Hohenburg Castle (Thalheim)

Hohenburg Castle
The castle hill in the loop of the Kesselbach
Creation time :	before 1140
Castle type :	Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Noble Free
Place:	Bissingen - Fronhofen
Geographical location	48 ° 43 '53 "  N , 10 ° 33' 23"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 43 '53 "  N , 10 ° 33' 23"  E
Height:	511  m above sea level NN

The few remains of Hohenburg Castle lie on a rocky hill between Fronhofen and Thalheim in the municipality of Bissingen in the district of Dillingen an der Donau in Swabia . The hilltop castle was abandoned in the 16th century and still exploited as a quarry at the beginning of the 20th century.

Geographical location

The castle is 511  m above sea level. NN on the so-called Burgberg in a loop of the Kesselbach in the Kesseltal on an isolated limestone reef. The better-known Michelsberg rises about 600 meters to the east with its ramparts and the church.

history

The noble lords of Hohenburg appear for the first time in 1140 with Odelricus and his son Fridericus de Hoenburch as witnesses in a deed of gift from the lords of Fronhofen, who are likewise noble and probably related to the Hohenburgers, in favor of the Berchtesgaden monastery . The wealthy family is likely to have died out as early as the end of the 13th century with Friedrich von Hohenburg, who was last mentioned in 1270 .

The Hohenburg rule came to the Counts of Oettingen at the latest in 1299 and was administered by bailiffs. In 1327 the castle was pledged by Count Ludwig and Friedrich to Knight Kunrad von Zipplingen, and around the middle of the 15th century it was administered again by Oettingian bailiffs.

In 1455 Hans Schenk von Schenkenstein acquired the rule from the counts for 9500 Rhenish guilders.

Schenk's descendants sold the property in 1557 to the Augsburg Landsknechtsführer Sebastian Schertlin von Burtenbach . After disputes (hunting justice and jurisdiction) with the Counts of Oettingen, the Augsburg resident sold Hohenburg back to Konrad von Bemelberg the younger in 1568 .

However, the new owner preferred the more comfortable stay in the associated Bissingen Castle . The Hohenburg was abandoned and was ruinous as early as 1598.

In 1661 the Hohenburg-Bissingen rule came back to the Counts of Oettingen-Wallerstein . In 1663, Emperor Leopold approved the removal from the knightly canton of Kocher . This resulted in a protracted legal dispute that could only be ended by a settlement in 1740.

In 1871 the remains of the keep and the curtain wall collapsed. From 1908 the owner of the Hohenburger Mühle exploited the ruins as a quarry.

Today the main castle is almost completely overgrown with trees and thick undergrowth and is difficult to access.

Building description

The rectangular main castle is preceded by a small forework to the northeast , which is separated by an arched neck ditch . This outwork was likely to have served to protect the gateway that ran up the neck ditch to the south.

Only remnants of the trench lining, the curtain wall and the gate fortifications have survived from the rising masonry . Here at the former front gate a semicircular shell tower still stands upright. A second, similar defense tower formerly protected the access to the main castle (remains of the wall) about 20 meters to the west.

On the main castle plateau, an approximately 5 meter high oval hill bears the sparse remains of the keep . The outer shape is no longer visible today, the floor plan of the tower should have been round.

Numerous stones of the masonry and the stream barriers of the mill at the foot of the castle hill come from the castle, which had to serve as a quarry at the beginning of the 20th century.

literature

• Wilfried Sponsel, Hartmut Steger: Past castles and mansions - a search for traces in the view of the Ries . Typesetting and graphics partner, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-935438-27-3 , pp. 16-23.
• Günter Schmitt : Castle Guide Swabian 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. 109–116.
• Horst Gutmann, Elisabeth Grünenwald: Hohenburg ruins . In: Hans Frei, Günther Krahe (Hrsg.): Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria - Swabia 2: Archaeological walks in the Ries . 2nd revised edition, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-8062-0568-X , pp. 220-223.
• Werner Meyer (edit.): The art monuments of Bavaria - Administrative region of Swabia, Volume VII: District of Dillingen an der Donau . Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-486-43541-8 .

Web links

• Historical reconstruction drawing

Individual evidence

1. ^ Source history: Horst Gutmann, Elisabeth Grünenwald: Hohenburg ruins . In: Hans Frei, Günther Krahe (Hrsg.): Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria - Swabia 2: Archaeological walks in the Ries , pp. 220-223