Enger Castle
| Enger Castle | ||
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 Notice board to Enger Castle at Strackschen Haus |
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| Alternative name (s): | Wittekinds Castle, Wittekindburg | |
| Castle type : | Location | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall | |
| Place: | Tighter | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 8 '18.5 " N , 8 ° 33' 30" E | |
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The Burgenger in history once applied adhesive Castle Wittekinds called, was a castle in Enger , Herford , in North Rhine-Westphalia . The castle stables , where the castle is said to have stood, is called the castle site and is located in the corner of Burgstrasse / Bäckerstrasse (today: Burggraben). A sign is attached to the building of the bakery, which is located here today.
History and building history
The events around 1305
The first secure spring about Enger Castle dates back to 1305. In that year it was decided to destroy this fortification. Nothing further is known about the date of construction; a castle building by the Saxon Duke Widukind is historically not secured.
The castle belonged to the noblemen of Lippe . During territorial disputes, Simon I. zu Lippe was defeated three years earlier, in 1302, to the bishops of Münster, Osnabrück and Paderborn, the Count of Ravensberg and the city of Herford. The reason for the clashes were allegations of alleged raids by Simon I, which mainly affected the monastery area of Osnabrück. An alliance came about between Ludwig von Ravensburg (Bishop of Osnabrück), his brother Count Otto von Ravensburg, the Bishops of Paderborn ( Otto von Rietberg ) and Münster ( Otto III. Von Rietberg , nephew of Paderborn Bishop Otto von Rietberg), and the city of Herford . First the castle was enclosed and besieged in 1302 until it finally fell. Simon I was captured and held in the Bucksturm in Osnabrück . He was released after a year and a half. He was required to grind the castle down so that it could not be rebuilt. All trenches should be closed.
Enger Castle after the demolition
It is unclear whether the castle was really completely razed . In the centuries that followed, there was repeated mention of parts or ruins that were seen or documented with sources. On the other hand, the castle site was “occupied by a bourgeois house a short time after the castle was destroyed”.
For example, a chapel belonged to the castle, which is known to have existed in 1456 and 1501. The keep still existed in the 17th century. It was used as a prison tower. This is documented by church bills from 1640, which show expenses for repairs. Excavations for the foundations of the castle, for example in 1881, did not unearth any relevant artifacts apart from rubble and loose rubble.
Surname
“Our ancestors considered this place to be the site of Wittekind's castle,” says the notice board at Strack's house in Enger. The name "Wittekindsburg" , which is used in some historical essays, is based on a legend. So far, scientists and historians have not been able to provide or find any evidence that Widukind built the castle in Enger.
Location
The location of the castle - in the corner of Burgstraße / Bäckerstraße (today: Burggraben) - is still not known among local history researchers. A lot of information clearly shows that there was a castle in Enger, but not where. An information board on the single bell tower of the Enger collegiate church provides information . There it is written that this tower was built on the foundations of a defensive wall that belonged to the castle. The second clue comes from a board on Strack's house.
Found objects
Another way to indirectly prove the existence of the castle is through found objects. On the one hand there is the fragment of a coat of arms stone that is supposed to represent the Lippe rose. According to Gustav Engel, this is "a find from Enger Castle" and is walled up inside the Enger collegiate church.
The same source also reports on "remains of sculptures". These figural stones are no longer built into the outside wall of the church. They were found in the Strack family's garden, where the castle is supposed to have stood, but they probably date from the 16th century.
Apart from Reineccius' historical report, there is no evidence or evidence of the “skewers and other things”.
Sources on the historical castle
Authentic sources are rare due to the early demolition. Most of the information is based on reports, narratives or indirect evidence. A first informational reference to a castle church in Enger from the 13th century, which the author Niemöller mentions in his book “Enger” on page 23, cannot be historically proven. Other historical reports, for example a bailiff in Enger from 1844, tell of a tradition that Widukind († 807) is said to have lived in a castle in Enger in the eighth century.
Report from Rector Suhre
There is a report by a school principal Suhre, which was printed in 1905 in the Ravensberger Blätter, a journal for history and local history of the historical association for the county of Ravensberg. At the beginning of the article he mentions brief newspaper reports about post-excavations (1881). Otherwise he quotes legends and at the end of his report goes into the findings around the former castle grounds.
Contribution to the city history by Gustav Engel
Gustav Engel describes the state of research into Enger Castle in 1981 in an article on the town's history. In the section “The Castle of the Lords to the Lippe in Enger” he lists a relatively large number of documents. Two sources are particularly interesting. On the one hand, reference is made to a geographical description of the County of Ravensberg, according to which “skewers and other things” are believed to have been found on the castle grounds in the 18th century. On the other hand, reference is made to the German historian Reiner Reineccius (1541–1595), who supposedly saw ruins of the castle in 1581. In the original report by Reineccius, which he wrote in Latin, it says: "Unum istud de Angariae ruinis addo ...". The historian from the Middle Ages only speaks of rubble / remains in Enger. The word "castrum" (Latin for castle) does not appear in it. Nor does he specifically mention that he saw these remains himself.
Report by a bailiff in Enger from 1844
A bailiff is quoted in a report from 1844 on the subject of Wittekind donation by Rudolf Härting as follows: “The Wittekind donation has so far been uninterrupted and according to tradition and presumption, since Wittekind's death in 807 in the local church every year on h. three royal days as the memorial days of this Saxon prince who lived in his castle in Enger in the 8th century ... "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lipp. Reg. II, No. 532
- ^ Claudia Haake: Widukind & More - Historical discoveries in Enger
- ↑ Gustav Engel: Dorf, Amt and Stadt Enger, p. 37f. Narrow 1981.
- ^ Gustav Engel: Dorf, Stadt und Amt Enger; Enger 1981; P. 40.
- ↑ Notarial instrument from 1456
- ^ Document of January 5, 1501 about the sale of an annual pension from Friedrich Nagel to Heinrich von Costfelde
- ^ Gustav Engel: Dorf, Stadt und Amt Enger; Enger 1981; P. 28ff.
- ↑ Gustav Engel: Dorf, Amt und Stadt Enger, p. 27 illustration, p. 29 text. Narrow 1981
- ^ E-mail from the city of Enger to Norbert Bangert, Hückeswagen, from October 16, 2007
- ↑ D. Niemöller: Enger, the Wittekindstadt, in legend and history. Bielefeld 1927
- ^ Rector Suhre: About the castle in Enger. From: Ravensberger Blätter for History, Folklore and Local Studies. Published on behalf of the Historical Association for the County of Ravensberg, Bielefeld 1905
- ↑ Gustav Engel: Dorf, Amt and Stadt Enger, p. 30. Enger 1981.
- ^ Rudolf Härting: The Wittekindsspende and the Timpkenfest zu Enger. In Ravensberger Blätter, Volume 4, 1939, p. 28
- ^ Rudolf Härting: The Wittekindsspende and the Timpkenfest zu Enger. In Ravensberger Blätter, Volume 4, 1939, p. 25