Hundheim Castle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hundheim Castle
Alternative name (s): Burgstall Hundheim
Creation time : 2nd third of the 11th century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Burgstall
Place: Neckarhausen
Geographical location 49 ° 25 '4.3 "  N , 8 ° 52' 24.1"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 25 '4.3 "  N , 8 ° 52' 24.1"  E
Height: 289.4  m above sea level NN
Hundheim Castle (Hesse)
Hundheim Castle

Hundheim Castle is the modern name of the castle stables of an abandoned hilltop castle of unknown name near Neckarhausen , a district of Neckarsteinach in the Bergstrasse district . The complex, which was archaeologically examined in 2004, is considered to be the oldest castle in the lower Neckar valley .

location

The Burgstall Hundheim is located on the Schloßbuckel , a mountain spur 289.4  m above sea ​​level in the south of the community-free area Michelbuch and west of Neckarhausen on the northern bank of the Neckar , in a sparsely populated and very wooded area between Neckarsteinach and Hirschhorn . The recent building remains are difficult to recognize, let alone interpret, with an untrained eye in the area. It can only be reached on foot from Neckarhausen or Lanzenbach .

The attachment

The castle was protected both by a circumferential moat fortification and in the northeast by an additional section ditch (which is now largely disturbed).

In the 2nd third of the 11th century, the complex was initially designed as a compact tower castle with an octagonal residential tower and polygonal ring wall, later, probably around 1100, it was expanded to include a palace on the southern side facing the Neckar.

The total size of the two-shell, 1.7 m thick circular wall should not have been more than 33 m × 36 m. The octagonal residential tower with a diameter of approx. 12 m has moved towards the field side and rises with approx. 1.4 m thick walls on the highest point of the castle area. The outer shell of the masonry was carefully piled up from small cuboids with an exceptionally skilled surface treatment, as is usually found in sophisticated sacred buildings. In the south-east, on the side facing the river, there are the remains of a palace, which is disturbed by a quarry. The minimum length of the building complex is 10 m, the width about 7 m. The interior of the hall was - at least on the ground floor - divided into two areas by a partition wall.

The outstanding construction quality clearly sets the complex apart from the majority of similarly designed contemporary castles.

The nearby settlements of Husen (today Neckarhausen ) and Michelbuch (today Wüstung ) guaranteed the direct supply and thus had a kind of outer bailey.

history

The castle is not mentioned in the written sources. However, it can be clearly assigned to the domain of the imperial monastery of Lorsch indirectly, both due to judicial and parish law relationships, as well as legal transactions undertaken after its destruction that affect the castle district with its associated settlements .

The facility , which was built in the 2nd third of the 11th century, is located in the southern Odenwald , which was heavily disputed in terms of ownership between the diocese of Worms and the imperial monastery of Lorsch , especially in the 10th and 11th centuries . The castle "Hundheim" documents with its nearby settlements Michelbuch , Husen, Ramesowa and the place Ersheim , the country development intensively pursued by the imperial abbey, which was continued in the Worms area by their bailiffs on their own initiative - probably with the alienation of monastic property. The written sources indicate that the castle was in the hands of the monastery bailiff, Count Berthold the Elder, until it was destroyed around 1130 . J. von Lindenfels - Hohenberg . It is very obvious that the complex was owned by his father and predecessor in office, the Lorsch monastery governor, Count Berthold the Elder, decades earlier. Elderly from Hohenberg arrived. The facility on the Schlossbuckel is the result of a conflict situation that is also complex supraregional, into which Count Berthold the Elder. J. von Lindenfels was involved. The question of whether the castle was founded on the initiative of a Lorsch abbot or one of his bailiffs cannot be clearly clarified in retrospect.

The area of ​​the castle site and the associated settlements came through donations (1150, 1152), which u. a. the nephew of Count Bertholds von Lindenfels made his heir to the nearby Cistercian monastery Schönau in the Odenwald , founded around 1142 . By 1204 at the latest, the area was part of the Grangie in Michelbuch.

Today's forest area is private property of the Evangelical Care Schoenau .

According to the Hessian Monument Protection Act, the area of ​​the Burgstall is a ground monument . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

literature

  • Christian Burkhart. The bishops of Speyer and Worms, the Lorsch bailiffs and the beginnings of the Cistercian Abbey Schönau in the Odenwald in the 12th century. In: ZGO 156, NF 117, Stuttgart 2008, pp. 1-84.
  • Matthias Klefenz: The Burgstall Hundheim. Exploratory excavations on a nameless castle in the lower Neckar valley . In: The Odenwald. Journal of the Breuberg Association . 53rd year (2006), issue 2, ISSN  0029-8360 , pp. 53-63.
  • Matthias Klefenz: The Burgstall Hundheim. Exploratory excavations on a castle of the 11th / 12th centuries Century on the lower Neckar . In: Denkmalpflege & Kulturgeschichte , Volume 1, 2007, pp. 30–34.
  • Klefenz, Matthias. The “Hundheim” castle from the Salier period. A relic of the high medieval settlement history in the Odenwald and on the lower Neckar. In: Burgen und Schlösser 3/2011, 132–145.
  • Klefenz, Matthias. In the area of ​​tension between the diocese of Worms and the imperial monastery of Lorsch: the former "Hundheim" castle. Establishment and decline of a castle from the Salian period. In: Castle and Church. Manorial building in the field of tension between politics and religion. Braubach 2013, pp. 69–79.
  • Klefenz, Matthias / Achim Wendt. The castles of the imperial abbey of Lorsch. In: Parchment and Stone. New research on Lorsch Abbey, 2013, pp. 54–61.

Literature (state of research out of date)

  • Bernd Philipp Schröder: The castle "Hundheim", Neckarsteinach and the district Michelbuch . In: Geschichtsblätter Kreis Bergstrasse , Volume 15, 1982, pp. 175–191.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hesse: 800 castles, castle ruins and castle sites. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 564.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Klefenz: The Salierzeit castle "Hundheim". A relic of the high medieval settlement history in the Odenwald and on the lower Neckar. In: Castles and Palaces . tape 3/2011 , p. 132-145 .
  2. ^ Matthias Klefenz: The Salierzeit castle "Hundheim". A relic of the high medieval settlement history in the Odenwald and on the lower Neckar. In: Castles and Palaces . No. 3/2011 , p. 132-145 .
  3. ^ A b Matthias Klefenz: In the field of tension between the diocese of Worms and the imperial monastery of Lorsch: the former castle "Hundheim". Establishment and decline of a castle from the Salian period. In: Castle and Church. Manorial building in the field of tension between politics and religion. Braubach 2013, p. 69-79 .
  4. ↑ Christian Burkhart: The bishops of Speyer and Worms, the Lorsch bailiffs and the beginnings of the Cistercian abbey Schönau in the Odenwald in the 12th century. In: ZGO . 56, NF 117. Stuttgart 2008, p. 1-84 .
  5. ^ Christian Burkhart: The "relentless feud" between the Speyer prince-bishop Siegfried von Wolfsölden and the Lorsch monastery bailiff, Count Berthold von Lindenfels (1128/1130). In: Ludwigsburg history sheets . tape 61 (2007) , pp. 7-29 .
  6. ↑ Meinrad Schaab: The Cistercian Abbey Schönau in the Odenwald . Heidelberg 1963.