Falkenstein Castle (Philippsbourg)
| Falkenstein Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Tower at Falkenstein Castle |
||
| Creation time : | 1127 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, rocky location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Philippsbourg | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 0 '17.5 " N , 7 ° 33' 55.5" E | |
| Height: | 386 m | |
|
||
Falkenstein Castle (German also Falkenstein , French château du Falkenstein ) is the ruin of a rock castle from the 12th century near the municipality of Philippsbourg (German Philippsburg ) in the Moselle department ( Lorraine ). It has been in ruins since it was destroyed in the 17th century. It is located on a 120 meter long, 22 meter high and three to eight meter wide sandstone rock at a height of 386 meters. About a hundred meters away, at the eastern end of the mountain, are the ruins of Helfenstein Castle .
history
The Falkensteiner Tal belonged to the County of Lützelburg in the 11th century . The castle was built in 1127 by Count Peter von Lützelburg as protection against the advance of the Hohenstaufen to the west. The Lützelburger died out in the course of the century, and there followed an inheritance dispute between the Counts of Montbéliard and the Counts of Saar Werden . Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa intervened in the dispute in 1143 and gave the castle to Count Volmar von Saar Werden. The ministerials of the castle held their office in 1205 as a fiefdom of the Counts of Saar Werden. In that year the first known Falkensteiner, Jacob von Falkenstein, was mentioned.
The Falkensteiners allied themselves in 1316 with Ludwig the Bavarian against Frederick the Fair . From 1328 the castle was owned by Count Friedrich II. Von Saar Werden. This gave his part in 1334 to Count Wilhelm von Windstein. A year later there was truce between the Falkensteiners and the Counts of Saar Werden.
In 1377 the castle was besieged and conquered by the lords of Lichtenberg and was now the allod of the lords of Lichtenberg. The castle was then given back to the Falkensteiners as a fief . Formally it was now assigned to the Ingweiler office of the Lichtenberg rule and later to the heirs of the Lords of Lichtenberg, from 1480 to the County of Zweibrücken-Bitsch , from 1570 to the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg and from 1736 to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt . As a given fiefdom, the castle was a unit that was largely administered by the Falkensteiners outside the jurisdiction of the administrative authorities in Ingweiler.
The Lords of Finstingen -Brakenkopf got the Saarwerd part in 1414. 60 years later, in 1474, Wilhelm von Falkenstein died, after which his sons Gottfried, Ortlieb and Wilhelm inherited and lived in the castle. On the occasion of internal family disputes, the Count Palatine was given the right to open the property in 1483 . After this event, the castle chapel was donated by Wilhelm von Falkenstein in 1487.
In 1515 the castle became the sole property of the Falkensteiners. In February 1564 they sold their last rights to Count Philip IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg . As a result of a five-day fire caused by a lightning strike on April 19, 1564, the castle was badly damaged. Only poorly repaired, it has only served as a forestry office since then .
The Hanau-Lichtenberger property was claimed in 1572 by the Duke of Lorraine . However, after a settlement, the castle returned to the Falkensteiner family in 1606. In the course of the Thirty Years' War it was looted and damaged by Mansfeld troops in 1623 and finally destroyed by French troops from 1676 to 1680.
Since December 1999, access to the castle ruins was prohibited due to storm damage. The castle was completely renovated by July 2013 and has been freely accessible again since then.
Building history
The castle was built in the 12th century, the wall tower at the northern end of the upper castle from 1220 to 1230. The towers on the west side were also built in the 13th century. The upper plate of the mountain rock was divided in the 14th century by a section ditch and a new mantle. This created a second forecourt and a second entrance. The castle was redesigned for firearms in the 15th and 16th centuries , and Renaissance buildings were erected inside . The destroyed complex was partially restored in the 20th century. The tourism committee of the Moselle department takes care of the ruins.
literature
- Rüdiger Bernges: rock castles in Wasgau . 6th edition. Self-published, Wuppertal 2005, ISBN 3-930376-25-3 , pp. 169-174.
- Fritz Eyer: The territory of the Lords of Lichtenberg 1202-1480. Investigations into the property, the rule and the politics of domestic power of a noble family from the Upper Rhine . In: Writings of the Erwin von Steinbach Foundation . 2nd edition, unchanged in the text, by an introduction extended reprint of the Strasbourg edition, Rhenus-Verlag, 1938. Volume 10 . Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1985, ISBN 3-922923-31-3 (268 pages).
- Walter Herrmann: On Red Rock - A guide to the most beautiful castles in the Palatinate and Alsatian Wasgau . G. Braun Buchverlag, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2004, ISBN 3-7650-8286-4 , pp. 54–59.
- Friedrich Knöpp: Territorial holdings of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg in Hesse-Darmstadt . [typewritten] Darmstadt 1962. [Available in the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt , signature: N 282/6].
- Nicolas Mengus, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Châteaux forts et fortifications médiévales d′Alsace. Dictionnaire d′histoire et d′architecture . La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2013, ISBN 978-2-7165-0828-5 , pp. 86–87.
- Jean-Michel Rudrauf, Alexander Thon: Falkenstein / Alsace. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit , Alexander Thon, Rolf Übel (eds.): Palatinate Burgenlexikon. Volume 2: F – H (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate . Vol. 12.2). Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2002, ISBN 3-927754-48-X , pp. 59–75.
Web links
- Falkenstein Castle (French)
- Falkenstein Castle on dickemauern.de
- Pictures of Falkenstein Castle on Burgenparadies.de