Höhingen Castle
| Höhingen Castle | ||
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 Detail with the castle from the copper engraving by Matthäus Merian from 1644 |
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| Creation time : | before 1064, first documented mention in 1259 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, summit location | |
| Conservation status: | Wall remains | |
| Standing position : | Nobles | |
| Place: | Achkarren | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 4 '15 " N , 7 ° 37' 15" E | |
| Height: | 352.1 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Höhingen Castle is the early medieval ruins of a hilltop castle above the village of Achkarren , a district of vogtsburg , in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg ( Germany ).
Geographical location
The castle is located at 352.1 m above sea level. NHN high Schlossberg in the Rhine valley across from Breisach . The difference in altitude between today's village and the former castle is around 150 meters. Höhingen was an important castle for centuries, only about 7 kilometers away from the highly competitive and strategically important fortress Breisach . The strategic importance arose from the fact that the north-south trade connections on the right bank of the Rhine led through two bottlenecks, one of which was formed between the fortifications of the town of Riegel and the Black Forest and the other ran between Breisach and Achkarren. In addition, during the eventful war history, Höhingen Castle often formed a military counterpoint to the more important Breisach, especially during the Thirty Years' War .
history
Not much is known for certain about the beginning of the castle complex on the Schlossberg. But it is said to have existed as early as 1064 when Achkarren was first mentioned in writing on the occasion of the transfer to the Ottmarsheim monastery by King Heinrich IV. Castle complexes, which were then expanded several times in the following centuries. After the ancestral castle of the Lords of Üsenberg , the castle Üsenberg on the Üsenberg near Breisach, was probably destroyed by the Breisach in the 1240s, they are said to have made the castle Höhingen available to the Üsenbergers as a replacement. It was first mentioned explicitly in writing in 1259. Around 1353 the castle was briefly pledged to the Schnewlin in the courtyard .
In 1392, Margrave Hesso von Hachberg bought Werner von Hornberg's share in the Höhingen Castle, and he already owned the other part. In 1415 the castle, together with the Margraviate of Baden-Hachberg, came to Margrave Bernhard I of Baden , who bought it from Margrave Otto II of Hachberg , the last of these Baden sidelines. Otto was allowed to use Höhingen Castle until the end of his life in 1418.
In the peasant war
The castle itself was burned down for the first time in May 1525 during the peasant uprising with the participation of Achkarrer farmers. This made Höhingen Castle one of only two margravial castles destroyed by the farmers, although a large number had been occupied by the farmers. Long-standing disputes between the village of Achkarren and the margraves over the use of the forest are believed to be the reason. The farmers later had to compensate Margrave Ernst I of Baden-Durlach for the damage.
In the Thirty Years War
In 1620, Margrave Georg Friedrich von Baden-Durlach expanded the castle again as a defensive structure and placed it in a state of defense, as the war events in the Rhine Valley and the Breisach fortress could be observed from here. In a contemporary report by the mayor of Breisach to the imperial governor of the Upper Austrian provinces in Waldshut , the Höhingen castle, which is often referred to as a palace, is described as follows:
“Its location was excellent, as it stood in the middle of the mountain summit on hard rock, which because of its graves had a heavy attack and could not be commanded from any of the surrounding places. The building was surrounded by strong masonry, on the one hand with a deep ditch, on the other hand it encountered an unclassified praecipitium [= abyss], which is used from below to make a stone pit. The castle had a good cistern. "
In 1633 there was an attack from Breisach. The Imperial Catholic troops captured the castle , which was currently held by the Swedes and supported by the Protestant Ihringers, and plundered it. According to records at the time, the booty was around 15,000 liters of wine. The property of Ihringen citizens stored in the castle was also lost. There are even reports of the loss of 200 horses and 300 head of cattle, which allows conclusions to be drawn about the size of the facility. After several subsequent disputes about the castle, it was finally set on fire in 1638 by the now imperial occupation when it could no longer be held militarily.
The recovery
Margrave Friedrich VI. von Baden-Durlach sold the stones of the ruin to the Kingdom of France in 1671 . a. so that Vauban had the fortress in Neu-Breisach built. Later building material for private houses was also obtained in the ruin, which is why only sparse remains of the freely accessible ruin can be seen on the Schlossberg.
description
A copper engraving by Matthäus Merian from 1644 gives a presumed impression of the former appearance of the castle, although little can be said for sure about its realism. After all, the access to the castle gate must have been exactly at the point as indicated in the copper engraving, as can still be seen today.
literature
- Alfons Zettler , Thomas Zotz (eds.): The castles in the medieval Breisgau, I. Northern part: half volume AK . In: archeology and history. Freiburg research on the first millennium in southwest Germany, issue 14 . Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 3-7995-7364-X , pp. 1-7.
- Rainer Kiewat: The castles of the Üsenbergs: Kirnburg, Üsenberg Castle, Riegel Castle, Höhingen Castle . Kenzingen 2006.
- Franz Xaver Kraus : The art monuments of the Grand Duchy of Baden , Tübingen and Leipzig, 1904, sixth volume, first division - Freiburg district; P. 3–4 ( digitized version of Heidelberg University Library ).
Web links
- Entry for Höhingen in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Achkarren - Höhingen Castle at breisgau-burgen.de
- Höhingen Castle at alemannische-seiten.de
- Höhingen - desert at leo-bw.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
- ↑ Jürgen Ehret: The Thirty Years War on the Upper Rhine
- ↑ s. EBIDAT
- ↑ Julius Kindler von Knobloch : Upper Baden gender book. Three volumes. Carl Winter's University Bookstore, Heidelberg 1898–1919. Here Volume 2, pp. 108–113 ( digital copy from Heidelberg University Library )
- ↑ the second was Landeck Castle
- ↑ s. Karl Seith: The Markgräflerland and the Markgräfler in the Peasants' War of 1525. Karlsruhe 1926, p. 143
- ↑ EBIDAT erroneously speaks of a Georg Wilhelm who did not exist