Erfenstein Castle
| Erfenstein Castle | ||
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 Erfenstein castle ruins from the opposite side of the valley |
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| Creation time : | before 1272 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | initially ministerial | |
| Construction: | Humpback cuboid | |
| Place: | Esthal - Erfenstein | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 21 '11.6 " N , 8 ° 0' 49.2" E | |
| Height: | 255 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Erfenstein Castle is the very damaged ruins of a medieval rock castle in the Palatinate Forest in the district of the local church Esthal ( Bad Dürkheim district belonging) settlement Erfenstein . It is connected to the neighboring Spangenberg Castle through the legend of the Lederne Brücke .
Geographical location
The hilltop castle is 255 m above sea level. NHN left above the Speyerbach , which flows through the Elmsteiner Tal , on the eastern spur of the Wassersteinberg -Ostgipfels ( 393 m ). The settlement of Erfenstein in the east is only 150 m (as the crow flies) away.
investment
Erfenstein Castle consists of the two parts Alt-Erfenstein and Neu-Erfenstein . Of the older facility, which is slightly higher ( 268 m ) than Neu-Erfenstein and 30 m to the west, nothing has survived except for the neck ditch, which is almost completely filled with rubble, and - on an 8 m high sandstone rock - some humpbacks from a keep that was once a square Had floor space. Alt- and Neu-Erfenstein are separated from each other by a further ditch.
The lower-lying younger complex is dominated by a very well-preserved keep, the entrance of which is high on the east side. In addition, there are remains of a curtain wall . Rectangular cavities, which were intended to receive the ends of wooden beams , indicate a division of floors .
At the foot of the sandstone rock that carries Neu-Erfenstein, there used to be a lower castle, of which there are even fewer remains.
In contrast to the Spangenberg Castle opposite, the exposed parts of the complex are in poor condition; Measures to secure the holdings in the area of the upper castle and the two neck ditches are urgently required. Vegetation and the ascent of the rocks and ruins by visitors, especially the tower stump of the upper castle, contribute to the further decline of the complex.
history
When and by whom Erfenstein was built is not known for sure; but the founders are the Counts of Leiningen , on whose land Erfenstein lay. Presumably, the castle served to secure the extensive Liningian forest in the area.
In 1272 a first document reports about a Ministerial Bock von Erfenstein , who came from the lower nobility in the Leiningerland and who lived in the castle with his family. An obvious descendant, Siegfried Bock von Erfenstein , was granted certain rights by document in 1439 in the Dirmstein community .
Through inheritance and division, the castle belonged alternately to two lines of the Leiningen, Leiningen-Hardenburg and Leiningen-Rixingen . The castle and the village of Esthal remained the property of Rixingen until 1345, after which it was converted into a Ganerbeburg . After many disputes among the co-owners , the castle came to the Counts of Sponheim in 1415 . When their family died out, ownership fell back to Leiningen-Hardenburg.
Erfenstein Castle and the neighboring Spangenberg Castle always belonged to different lords - initially Erfenstein, as mentioned, the Counts of Leiningen and Spangenberg, the Speyer prince-bishop - and were in corresponding competition with each other. When the owners later changed, the two castles, first from Erfenstein, then from Spangenberg , were destroyed in 1470 in the course of the Weißenburg feud between Elector Friedrich I of the Palatinate and his cousin, Duke Ludwig I of Palatinate-Zweibrücken . Erfenstein Castle has been in ruins ever since.
legend
literature
- Jürgen Keddigkeit , Alexander Thon, Karl Scheurer, Rolf Übel : Palatinate Castle Lexicon . tape 1 A-E . Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2003, ISBN 3-927754-51-X , p. 504-516 .
- Alexander Thon (Hrsg.): How swallows nests glued to the rocks .. Castles in the North Palatinate. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1674-4 , p. 44-47 .
- Walter Herrmann: On red rock . G. Braun Buchverlag, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2004, ISBN 3-7650-8286-4 , p. 50-51 .
Web links
- Entry on Alt-Erfenstein - Oberburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Entry on Neu-Erfenstein - Unterburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Excerpt from the Palatinate castle lexicon : Erfenstein Castle at heimat-pfalz.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
- ↑ Alexander Thon: "We have not received any information as to which ruler of the German Empire built it ..." Comments on the determination and evaluation of the first mention of Palatinate castles. In: Volker Herzner, Jürgen Krüger (eds.): Mythos Staufer - in memoriam Dankwart Leistikow - files of the 5th Landau Staufer Conference, 1st – 3rd July 2005 . Speyer 2010, ISBN 3-932155-27-0 , pp. 127–139 (p. 128 f. First mentioned in 1189/93).