Hohentann Castle

Hohentann Castle
Memorial stone at the location of the castle
Creation time :	12th Century
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	Remains of the foundation
Standing position :	Lower nobility
Place:	Altusried -Hohentann
Geographical location	47 ° 47 '37 "  N , 10 ° 8' 24.5"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 47 '37 "  N , 10 ° 8' 24.5"  E
Height:	835  m above sea level NN

The ruins of Hohentann Castle are located near Kimratshofen in the Bavarian-Swabian district of Oberallgäu . Today reminds of the 835  m above sea level. NN lying hilltop castle only a memorial stone.

history

The early history of Hohentann Castle is still unknown today, there is no evidence of the time it was built, who had it built, or whose ancestral seat the castle was at that time. The earliest reference to the castle are four brothers mentioned in a document in 1144 who had the addition of fir . At that time they handed over three of their servants to the prince monastery of Kempten . It is not certain whether these brothers can be safely connected to Hohentann Castle; they may also have come from Alttann Castle, northeast of Ravensburg . Another gender that comes into question as lords of the castle are the vassals Rudolf and Berthold von Erkentann, they served the Ottobeuren monastery .

The first reliable news about the castle comes from the year 1268, when three brothers Berthold, Rudolf and Konrad von Hohenegg , who came from Hohenegg Castle near Ebratshofen , shared their rule and Konrad came into the possession of the Hohentann rule.

In addition to the castle, the castle mill and the building yard, the rich rule of Hohentann also included subjects and goods in Frauenzell and Muthmannshofen as well as the upper and lower mills, the meierhof , a tavern , the bath room and ten other goods in Legau . Also in Kimratshofen there were subjects belonging to the lordship, a farm, a mill, a tavern and eight other goods. Further goods were in the hamlets of Grünenbach, Hettisried and Käsers, as well as farms and people in Grund, Strimo, Schreiloch, Auf der Halde near Durach , people, Staudach, Aigholz, Lanholz, Witzenberg, Wigelis, Zirs and Engelharz. The lordship also included the lower jurisdiction .

However, Konrad did not name himself until 1290 at the latest after the castle, as can be seen on a seal from that time. He was followed by his son Rudolf, in 1322 he paid homage to the Bavarian Duke Ludwig, for which he was prescribed the city tax of Kempten . His sons, Rudolf and Hans of the same name, called the Mönch , von Hohentann, also came into the possession of the Hohentann rulership.

The Hohentanner Gender fell due to a feud with the bishop, the Cathedral Chapter and the city of Augsburg in financial difficulties, and had dominion in 1413 for 9,000 pounds Heller Berthold of Heimenhofen sell. The Haimenhofer, whose headquarters is Heimenhofen Castle near Sonthofen , divided their property in the same year, with Berthold receiving a larger share of the Hohentann rule and his brother Ulrich a smaller one. Nonetheless, Ulrich was sitting in the castle and named himself after that: Ulrich von Heimenhofen zu Hohentann. In a fire in the castle in 1454, the Heimenhofers lost important documents in which they were granted rights. They were given to them by Emperor Friedrich III. confirmed again. The castle was also repaired shortly afterwards. With the childless death of Hieronymus von Heimenhofen zu Hohentann in 1498 the line to Hohentann died out, the rule passed to his heirs, the lords of Heimenhofen bei Sonthofen. The Heimenhofer then pledged the rule to the Tyrolean Chancellor Cyprian von Sarnstein in 1499. As early as 1502, he pledged the estate to the Prince Monastery of Kempten for 7,000 guilders, and since he did not redeem it, it remained in the possession of the monastery. The monastery set up a bailiwick there, the first bailiff was Erhard von Königsegg .

On April 9, 1525, Hohentann Castle was captured and plundered by the rebellious farmers during the Peasants' War . They let the then Vogt Hans Wernher von Raitnau move with his wife and children as well as his property to Leutkirch im Allgäu , but he had to leave his horses to the farmers. In 1529 the Frauenzell pastor Andreas Öder was imprisoned in the castle, the prince abbot of Kempten had him arrested because the pastor was preaching the new Protestant faith. Öder came from Hohentann to Meersburg Castle , where he was burned at the stake because he did not want to revoke his faith .

Repairs to the entire roof, the tower and the bridge to the castle are known for 1595.

In 1642 the Bailiwick of Hohentann was dissolved and converted into a nursing office for nine communities. After the maintenance costs for the castle became too expensive as a maintenance office, the official residence was moved to the castle in Lautrach . The Hohentann Castle was no longer inhabited and fell into disrepair. After the monastery was dissolved in the course of secularization in 1803, the castle was sold as a quarry.

Until the 1980s, a gravel pit was maintained at the Halsgraben , which reduced the castle to half of its former size.

description

The castle ruins, of which only very few remains are visible today, are located on a north-west facing mountain spur of the Langenberg, which slopes steeply to the valley on three sides. At the end of the spur and at the plateau of the mountain, the castle site is secured by a ditch each. The castle area, which measures around 20 by 40 meters, is severely disturbed by the gravel mining; in this area of ​​the castle there was also a well that was filled in during the dismantling. On the roughly rectangular castle hill, remains of the foundation wall of former buildings are still preserved. On the east side of the castle hill there is a lower plateau with the dimensions of 12 by 8 meters, here was another building that, as can be seen on old views, stood outside the curtain wall .

Today's wasteland Hohentann is the former building yard of the castle, and the wood mill to the southeast was once part of the castle. The former access to the castle was from the southeast, through a bridge over the moat.

literature

• Toni Nessler: Castles in the Allgäu, Volume 1: Castle ruins in the Altlandkreis Kempten and Altlandkreis Sonthofen . 1st edition. Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten 1985, ISBN 3-88006-102-5 , pp. 46-59.

Web links

Commons : Burg Hohentann  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments: Entry D-7-8226-0001 / D-7-80-112-30
2. ↑ Toni Nessler: Burgen im Allgäu, Volume 1: Castle ruins in the Altlandkreis Kempten and Altlandkreis Sonthofen . 1st edition, p. 48 ff.