Hiltpoltstein Castle

Hiltpoltstein Castle
Hiltpoltstein Castle
Creation time :	Foundation walls 11./12. Century, structures at the end of the 16th century
Castle type :	Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status:	largely preserved
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Place:	Hiltpoltstein market
Geographical location	49 ° 39 ′ 35.3 "  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 19"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 39 ′ 35.3 "  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 19"  E
Height:	530  m above sea level NN

Village and Hiltpoltstein Castle

Hiltpoltstein Castle is essentially a high medieval aristocratic castle from the 11th or 12th century, which is located in the center of the Hiltpoltstein market in the Upper Franconian district of Forchheim in Bavaria . The current shape of the three-wing complex goes back to renovations at the end of the 16th century.

location

The summit castle stands on a dolomite rock ( 530  m above sea  level ) and forms the core of the village of Hiltpoltstein ( 518  m above sea  level ). The rock towering around 20 meters is - as is usually the case in Franconian Switzerland - the remains of a fossil sponge reef from the White Jura . Nearby there are other summit castles built on exposed rocks: to the east the ruins of Wildenfels and Burgstall Strahlfels , to the northeast the ruins of Stierberg , and to the north the ruins of Wolfsberg and Egloffstein .

Architecture of the castle complex

Copper engraving, Johann Alexander Böner , 1696

Below the castle, on a plateau, is the care castle (north wing, Am Schlosshof 4, built in 1622), which housed the offices and court rooms of the Hiltpoltstein care office until 1806 . The inner courtyard is entered through the gate passage, which shows a second east wing in front of the castle rock. This “new building” (cf. copper engraving by Johann Alexander Böner ) with a south gable was added in the second half of the 17th century, where the caretaker's apartment was on the first floor. The opposite house with a gable roof from the early 17th century (Am Schlosshof 6) was erroneously referred to as “New Castle” on a copper engraving, but the care castle has this nickname as a counterpart to the “Old Castle” (the medieval castle). The castle courtyard was bordered to the southwest by a low annex to the choir of the Matthäuskirche. The southern enclosure of the church and palace courtyard from the time of the Thirty Years' War can be seen in copper engravings from 1696 and 1699 . This walling was later removed and there has been a residential building here since the 19th century (Am Schlosshof 8).

The only way to the castle is through the gate in the new building of the care lock. A passage that has several loopholes and smoke vent holes to the south leads to the stables on the right hand side . The south-facing building with a hipped roof was last rebuilt in 1712, as evidenced by the year above the entrance. The hall for horses and carriages is equipped with a groined vault with frame stucco. The ascent to the castle, which begins in a straight line, leads to a level surface after the first landing. From here a descent leads to the somewhat lower-lying Zwinger , while the castle climb continues to the left via further steps.

The summit castle can only be reached via a hexagonal stair tower that was built after 1595. A 35-step spiral staircase in the tower led to a drawbridge until around 1800 , which connected the stair tower at the top with the south wing of the castle. When the drawbridge was impassable due to dilapidation, a solid wooden catwalk was built in 1807. This still connects the stair tower and the south wing, on the sides you can still see the grooves of the chains from the former drawbridge.

The three-wing complex shows the gables of the east and west wings with a courtyard on the open north side. The south wing forms a closed outer wall with the east and west wings. To what extent the Staufer foundation walls have remained unchanged has not yet been researched. The groin vault of the former castle chapel, located at ground level in the south wing at the level of the castle courtyard, indicates the expansion of this part of the castle in the 15th century. The vault encompasses the passage from the stair tower into the courtyard and today's chapel area, which was later reduced by an intermediate wall.

A status report from 1553 mentions three chambers in the castle. The current shape of the east and west wings with half-hipped roofs goes back to renovations around 1595. The interiors were then repeatedly adapted to the taste of the times, so in 1728 floral paintings were made in the hall in the east wing.

The foundations of the octagonal keep with a diameter of around 9.30 meters are located in the courtyard, which is open to the north . The tower, built in 1595, burned down completely as a result of a lightning strike in 1611 and was then removed down to the level of a connection to the first floor of the east wing. The remaining, initially single-storey stump is handed down on a pen drawing from the time of the Thirty Years' War. Later it continued to deteriorate. The remaining bricks of the tower were rebuilt to a height of about 1 meter during the renovation in the 1960s. Another one meter high shaft in the courtyard, below the eaves between the south and west wings, served as the rainwater inlet into the cistern , which is formed by a large cavity in the castle rock. The building report from 1807 mentions that the cistern was still important as a drinking water reservoir around 1800. Since the castle fell into disrepair in the first half of the 19th century, the cistern has been filled with rubble, which has not yet been cleared.

History of the castle

Market and Hiltpoltstein Castle, lithograph (around 1840) by Theodor Rothbarth after a drawing by Carl Käppel

Hiltpoltstein Castle

Archeology and architectural history research

So far there are no indications of the development of the castle rock that date back to the first authentic mention of Hiltpoltstein in the document from 1139. However, there is an older archaeological find: During the renovation of the castle at the end of the 1960s, a late Ottonian disc brooch made of bronze was found, which stylistically dates to the late 10th or early 11th century. It is very likely that it comes from the workshop of Egbert von Trier . Since the ornamentation of the fibula quickly went out of fashion with the beginning of the Salier period (from 1024), it can be assumed that it was stored on the plateau of the kennel up to around this time. The primer is now part of the permanent exhibition in the Franconian Switzerland Museum in Tüchersfeld . However, the find does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about building development, especially since other settlement objects such as pottery shards from this period are missing. Thousands of pieces of pottery that during the renovation in the 1960s in the yard and the bottom layers of the kennel were recovered, come to a small extent from the late Middle Ages , however (ca. 1250-1500), for the most part only from the founding days of Nürnbergischen Pflegamtes, that is from the first half of the 16th century. High medieval pottery, on the other hand, is only represented with individual shards, the earliest of which date from the first half of the 12th century. The fortification is therefore only confirmed at the time of the Staufer . There have not yet been any structural history or radiometric studies of the foundation walls to the extent that they could lead to other statements.

High Middle Ages and Early Late Middle Ages (11th-14th centuries)

The first appearance of Hiltpoltstein castle and place is connected with the Weißenohe monastery founded around 1100 , since the castle is assumed to be the seat of the associated bailiff . An authentic copy of Pope Paschal II's privilege to Weißenohe Monastery from 1109 is in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Two copies made around 1150 in the archives Bamberg and Amberg contain not only the text of the papal bull , but also a list of all monastic possessions, including "Hilteboldesdorf cum castro" (Hiltpoltstein with castle). These properties were apparently only added when the transcripts were made. The document received in Amberg also contains the forged signature of the Pope and a real papal seal. Despite the verifiable back-dating of the Weißenoher possessions in these two copies, it is possible that Hiltpoltstein Castle actually existed at the time the monastery was founded.

The Reich ministerial family of Hiltpoltstein-Rothenberg is first documented in 1139 with "Odalricus quidam de Hilteboldestein" (Ulrich von Hiltpoltstein) in a document from the Bamberg monastery Michelsberg . With the name of the castle rock (the "stone") is guaranteed at the same time as the official seat. Documents between 1246 and 1276 name a Ministeriale Hiltpold as an alternate name after the three associated mansions Lauf ( Wenzelschloss ), the castle on the "Old Rothenberg" and Hiltpoltstein. In 1251 he is called "Hilteboldus de Hilteboldestein", 1254 as "Hiltepoldus de Rotenberge". The main name "Hiltpold" remained until the end of the 13th century. The last Staufer emperor, Konradin , transferred the fiefs and hereditary estates in the Nordgau as a contingent donation - in the event of childless death - to his uncle, the Bavarian Duke Ludwig the Strict, in 1263 . After Konradin's execution in 1268, this change of ownership was formally carried out, so that from now on the place belonged to the Wittelsbachers , who continued to appoint ministerials as bailiffs on site. The family of the lords of Hiltpoltstein-Rothenberg finally merged with Dietrich von Wildenstein at the end of the 13th century through the marriage of the last Hiltpold's heir to Dietrich von Wildenstein . Dietrich von Wildenstein first settled in the old Rothenberg Castle before building the Rothenberg Fortress near Schnaittach in the first third of the 14th century .

With the abandonment as ancestral seat at the end of the 13th century, the trace of the lords of Hiltpoltstein in the documents is lost for several years. A joint pledge ownership together with the nearby Winterstein Castle , however, is to be assumed due to the guiding name Neighbor now appearing for both castles . In 1305 a "Nendunch von Hilpolstein" is mentioned, in 1326 a "Neydungk von Winterstein". When Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian shared the Wittelsbach estate with his brother's heirs in the Pavia house contract in 1329 , Hiltpoltstein fell to Count Palatine Ruprecht and thus to the Electoral Palatinate (until then Nordgau , later Upper Palatinate ).

Under Bohemian rule (1353–1503)

On October 29, 1353, a sales contract was signed between the financially struggling Count Palatine Ruprecht and the Bohemian King Charles IV , through which Hiltpoltstein together with Sulzbach , Rosenberg , Hartenstein , Neidstein , Thurndorf , Hohenstein , Lichteneck , Lauf , Eschenbach , Hersbruck , Auerbach , Velden , Pegnitz and Plech was sold to the Kingdom of Bohemia . The total price for these places was 12,000 silver marks . Shortly after the Bohemian occupation, a maintenance office with a high court was established on the castle , which was initially subordinate to Sulzbach and from 1373 to the district court of Auerbach . In addition to Erlangen , Hiltpoltstein was one of the most north-westerly places in the Bohemian Crown (so-called New Bohemia ) in the second half of the 14th century . The place is in the Bohemian Salbuch from 1366/68 in the spelling "Hilpoldstein".

As a successor to Charles IV, King Wenceslaus pledged the castle in 1397 to the mining entrepreneurs Herdegen and Peter Valzner , who originally came from Bohemia . The wealthy brothers were elevated to the rank of patricians in Nuremberg in 1403 . The price was 1000 shock Prague groschen, which corresponded to about two quintals of silver with a silver content of 12 lots of fine silver. In addition, the owner, the Bohemian Crown, granted 400 guilders on the Pfandbrief for the expansion of the castle. While most of the New Bohemian possessions were given back to the Electoral Palatinate around 1400, Hiltpoltstein remained under Bohemian sovereignty and the open house of the Bohemian kings as a result of the Pfandbrief . Friedrich von Seckendorff , representative of a Franconian knight dynasty, came in 1408 through marriage to Regina Valzner, daughter of Peter Valzner, in the pledge possession of the town and castle, which she brought into the marriage as a dowry . In 1417 his father Friedrich von Seckendorff, court master of the Nuremberg burgrave , received from King Sigismund the market rights for the village "to Hipoltzstain" and the privilege of fortification. His eldest son Friedrich inherited the property in 1432, who was initially the guardian of his younger brother Hans von Seckendorff. Since 1450 at the latest, the Seckendorffers have lived mainly in Nuremberg again and have appointed bailiffs on site. Hans von Seckendorff was a district judge in Nuremberg. In 1460 he ceded the lien to his brother Friedrich. His son Friedrich inherited the castle in 1483.

Imperial City Period (1503–1806)

Engraving by Christoph Melchior Roth, 1760

In anticipation of Bavarian-Palatinate inheritance disputes , Puta von Schwihau and Riesenberg , the highest judge of the Kingdom of Bohemia, bought the castle from Fritz von Seckendorff on behalf of King Vladislav II for 3,600 Rhenish guilders in June 1503 . At the same time he started negotiations with the imperial city of Nuremberg , which was interested in taking over Hiltpoltstein in order to round off its lands. In contrast to places in the Palatinate, such as Hersbruck , Lauf and Altdorf , which were conquered in the imminent War of the Landshut Succession or ceded to the imperial city of Nuremberg, Hiltpoltstein had to be acquired by Pfandbrief . This was issued on Gallus Day 1503 in Raudnitz , the price was 6000 Rhenish guilders. The castle then became the seat of a Nuremberg nursing office , but formally remained under Bohemian sovereignty, which included the right of opening by the Bohemian king and the possible release of the Pfandbrief at any time. The imperial city was interested in this strategically important official seat despite the freely revocable ownership and invested another 2,000 guilders in the expansion of the castle. Therefore, King Ladislaus of Bohemia increased the Pfandbrief by the same amount, which was sealed on St. Vitus Day 1509.

The annual reports of the Hiltpoltstein-based nurses have been handed down to the Imperial City of Nuremberg since 1513. Major repairs are reported between 1530–1531. The question of whether the siege of the place in the Second Margrave War resulted in major destruction of the castle is poorly documented, as only considerable damage has been recorded in the surrounding area. On May 21, 1552 the place was taken by the margrave war captain Wilhelm von Stein and four weeks later it was recaptured by troops from the imperial city under Martin Schrimpf. A later pillage of the castle in May or June 1553 would be plausible in view of the numerous destruction of the castle in the surrounding area. It also fits in with the fact that for the years after the war the carer's business was run from the neighboring Graefenberg care office. Official accounts only show that the castle was used again in the 1560s. During rubble excavations in the 1960s, a layer of fire was described that is believed to be associated with the Second Margrave War. However, this is not based on any solid evidence, so no finds from the stratum have been documented, nor have radiometric dates such as 14C data been determined. Other authors doubt this destruction and cite calculations from the time of the war. In 1560, a contract was signed between Emperor Ferdinand I , who was also King of Bohemia, and the Nuremberg Council to continue ownership of the imperial city for another 25 years in return for the payment of 1,500 thalers . This guarantee was presumably intended to motivate Nuremberg to renovate the castle, which was still only loaned by Pfandbrief. The main renovation and further expansion did not take place until 1595. In 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II finally transferred the pledge ownership of Hiltpoltstein to the city of Nuremberg as a Bohemian fief, which meant that ownership was consolidated.

The architect and early archaeologist Carl Haller von Hallerstein was born in 1774 as the son of the nurse in his official apartment in the nursing palace. In a brief biographical interlude as a Nuremberg building inspector, he wrote an opinion on the structural condition of Hiltpoltstein Castle in 1807.

Recent history (since 1806)

Hiltpoltstein (steel engraving by Alex Marx, 1843)

View of the market and Hiltpoltstein Castle from the southwest

In 1806 Hiltpoltstein was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria . From 1808 to 1810 it was assigned to the district court of Graefenberg im Pegnitzkreis , from 1810 to the Rezatkreis and from 1817 to the Obermainkreis .

New regional courts replaced the previous care offices, the Hiltpoltsteiner care castle was given up as the official seat at the end of 1807. The castle and palace were initially sold to a local master mason, later the innkeeper Georg Schmidt took them over. Due to a lack of investment, the castle was meanwhile completely neglected, among other things, entire roofs were missing. In 1841 the “ Korrespondent von und für Deutschland ” reported the demolition of the heavily dilapidated castle, which could only be thwarted by personal intervention by King Ludwig I. After it was returned to royal Bavarian ownership, it was renovated in 1843 at state expense and became the seat of the local forest administration. In the second half of the 19th century, Hiltpoltstein benefited from the emerging romantic castle and had many foreign visitors. This is documented in a castle guest book that was kept completely from 1843 to 1965 and is privately owned in Hiltpoltstein.

The castle is registered as a monument D-4-74-138-6 in the Bavarian list of monuments, the care castle as a monument D-4-74-138-3. The center of Hiltpoltstein is protected as a monument ensemble E-4-74-138-1, the entire castle area with the underground components is also protected as a ground monument D-4-6333-0217. In the 1960s, the Free State of Bavaria was interested in selling the castle as a state property for reasons of cost. In 1966 it was sold to the Nuremberg entrepreneur Josef Weber for DM 81,500 . This initiated extensive renovation work until 1972, such as the uncovering and fortification of the foundations of the keep, the restoration of the large hall and the kemenate in the east wing and the chapel in the south wing, and finally clearing the cellars of meter-thick rubble.

Since the 1970s, the castle and nursing home have changed hands several times without any significant changes to the state of the building. After an owner bankruptcy , the castle was managed in trust from 2006 to 2013 . The association for the preservation of Hiltpoltstein Castle e. V. offered monthly tours between 2010 and 2013. At the time, the association had a café on the upper floor of the nursing home and organized exhibitions by local artists. In 2013, the castle and nursing home were sold back into private hands for 400,000 euros. The support association for the preservation of the castle then dissolved. There has been no public access since then, the castle can only be visited on the day of the open monument . In autumn 2016 the property was sold to a new owner who also uses the castle privately and rents it out as a holiday home.

literature

• Volker Alberti: Hiltpoltstein Castle: Landmark of southern Franconian Switzerland . Puk Print, Hiltpoltstein 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027427-5 .
• Toni Eckert, Susanne Fischer, Renate Freitag, Rainer Hofmann, Walter Thousand Pounds: The Castles of Franconian Switzerland: A cultural guide . Area Committee Franconian Switzerland, Forchheim o. J., ISBN 3-9803276-5-5 , pp. 68–70.
• Ruth Bach-Damaskinos, Peter Borowitz: Palaces and castles in Upper Franconia - a complete representation of all palaces, manors, castles and ruins in the Upper Franconian independent cities and districts . Verlag A. Hofmann, Nuremberg 1996, ISBN 3-87191-212-3 , p. 154.
• Robert Giersch, Andreas Schlunk, Berthold von Haller: Castles and mansions in the Nuremberg countryside - a historical manual based on preliminary work by Dr. Gustav Voit. Self-published by the Altnürnberger Landschaft e. V., Lauf an der Pegnitz 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-020677-1 , pp. 195-198.
• Wolfgang Hühnermann: Office and Hiltpoltstein Castle. - In: Heimatbilder from Upper Franconia, 1916, pp. 106–114
• Hellmut Kunstmann : The castles of western and northern Franconian Switzerland. 1st part: The southwest, lower Wiesenthal and Trubachtal. Publications of the Society for Franconian History, Series IX, Nuremberg, 1971.
• Gustav Voit, Walter Rüfer: A castle tour through Franconian Switzerland. Verlag Palm & Enke, Erlangen 1991, ISBN 3-7896-0064-4 , pp. 86-89.
• Friedrich Weiß: The knight's castle Hildpoldstein in the Upper Franconian surroundings of Muggendorf. Nuremberg, 1844.

Web links

Commons : Hiltpoltstein Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hiltpoltstein Castle on the castles and manors side in the Nuremberg countryside
• Hiltpoltstein Castle on Burgenwelt.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christoph Melchior and Matthäus Roth: Prospecte of all Nürnbergischen Stædtlein, Markt-Flecken, and Pfarr-Dörffern, accurately signed by MG Lampferdtinger. Christoph Melchior Roth, iny. del et sculps. Nuremberg, 1760
2. ↑ Rst. Nbg., Rentkammer file no.2051 (report 1807)
3. ↑ Joachim Zeune: Hiltpoltstein, District Forchheim. In: Björn-Uwe Abels, Joachim Zeune, u. a .: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany, Volume 20: Franconian Switzerland . Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH and Co., Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8062-0586-8 , pp. 176-177.
4. ↑ Alberti 2009, p. 40
5. ↑ The piece was erroneously classified as Carolingian , see: Hans Losert: A disc fibula with pit enamel from Hiltpoltstein. Forchheim district, Upper Franconia. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 1987. Stuttgart 1988, pp. 154–155.
6. ↑ Mechthild Schulze-Dörrlamm: Crosses with heart-shaped arms. The importance of an ornamental motif for the fine chronology of enamelled bronze fibulae of the High Middle Ages. In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 18, 1988, pp. 407-415.
7. ↑ Hubert Pöppel: On the early history of the place and monastery Weißenohe. In: Report of the Historisches Verein Bamberg, 149, 2013, pp. 93–136.
8. ↑ Alberti 2009, p. 11
9. ^ Karl Theodor Lauter: Weißenoher document falsifications. In: Archivalische Zeitschrift 39, 1930, pp. 226-259
10. ↑ Alberti 2009, pp. 12-13
11. ↑ Georg Adam Huber: History of the monastery and the parish Weißenohe. In: Josef Pöppel: Weißenohe: On the history of the monastery and parish. 2013, pp. 119–121 ISBN 3732235807
12. ↑ Böhmisches Salbuch, 1366/68, pp. 61 ff, 83 f, 87, 123
13. ↑ StAN , Seck.Dok.Nr.66b
14. ↑ Gerhard Rechter: Die Seckendorff: Sources and studies for genealogy and property history, Volume 1 (ancestral family with the lines Jochsburg and Rinhofen.) In: Publications of the Society for Franconian History, Volume 36, 1987, p. 89
15. ↑ G. Rechter 1987, p. 93
16. ↑ Weißenohe Monastery documents 89
17. ↑ StAN Order of Knights, Documents 3657  in the German Digital Library
18. ↑ G. Rechter 1987, p. 93
19. ↑ G. Rechter 1987, p. 98
20. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Papal and Princely Privileges, Documents 431 ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
21. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Papal and Princely Privileges, Documents 432 ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
22. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Papal and Princely Privileges, Documents 434 ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
23. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Landalmosenamt, Files I, No. 1584
24. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Papal and Princely Privileges, Documents 467 ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
25. ↑ Volker Alberti: Hiltpoltstein Castle: Landmark of southern Franconian Switzerland . Puk Print, Hiltpoltstein 2009, pp. 87-88
26. ↑ Robert Giersch, Andreas Schlunk, Berthold von Haller: Castles and mansions in the Nuremberg countryside - a historical manual based on preliminary work by Dr. Gustav Voit. Self-published by the Altnürnberger Landschaft e. V., Lauf an der Pegnitz 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-020677-1 , pp. 195-198.
27. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Papal and Princely Privileges, Documents 657 ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
28. ↑ StAN Rst. Nuremberg, Kaiserl. Privilegien, Urkunden 752 ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
29. ↑ Rst. Nbg., Rentkammer file no.2051 (report 1807)
30. ↑ Correspondent from and for Germany No. 297, 1841
31. ↑ Alberti 2009, pp. 56–59
32. ↑ Alberti 2009, pp. 61–62
33. ↑ Alberti 2009, pp. 62-64, 87-88
34. ↑ Castle is for sale (Nordbayern.de, accessed on September 5, 2010)
35. ^ Nürnberger buys Hiltpoltstein Castle Nordbayern.de, June 20, 2013 (accessed July 28, 2015)
36. ↑ New owner wants to use Burg as a holiday home ( memento from October 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (BR-Nachrichten)