Frankenstein Castle (Bad Salzungen)
| Frankenstein | ||
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 View of the castle hill from the Werra bridge |
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| Creation time : | after 1100 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | Castle stable, wall and moat remains | |
| Standing position : | Noble | |
| Place: | bad Salzungen | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 49 '2 " N , 10 ° 15' 40" E | |
| Height: | 280 m above sea level NN | |
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The Frankenstein Castle was the family seat of the famous Frankish noble family of the Lords of Frankenstein , which from one side line of the counts of Henneberg descended and until the mid 14th century in western Thuringia and the Rhoen detectable.
location
The structural remains of the abandoned Spornburg are located at 280 m above sea level. NN about 2 km (as the crow flies) east of the city center of Bad Salzungen , not far from the monastery district and can be quickly reached from there via a paved road. The castle complex is located on a spur on a foothill of the Frankenstein mountain protected by a steep drop to the Werra floodplain.
At the top of this mountain - and about 100 m east of the medieval castle - the Frankenstein art ruin of the same name with a lookout tower was built around 1890 by the Bad Salzunger Burg- und Heimatverein Frankenstein community .
history
The middle Werra was in the Middle Ages as Mark Breitungen addressed and was a center of a vast royal estates complex represented by King Henry I of Hersfeld Abbey was passed. To protect the Frauenbreitungen monastery , which was built in 1150 , noble families - the Counts of Henneberg - were appointed; around 1250 this office was exercised by the Frankensteiners . In the 13th century, the Frankensteiners ruled over an extensive area, partly still uninhabited, which Emperor Heinrich II had given the Hersfeld Monastery to use as a wild ban ; it stretched from Gerstungen to Eisenach in the north, from Inselsberg to Wasungen in the east, from Kaltennordheim to Geisa in the south and in the west to Vacha . The first (indirect) mention of Frankenstein Castle took place in 1137, when Ludwig, the second son of the progenitor Poppo von Frankenstein, named himself after this castle. In 1153 the lords of the castle can be traced as ministerials of the Hersfeld monastery.
The attempts of the Frankensteiners to assert themselves against the strongest powers in the region - Fulda Monastery and the Thuringian Landgraves - led to their decline. In 1265, Frankenstein Castle was besieged by Abbot Bertho II of Fulda and partially destroyed, and in 1295 King Adolf succeeded in doing so , although the castle was probably badly damaged again. In 1335 the castle was of importance for the last time in connection with a dispute between the last Frankenstein owners.
Little is known about the later fate of the castle; the parts of the building that were still habitable probably served as accommodation for the guardian of the Allendorf monastery. The complete destruction of the castle ruins in the Peasants' War is obvious.
investment
Historical illustrations and descriptions have not survived. The site findings indicate a medium-sized core castle with a roughly rectangular shape and an extension of around 80 to 100 m by 40 to 60 m, which was initially sealed off from the higher mountain top by two crescent-shaped walls and ditches in the east. The elongated flank in the north was protected by a relatively deep neck ditch (now largely covered by the driveway to the garden plot). The situation on the western flank is no longer reliably understandable due to the recent leveling. The natural steep slope protected to the south (about 30 to 50 meters above the valley floor). Access was therefore via a wide arc from the Allendorf monastery , which is probably still partially hidden under the current path (remains of the hollow path), and the castle was accessed via a multi-level gate from the east.
In the immediate vicinity of the castle complex or in the nearby area of the former Allendorf monastery , the majority of the castle's necessary farm buildings are to be assumed. There was also a water mill below the castle until the end of the 19th century .
Current situation and usage
The castle complex is a designated architectural and ground monument of the city of Bad Salzungen. In the western part of the core of the former castle grounds, a garden plot was set up and partially leveled during the GDR era. The ramparts and ditches in the eastern and northern area of the castle are covered by wood and thus largely protected from erosion, but inaccessible. Large parts of the site were ransacked in the 19th century in search of stones for the construction of the art ruin and other buildings in the local area, as a result of which known cellar and wall remains were destroyed around 1830. In the outskirts of the village of Allendorf Abbey, walking paths were created in partially filled trench sections and leveled whales. The northern slope is used as grazing ground. The eastern area is open to the public.
Name interpretation
The derivation of the name Frankenstein was passed down in the vernacular: accordingly, the fortification was one of the first stone castles in the Werra Valley, built by a count of the (East) Franconian kings.
literature
- Albert Freiherr von Boyneburgk-Lengsfeld: Frankenstein In: Friedrich Gottschalck (editor) Ritterburgen und Bergschlösser Deutschlands, Vol. 8, Halle 1831, pp. 281–294
- Thomas Bienert: Bad Salzungen, Frankenstein Castle that has disappeared In: Medieval castles in Thuringia, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, p. 316f, ISBN 3-86134-631-1
- Ernst-Ulrich Hahmann: The knights from Frankenstein . Resch-Verlag, Meiningen 2011, p. 100 .
- Ludwig Hertel: Der Frankenstein In: Lehfeldt, Paul / Voss, Georg (ed.): Architectural and art monuments of Thuringia, Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen, booklet XXXV District Court District Salzungen S. Jena 1909.
- Hartmut Ruck: Chronicle Bad Salzungen Bad Salzungen (no year)
- Georg Brückner : Regional Studies of the Duchy of Meiningen , Part Two, pp. 3–68
- Werner Eberhardt: The Hohe Strasse between Salzungen and Gotha (Schweinaer Strasse) . In: Museum of Prehistory and Early History of Thuringia (ed.): Prehistory and local research . Issue 24. Weimar 1987, p. 27-33 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hans Patze , Peter Aufgebauer (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 9: Thuringia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 313). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-520-31302-2 , pp. 124-125.
- ↑ Thuringian Land Surveying Office TK25 - sheet 5127 Bad Salzungen , Erfurt 1997, ISBN 3-86140-063-4
- ↑ Volker Schimpf: The Heden places in Thuringia . ( Online ; PDF; 3.5 MB)