , Weinsberger and Rienecker . In 1266 the Falkensteiners transferred half of the castle to the Fulda monastery as a fief . In 1288 Ulrich I von Hanau was able to buy the castle back.

In 1333 Ulrich II von Hanau handed the castle over to Duke Rudolf of Saxony as a fief. Saxony's interest in this fiefdom was that the Elector of Saxony needed a fortified place on his way from there to Frankfurt am Main , about a day's journey from the place of election (and later also the coronation ) of the Roman-German kings . This was important for a safe journey to and from Frankfurt. A parallel process is attested for Ulrich IV. Von Hanau , who in 1372 sold the Babenhausen castle to the Bohemian crown for this reason and received it back as a fief. In the Old Kingdom the castle belonged to the Kaichen Freigericht .

In the following centuries, Dorfelden Castle lost its importance. Its functions gradually passed to the neighboring Junkerhof, in the end it was only mentioned as its "accessory". It served as a quarry and was falling into disrepair. It was not until the end of the 20th century that some safety measures were taken on the substance to prevent the last existing walls from collapsing.

Modern Junkerhof (back).

investment

Parts of the curtain wall are still preserved in the north and north-west. Remains of buildings are visible on the inside of the north wall. Also preserved is a round tower with humpback cubes in the lower area . Presumably these date from the second half of the 12th century. The remains of another round tower lie collapsed at the foot of the hill on which the castle stands. The castle is completely surrounded by a round moat that is fed from the Nidder.

See also

literature

  • Karl Dielmann: On the history of the Junkernhof in Niederdorfelden, Hanau district. Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 24, 1973, pp. 45-66.
  • Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann : Dorfelden Castle in the Niddertal. Guide sheet to the moated castle in Niederdorfelden, Main-Kinzig-Kreis. Archaeological monuments in Hesse 116 (Wiesbaden 1994). ISBN 3-89822-116-4
  • HH Hofmann: Charles IV and the political land bridge from Prague to Frankfurt . In: Between Frankfurt and Prague. 1963.
  • 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. 391.
  • Gerhard Köbler : Historical lexicon of the German countries. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present. 4th, completely revised edition. CH Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-35865-9 .
  • Jörg Lindenthal: Cultural Discoveries. Archaeological monuments in Hessen. Jenior, Kassel 2004, p. 169f. ISBN 3-934377-73-4
  • Bert Worbs: Buchen –Dorfelden– Windecken . Early castles in the county of Hanau. Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 30, 1988, pp. 347-404.
  • Bert Worbs: Niederdorfelden Castle . In: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany 27. Hanau and the Main-Kinzig district. Theiss, Stuttgart 1994, pp. 234-236. ISBN 3-8062-1119-1
  • Traces of time - aerial archeology in Hessen. Published by the State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen, Wiesbaden 1993 p. 78f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Uta Löwenstein: County Hanau . In: Knights, Counts and Prince - Secular Dominions in the Hessian Area approx. 900–1806 = Handbook of Hessian History 3 = Publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse 63. Marburg 2014. ISBN 978-3-942225-17-5 , p. 196 -230 (204).
  2. ^ Gerhard Köbler : Historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder , p. 295.

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