Hauenstein Castle (Hauenstein)

Hauenstein Castle
North side of the enclosure wall with entrance (2008)
Creation time :	before 1108
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Laufenburg- Hauenstein
Geographical location	47 ° 34 '55.2 "  N , 8 ° 6' 23.4"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 34 '55.2 "  N , 8 ° 6' 23.4"  E
Height:	330  m above sea level NN

The castle Hauenstein is the ruins of a hilltop castle on 330  m above sea level. NN in Hauenstein , part of the municipality Laufenburg am Hochrhein , in the district of Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg .

Location / terrain

Medieval district. (Hauenstein / Albgau in the Duchy of Alemania, marked in green)

Hauenstein Castle is located on a rocky ridge made of very hard porphyry that jumps up from the Rhine , steeply above the town of Hauenstein . The castle complex runs diagonally from northeast to southwest. The altitude and a bend in the Rhine allow a wide view up and down the river. An important trade route already ran along the banks of the Rhine in Roman times. Together with the surrounding river valleys of the Alb , Schlücht and Wehra , it forms an enclosure. Thus, with natural means, there was already the possibility of being able to control land and sea routes on the Rhine . Today's road towards Hochsal was not broken through the rock massif until much later.

Purpose of the facility

The facility was probably built to secure the Säckingen monastery . In various old documents, Hauenstein is also united with the limit of the snowmelt of the Black Forest, which thus also represented a natural limit. In any case, there were enough reasons to secure this strategically important border point at precisely this point to justify the construction of castles in the early Middle Ages , if not even at the end of antiquity .

Due to the natural narrowing of the trade route running below the castle, the connecting road in the east-west direction and the shipping on the Rhine , the routes could be monitored excellently from this point and customs duties could be collected without major difficulties, since a bypassing on the right bank of the Rhine was possible At that time, due to another natural barrier in the Alb gorge, it was only possible with considerable effort, especially since the only river crossing there was also sealed off by Tiefenstein Castle .

Hauenstein Castle, an imperial fiefdom, was the seat of the forest bailiff of the county of Hauenstein until 1500 and served as a customs building and state administration.

Overall system

Upstream defense

The castle square was accessed from the southwest. A deep ditch ran to the left of the access path . Two further trenches in front of the castle were partially bordered by a wall . The complex itself was protected from the south-west by a moat and wall. Another ditch ran in front of the northeast wall. In the north-west of the castle there was an artificially created pond, which was fed by a water tower covered with wood and earth . The water came from Hochsal, about two kilometers away . Remnants of this clock are still present. The excess water flowed through a specially designed ditch that ran along the southwestern part below the castle and from there along the southwestern city walls of the outer bailey to the Rhine.

The castle complex

Cross-section of a battlement at Hauenstein Castle with wooden chest reinforcement

The system was changed and expanded several times. Some extensions can still be clearly seen, even from the building condition, which is largely in ruins today. The oldest part of the castle is probably the southwest part. There, the complex is joined by a building which, due to its octagonal basic shape, which is still rudimentary today, suggests a medieval construction probably in the 10th or 11th century. It is possible that this part was already fortified during the Carolingian period and was therefore the seat of the Gaugrafen of the Albgau in the early phase . Further examinations are necessary to determine the exact age of the system.

Wall approach of the north wall at the old Palas (outlined in red)

In a later phase about 3 meters high, to the northwest directed towards shield or coat wall with about verlaufendem, wooden walkway was on the sloping walls of the old palace , which may originally only a feast house , cultivated was. This extension can still be clearly seen today (see image of the wall attachment), because the attached shield wall is narrower than the leg length of the octagonal hall, which creates a niche on the inside of the shield wall. The later addition of the shield wall to the old hall has thus to a certain extent preserved the octagonal basic shape of the hall in the northwest, which is important for determining the age. This is all the more important because the opposite palace walls in the southwest are badly damaged or no longer exist. The course of the wall inside the castle was heavily changed or distorted. The apparently coherent part of the wall, which is presented to the visitor behind the visitor board today, probably only partially belongs to the castle complex and was mostly built in a much later construction phase (probably at the end of the 19th century). Only the left (southwest) part of this wall, which today impresses with its large and heavy ashlar stones, should be part of the old system. This wall strip is apparently the inside of the old donjon and not the outside of another building (tower), as today's view suggests from the accumulated rubble behind it. The right part of this wall, which is often referred to as the southeast wall of a residential building (Palas), probably does not belong to the original development. The course of the old palace wall in the south-east is more likely to be seen as a rather inconspicuous, diagonal wall strip that today appears illogical and senseless in its position detached from the palace. In terms of an octagonal hall, however, this wall again makes perfect sense. It is now reasonable to assume that the south-east wall of the palace (possibly during the fire in 1503 or as early as the earthquake in 1356) overturned and that during the partial reconstruction (probably 1644 or 1892, possibly also in 1370) the south wall was set back about three meters to the interior , inclined end of the octagon was added and thus the hall was significantly reduced in size. Measurements of the leg lengths and angles of the respective walls could provide information. The development of the old main castle probably consisted of a residential tower (donjon), an octagonal hall and a smaller farm building or stable. It cannot be conclusively said whether first a residential tower and then the octagonal hall or vice versa or possibly even both buildings at the same time.

Dimensions and condition of the castle complex

Floor plan of Hauenstein Castle

Arthur Hauptmann gives the length of the shield wall around 70 meters. The north wall of the palace does not seem to take this into account. The total length of the wall of the old palace, which runs in a north-westerly direction, together with the fortress wall attached to it later, should be around 95 meters. The latest findings take into account that the system originally even extended over the plateau at the north end. This would have made the entire complex around 140 meters long, making it one of the largest castle complexes on the Upper Rhine. The length of the sloping south-west wall, adapted to the terrain, is around 17 meters, the south-east wall of the main castle to the former gate of the main castle measures around 35 meters. Then the wall runs at an angle of about 90 ° outwards to the edge of the rock. A round tower in the shape of a horseshoe is attached to this approximately 10 meter long wall, which turns into the inner courtyard of the castle and was approximately 10 to 15 meters in diameter. Following the edge of the rock in a north-easterly direction, the south-east wall, which has largely collapsed today, was attached to the upper third of the round tower and was around 50 meters long. In a rounded edge it merges into the northeast wall, which measures around 30 meters at the outer end of the two rounded wall ends. Thanks to renovation work in around 1892, the north-west and north-east walls, with the exception of the north wall of the palace, are still relatively well preserved and impress with their thickness of more than three meters and a height of up to about seven meters in places. Most of the eastern part of the south-east wall collapsed or was used as a quarry in the 18th century and removed in the 19th century due to the risk of falling rocks. Stones from the castle ruins were probably also used to build the nearby railway viaduct. In the southern part of the southeast wall, in the area of ​​the main castle, the remains of a round tower and wall fragments have been preserved. This round tower protruded only a little, if at all, above the upper ground level.

Large parts of the complex are now overgrown by plants. There are also numerous shrubs and bushes inside the facility, which make a proper inspection and the overall view of the facility very difficult. The masonry of the Palas urgently needs renovation work, as the mortar is brittle in many places and the masonry loses its hold.

Characteristic

Ground plan probably before the repair work in 1892

View of the old palace from the inside of the castle

Today's access to the castle is in the northwest wall and leads through a 3.6 meter high and 2.1 meter wide arched gate into the interior of the castle. Whether this is a historical approach is doubted in various circles. A possible access from the northeast is also being discussed. Possibly a gate led through a possibly standing tower, which could span the moat there with the help of a drawbridge. In a sketch from the 19th century, entrances are sketched in both places. The castle path in the north-west wall, which leads through the inclined gate in the north wall, climbs in a slight right-hand curve to the old palace or the core or main castle, which was secured with another gate. Deeply sunk into a hollow alley, the entrance was easy to defend. Old descriptions indicate that the Palas stood here in the west on the outermost point of the rock. From Luttingen , a suburb of Hauenstein, the hall resembled a keep, which, according to Metz, probably did not exist at this point. In old reports there is talk of two castles, each located on a rock "a stone's throw" apart. This probably meant the old palace building in the south and another castle in the north of the complex.

The old main castle

The area of ​​the old main castle is slightly V-shaped and has a length of about thirty-five meters from the northeast to the southwest wall. At the south end it measures a width of about sixteen, at the north end about twenty meters. Today's access and the round tower are not taken into account, as these were probably built later. It is unclear what the buildings on the old castle looked like. Some experts assume a residential tower on the extreme southern tip. But it is also possible that the north wall that still exists today was part of a palace. Assuming this, it was about ten meters wide and about thirty meters long, provided that it actually reached to the very end of the rock's edge, as has been handed down in ancient descriptions. More accurate, however, is that the hall was only about twenty meters long and reached as far as the remainder of the wall that was in front of it. This possibility would allow the construction of further necessary useful buildings, which otherwise would not have had space in the rest of the palace forecourt (see model). This small forecourt was cordoned off from the rest of the complex with another gate. In a further expansion phase, a round tower was added to the north-east of the old main castle, which probably formed a self-contained unit with another wall wreath to today's castle entrance. A large keep at this point in the complex can probably be ruled out due to the relatively small wall thickness of around 1.8 meters.

The new lock

The northwest wall was later expanded considerably so that it was now ninety-five to one hundred meters long. In the north-eastern part of the complex there was probably a tower about thirteen by ten meters, to which a solidly bricked, about sixteen by ten meter long “knight's house” was attached. Probably only the rear (fortress) wall and side walls (fortress wall and tower) as well as the first floor of the front were solidly bricked. The second and possibly third floors, however, are likely to have been extended using timber construction.

The courtyard

Between the two “castles” was an inner courtyard about forty-five meters long and about twenty-nine meters wide, in which, judging by the mounds of rubble that exists today, there were other buildings. Numerous rafter holes on the northwest wall, which is presumably provided with a wooden battlement , can still be seen today. Most of them were wooden houses. The “knight's house” and the tower in the northeast of the complex are likely to fall into the same construction phase as the northeast wall. In contrast to the south-western residential tower, no wall approach can be seen here. The wall thickness is also consistent with the fortress wall. The walls in the southwest, old hall, however, are much thinner.

Historical descriptions of the castle

Years 1471 and 1473

Wernet describes the castle complex in his book Der Hauensteiner Landfahnen as follows: “We owe the most detailed description of the state of Hauenstein Castle to a report by two commissioners, Karl the Bold, Duke of Burgundy , from 1471. They describe the Hauenstein square as a market town some houses, which are reinforced with a poor wall, through which an upper and a lower gate lead. Two castles, each on a rock over the Rhine, completed the defense. Wilhelm von Griessen carried one from the Duke of Burgundy as a fief. The Duke reserved the other for himself. It consists of a large but very dilapidated tower with a small wooden dwelling that encloses an oven, a room and a stable for two to three horses. Above the house are a barn, a garden and a meadow. “In the Burgundian original, another report from Maître Mongin Contault, Maître des Comptes à Dijon of February 3, 1473 read :“ 157 ° Dit aussi que à mondit seigneur compete et appartient vne autre petite ville nommé Haustain en la Noire Montaigne, sur la riuiere du Rin, près d'enuiron ung quart de lieue dudit Loffenberg, close de poure cloison, combien qu'elle est en fort pays de montaigne, et n'y a que enuiron huit ou dix feux. Et ya deux chasteaulx, l'un prouchain de l'autre, plus près d'ung rux de pierre, l'un appartenent à mondit seigneur, et l'autre appartenant à Guillaume de Criez, assis sur vng rocq sur ledit Rin, lequel Guillaume le tient de fied de mondit seigneur. Ouquel chastel de mondit seigneur n'a demorance que pour vng receuer, car il n'y a que vng poille, vne chambre et estable pour deulx ou trois cheuaulx, avec une big tour quarrée qui est en grant ruyne, et est la principale place dudit pays de la Noire Montaigne. Desquelles villes et chastel mondit signeur a la plainne joyssance, ensemble d'aucunes das rentes y appartenant, lesquelles il ne sauroit declairer. Bien scet il que vng nommé Hance Meleur, muegnier, depuis vng an enca ou enuiron, s'est entremis et entremet de la recepte desdites rentes et reunenues, et ainsi l'a veu, et que à la dite seignoirie de Haustain competent et appartienent enuiron huit bon villaiges, oú il peult auoir plus de IIIc feux, et X ou XII autres villaiges, chacun de trois ou quatre feux. "

Year 1580

In 1580 Christian Wurstisen describes Hauenstein as follows: “Not far from Waldshut on the Rhine lies the walled town of Hauenstein, with an old castle, which had a special rule. In 1108, Hauenstein was bought from S. Blasien and exchanged, as a land register there indicates, but with which this exchange is made is not reported. It remained with the monastery, except for the last move from Zeringen, after which it came to the Counts of Freyburg, and finally to the House of Austria. Martin Freyherr von Stauffen wrote the rule of Austria Vogt zu Lauffenberg, Waldshut and Seckingen, Vogt at the Hauenstein Castle, and the four places of the Schwartzwald, belonging to the County of Hauenstein, in 1476. The castle was seventy years ago Fire, which comes in hemp, so the women had on it, wells up, so that only a bad house and thurn for the forest bailiff as a prison are left in it. The Alb flows from the Schwartzwald very soon in the Rhine. ”Wurstisen confirms the purchase of St. Blasiens in 1108, but gives no source for it.

Year 1663

In 1663 Mattäus Merian wrote about Hauenstein: “Under Waldshut / and an hour's walk from Lauffenberg / is the little town of Hauenstein / or Howenstein / on the Rhine / just like a bad spot: also Austrian. It is ancient times on the rock there was an old, dainty castle / of which there is still a door left / in it the forest governor has his prison. "

Year 1833

Karl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz writes in the year books of history and statecraft in 1833: “... such a respectable castle remained until it, too, shared the fate of destruction in the peasant war, with many other castles, after having suffered much from fire earlier. "

Castle chapel

The chapel belonging to the castle, which is consecrated to St. Joseph, is located below the rocky edge between the main castle and the outer bailey (town of Hauenstein). The construction of the chapel is said to date back to 1215. In 1503 the chapel burned down together with the castle. In 1641 it was decided to rebuild the chapel. A sandstone above the entrance bears the year 1685. In 1797 the chapel was robbed by the French. The citizens were able to prevent a demolition in 1826. In 1949 the chapel was completely renovated. It is the only completely preserved building belonging to the castle.

The outer bailey

The outer bailey mentioned in some reports is the small town of Hauenstein below the castle, facing the banks of the Rhine . Joseph Merk von Freiburg recognizes this in his description of the history of the origin, development and establishment of the Hauenstein unification in the Middle Ages . It is not known whether there was access from the outer bailey, that is, from the town of Hauenstein, to the main castle, which lies steeply above it. There may be a connecting passage in the round tower. For a long time it was doubted that the outer bailey, that is, the town of Hauenstein, had any fortifications at all. What is certain is that there was a city wall to the west. This still exists in large parts, but it cannot be identified without further ado, as it was converted into the gable wall of a house built on it. The fact that it is about a meter thick reveals that it is the remains of the city wall and not a house wall. The course with the remains of the wall above, which could never have belonged to a house, rather confirms the existence of a city wall in the west. If there was a western wall, the outer bailey was protected from the north by the main castle and from the south by the natural barrier of the Rhine, why should the only remaining access from the east not have been fortified, especially since it is only about 20 meters wide? This is rather unlikely, so it can be assumed that the little town of Hauenstein was also fortified all around. A report on the town of Hauenstein from the end of the 18th century confirms this assumption. It says: "This Städl consists of 18 houses, which are very small and badly built, and can be closed with two gates ..."

literature

• Arthur Hauptmann: Castles then and now. Castles and castle ruins in southern Baden and adjacent areas . 3. Edition. Verlag des Südkurier. Constance 1987, ISBN 3-87799-040-1 .
• Förderkreis Burgruine Wieladingen eV (Hrsg.): Castle ruins in the district of Waldshut . oA
• Markus Schäfer: The early history of Hauenstein Castle , editor of the Hochrhein History Association, yearbook 2011 online
• Andre Gutmann: Hauenstein Castle on the Upper Rhine - an outstanding example of Habsburg castle politics in the 13th and 14th centuries. In: Burgen und Schlösser 4/2015, pp. 259–268.

Web links

Commons : Burg Hauenstein (Baden-Württemberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hauenstein Castle at burgenwelt.de
• History of Hauenstein Castle
• Images of Hauenstein Castle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Markus Schäfer: The early history of Hauenstein Castle, editor of the Hochrhein History Association, yearbook 2011
2. ^ Franz Joseph Mone: Urgeschichte des Baden Land
3. ↑ Historical unification master meeting, Mr. Hans Gassmann
4. ^ Rudolf Metz, Geological regional studies of the Hotzenwald
5. ↑ Inspection by Markus Schäfer in September 2009
6. ↑ Arthur Hauptmann: Castles then and now .
7. ↑ Recent investigations by the Einungsmeisterversammlung e. VH Dold and the State Monuments Office
8. ^ Rudolf Metz, Geological regional studies of the Hotzenwald
9. ↑ R. Metz
10. ↑ See description from 1471 and the remains of the wall that still exist today
11. ^ Wernet, Karl Friedrich: The Hauensteiner Landfahnen , ZGORh NF. 56
12. ↑ Louis Stouff: La Description de plusieurs Forte Mattresses et Seigneuries de Charles le Temeraire en Alsace et dans la Haute Vallée du Rhin, Larose éditeur, Paris, 1902, p 60f
13. ↑ If one is allowed to believe, it would be Berthold V († 1218) .
14. ^ Christian Wurstisen, Basler Chronik , Vol. 1, p. 67
15. ↑ Topographia Alsatiae
16. ^ R. Metz, Geological regional studies of the Hotzenwald
17. ↑ so also R. Metz
18. ↑ General Landesarchiv Karlsruhe, inventory 113, No. 193