Fleckenstein Castle
| Fleckenstein Castle | ||
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 View down to Fleckenstein from Hohenburg |
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| Alternative name (s): | Château de Fleckenstein | |
| Creation time : | early 12th century | |
| Castle type : | Rock castle | |
| Conservation status: | partially restored ruin | |
| Standing position : | Ministeriale | |
| Construction: | Red sandstone | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 2 ′ 42 " N , 7 ° 46 ′ 20" E | |
| Height: | 370 m | |
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Fleckenstein Castle (German also the Fleckenstein , French Château de Fleckenstein ) is a medieval rock castle in the Vosges ( France ) near the border with Rhineland-Palatinate . As ancestral castle, it gave the name of the Fleckenstein family .
geography
location
The Fleckenstein is only about 200 m southeast of the border with Germany at 370 m altitude between Lembach ( Lower Alsace ) on the French and Hirschthal on the German side. It can be easily reached via the Lembach – Hirschthal connecting road and hiking trails. There is a parking lot near the castle.
Surroundings
1 km southwest of the Fleckenstein, on the other side of the connecting road, next to which the river Sauer flows, rises the French Frönsburg (also Freundsburg ); The Hohenburg , the Löwenstein (also called Lindenschmidt ), both on French territory, and the Wegelnburg on German soil , are each 500 m apart, 2 km to the northeast, but on a mountain ridge at a significantly higher altitude . If there is enough time, all of these castles can be visited one after the other on a day trip.
history
The historical data on Fleckenstein Castle are very poor. In 1174 a Gottfried von Fleckenstein , who belonged to a family of imperial ministers , was mentioned for the first time, and thus indirectly also the castle. However, a capital that was found in the ruins of the castle dates back to the early 12th century, so that it is clear that the castle was built at the latest, more than 50 years before it was first mentioned. At the time of its construction, the castle was on a road that connected the Hohenstaufen imperial palatinate Hagenau and Kaiserslautern ; therefore Fleckenstein Castle was of strategic importance.
1276 besieged King Rudolf von Habsburg to Heinrich von Fleckenstein to the jailed by this Friedrich von Bolanden , the bishop of Speyer to free; However, it is not known whether the siege directly affected Fleckenstein Castle or another castle of this influential family, which was widely ramified in the Middle Ages. The Dahn ministerial family , which had its headquarters 15 km to the north, was of similar importance . His Altdahn castle was first destroyed in 1363 during a feud with the Fleckenstein family. In 1407 and 1441 construction work on Fleckenstein is attested. An occasion is not mentioned, but it was probably a question of creating more comfortable living conditions through expansion.
During the Thirty Years' War and shortly afterwards, three brothers from the Fleckenstein family made a name for themselves: Gottfried von Fleckenstein-Windeck fell in 1639 during the siege of the city of Vesoul , which lies on the border between Burgundy and Lorraine . His brother Georg Heinrich became a general in the Bavarian troops. The youngest brother, Friedrich Wolfgang , entered French service and was later appointed field marshal by Louis XIV . With Friedrich Wolfgang's nephew Heinrich-Jakob , the last Fleckensteiner died in 1720.
Twice towards the end of the 17th century, Fleckenstein was taken by French troops. In 1674 this happened under Marshal de Vauban without resistance being offered. In 1680, however, the castle was completely destroyed under General Montclar . After that, Fleckenstein was only awarded as a legal and property title.
The castle ruins fell into disrepair by 1890. In 1898 it was listed as a historical monument , which was confirmed by the French state in 1933. In 1960 it was opened to visitors by the Syndicat d'Initiative de Lembach , but remained privately owned. In 1998 it came into the possession of the municipality of Lembach when it acquired the surrounding forest areas of Thalenberg and Fleckenstein .
Extensive restoration work was carried out in the 1990s to secure the walls and make it easier for visitors to access the inner castle. On September 8, 2002, the castle was documented and didactically prepared as part of the Interreg program with the support of the European Regional Development Fund and has since been a special attraction for families with children.
investment
The base of the Fleckenstein is an approximately 90 m long, only 6 to 8 m narrow and 30 m high rock made of red sandstone , a so-called "bar", which towers impressively from the forest. The entire system, including the lower castle partially preserved on the north side, measures around 120 m in length and 60 m in width; in the 16th century the buildings covered the entire plateau.
Remains of the wall of various residential and farm buildings, parts of the stair tower and the fountain tower (with a space carved into the rock for the pedal bike) as well as parts of the curtain wall around the lower castle and its gate with remains of two towers have been preserved. The numerous cellars carved into the rock bar and stairways in the rock are particularly impressive on the upper castle . The remains of the wall that are still preserved today date mainly from the late Middle Ages (15th / 16th century), while the circular wall in the northwest dates from the 13th century. The most interesting clues about the appearance of the castle in the High Middle Ages are small remains of walls and footprints of a keep in the middle of the uppermost rock plateau. This tower was demolished in the late Middle Ages in favor of residential buildings.
A high wall with two semicircular, slender towers was built on the south side of the rock bar around 1500. The main purpose of this complex construction project was probably to protect the overhanging rock of the upper castle against further weathering. The southwest of the two small towers also has a small exit gate .
The fortress textbook "Architectura von Vestungen" by the Alsatian fortress builder Daniel Specklin from 1589 shows a castle for which the Fleckenstein apparently served as a model; however, the tall and slim proportions are heavily exaggerated.
Eastern tip of the ruin
Northern curtain wall of the lower castle (partially reconstructed)
Reconstructed stepping crane in the castle
Remnants of the wall on the main castle: the rear house (15th century)
Outer rock stairs to the plateau of the upper castle
Conservation measures and tourism
The Fleckenstein is the only castle complex in its immediate vicinity that is open to tourists. With 79,000 visitors (2005), it is the second most frequented castle in Alsace after the Hohkönigsburg .
In the years around the turn of the millennium, the castle was comprehensively secured. For example, steps were built into the stair tower from the 16th century and the top rock platform was provided with railings. Inside the castle there is a tiny museum with finds from the area of the castle. A medieval treadle crane was also reconstructed. A bit away from the castle ruins, a former forester's house has been converted into an information center.
The leading figure of the guided tour is the returned knight Willy von Fleckenstein , who asks the families to stop at given prominent points and lets the children solve various tasks and puzzles. For example, flaws in Fleckenstein's coat of arms are to be found in the entrance area , a game not belonging to the Middle Ages to be identified with players and musicians in the reconstructed knight's hall , a falcon discovered in the falconry or the depth of a well calculated using the knots in the rope. Castle tales are told at the filled-in, previously 70 m deep castle well , magic recipes with herbs from the Middle Ages are explained in the witch's kitchen , and secret passages are opened for the young “ robber barons ” to follow.
From the terrace on the core of the castle there is a broad view of the Sauer valley and the surrounding wooded elevations of the Northern Vosges.
literature
- Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz, René Kill, Charles Schlosser: Fleckenstein Castle . Castles, palaces and fortifications in Central Europe. tape 11 . Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2003, ISBN 3-7954-1478-4 .
- Marco Bollheimer (Ed.): Rock castles in the castle paradise Wasgau - Northern Vosges . 43 castle descriptions, 471 color photos. 3rd, expanded edition. Verlag M. Bollheimer, Karlsruhe 2011, ISBN 978-3-9814506-0-6 , pp. 98-101 .
- Fritz Eyer: Fleckenstein Castle . Le syndicat d'initiative de Lembach et environs et les amis du Fleckenstein, Wissembourg 1985.
- 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. 90-95 (French).
- Peter Müller, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Fleckenstein . In: Jürgen Keddigkeit , Alexander Thon, Rolf Übel (eds.): Palatinate Burgenlexikon . Contributions to the history of the Palatinate. tape 12 .2, F − H. Kaiserslautern 2002, ISBN 3-927754-48-X , p. 86-100 .
- Peter Müller: The Lords of Fleckenstein in the late Middle Ages . Investigations into the history of a noble family in the Palatinate-Alsatian border area (= Geschichtliche Landeskunde . Volume 34 ). Verlag Steiner, Stuttgart 1990 (phil. Diss. Mainz 1989).
- Alexander Thon (Ed.): ... like a banned, inaccessible magic castle . Castles in the southern Palatinate. 2nd, improved edition. Verlag Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1570-5 , p. 48-53 .
Web links
- Official website ( German , French )
- Photos of Fleckenstein Castle on pfalzbilder.net ( search for Fleckenstein )
- Photos of Fleckenstein Castle on Historische-orte.de
- Illustration by Daniel Meisner (1626): Fleckenstein. Omnibus aptus esse stude ( digitized version )