Flochberg Castle

Flochberg Castle
Flochberg Castle - general view from the south
Alternative name (s):	Castrum Regis Vlochperch
Creation time :	around 1149/50
Castle type :	Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Free nobles
Place:	Bopfingen-Schloßberg
Geographical location	48 ° 51 '7 "  N , 10 ° 21' 39"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 51 '7 "  N , 10 ° 21' 39"  E
Height:	579  m above sea level NN

The castle Flochberg is a ruin on the Bopfinger district Schlossberg in Ostalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg . Only larger remains of the wall have survived from the large high medieval hilltop castle .

Geographical location

The hilltop castle is dominant and visible from afar at a height of 579 meters on a limestone cone on the edge of the Ries near Bopfingen.

history

A "Reginhardus de Vlochperch" was mentioned in documents as early as 1138 and again in 1152 . The castle on the Schlossberg will be in Würzburg on 16./20. April 1150 written letter from King Konrad III. to his sister-in-law, the Byzantine Empress Irene, known as "castellum nostrum Flochperhc" (our Flochberg Castle). There he reports on the battle of Flochberg, in which Konrad's thirteen-year-old son Heinrich Berengar won a victory over Welf VI. carried away, which ultimately led to an end to a decades-long conflict between the Staufers and Guelphs .

In 1188, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa assigned his son Konrad with Berenguela of Castile various possessions as a morning gift for the bride in a marriage contract . This Seligenstadt contract also mentions the 'castrum Flochberch cum omnibus pertinenciis' (Flochberg Castle with all its accessories). However, this marriage contract has not been put into practice. The connection was separated between the autumn of 1191 and the beginning of 1192 by the Archbishop Gonzalo of Toledo and the papal legate Gregory, cardinal deacon of San Angelo, by divorce decree on the grounds that the bride had spoken out against it.

In the High Middle Ages both servants and noble nobles carried the nickname of Flochberg. In 1153 the noble free Willingus named himself after the castle, in 1270 a marquard appeared, in 1293 the noble free brothers Albert and Konrad von Flochberg appeared.

In 1330 the fief was given to the Counts of Oettingen . King Ludwig allowed the re-fortification of the " Burgstall " Flochberg, which was inhabited again in 1338. This re-fortification naturally presupposes a previous destruction of the fortress . The castle is likely to have fallen victim to the disputes over the Staufer inheritance between Ludwig the Bavarian and Frederick of Austria .

King Charles IV pledged Flochberg to the counts in 1347. The pledge was never redeemed by the Reich, so the rule was in fact completely owned by the Oettinger. The castle then served as the seat of the Oettingian bailiffs. In 1547, Emperor Charles V stayed at the fortress during the Schmalkaldic War .

During the Thirty Years' War Flochberg was occupied by imperial troops and badly damaged during the subsequent conquest by the Swedes. This destruction mainly affected the main castle, the keep and the chapel are said to have remained largely intact.

In 1682 the roof of the St. Nicholas Castle Chapel was renewed. In 1722 the counts founded the Schloßberg settlement at the foot of the castle hill. As early as 1689, the castle estate was divided into smaller parcels and sold. The settlers - mostly "peddlers and traveling people" - exploited the castle as a welcome quarry. In 1743 the organ of the chapel was sold to the Heiligkreuz monastery in Donauwörth ; it was probably demolished around this time.

The year 1806 brought the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria , but Flochberg came to Württemberg as an exchange property as early as 1810 and was integrated into the Oberamt Neresheim . In 1938 the town and castle became part of the Aalen district , which was incorporated into the Ostalb district in 1973.

description

The rectangular core castle with an area of ​​about 33 × 70 meters was formerly surrounded by three "forecourts" and was protected in the northwest and northeast by two approximately square keep . In the south, remnants of the outer wall of the palace stand up to the window openings, on the south-east corner the stump of an oval gun turret has been preserved.

Opposite on the west side was another residential building with the castle chapel . There, too, only parts of the outer walls can be seen. After a gap in the wall, to the north are the ruins of a building and the partially preserved northwestern keep with a side length of 7.6 × 6.8 meters, its wall thickness is 2.05 meters. The eastern keep has completely disappeared above ground.

To the north of the main castle is the third forecourt. The surrounding walls have been partially preserved.

The former main gate was located in the west under the inner castle and was flanked by a corner tower. The Burgweg ran from the west in the Zwinger around the castle. Only traces of the terrain and small remains of walls are evidence of these external fortifications.

The kennel wall was reinforced by two semicircular protruding towers. A low wall runs around the north side of the castle.

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  The west side to the south with the stump of the western square tower

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  The outer wall of the hall in the southeast

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  The residential building in the southwest

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  The main castle to the south

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  View from the Ipf from the north

literature

• Bernhard Hildebrand: Flochberg ruins in the village of Schloßberg . In: Hans Frei, Günther Krahe: Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria: Swabia, Volume 2: Archaeological walks in the Ries . 2nd revised and improved edition. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart and Aalen 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0568-X , pp. 138-141.
• Günter Schmitt : Burgenführer Schwäbische Alb, Volume 6: Ostalb - hiking and discovering between Ulm, Aalen and Donauwörth . Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach an der Riß 1995, ISBN 3-924489-74-2 , pp. 203-210.

Web links

Commons : Burg Flochberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Details on the battle of Flochberg near Bopfingen 2014 on stauferstelen.net. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
2. ^ Peter Koblank: Treaty of Seligenstadt 1188 on stauferstelen.net. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
3. ^ Tobias Weller : The marriage policy of the German nobility in the 12th century , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2004, pp. 152–154.