State weirs castle
| State weirs castle | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alternative name (s): | Veste national defense | |
| Creation time : | around 1100 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, summit location | |
| Conservation status: | Remains of the keep | |
| Standing position : | Ministerial of the Hochstift Würzburg | |
| Place: | Meiningen | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 36 '1.8 " N , 10 ° 23' 42" E | |
| Height: | 378 m above sea level NN | |
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The Landeswehre Castle , also known as the Veste Landeswehre , was a medieval hilltop castle on the summit of a solitary mountain cone, the Landsberg (formerly Landwehrberg ), which protrudes north of the town of Meiningen into the Werra Valley . Today the neo-Gothic Landsberg Castle is located on most of the castle complex .
location
The Landeswehre castle was visible from afar in the Werra Valley on the 378 m high Landsberg on the northern city limits of Meiningen, not far from the Meiningen district of Walldorf to the north . The distance to Meiningen city center is around 3.5 kilometers, to the center of Walldorf it is 1.5 kilometers. On the directly opposite side of the valley, on the slope of the Spitzberg, was Welkershausen Castle, which was completely razed in the Middle Ages. About two kilometers south of the Haßfurter Grund on the former Hohen Strasse is the Spornburg Habichtsburg .
description
The castle was a two-part, elongated and spacious complex with a round keep and high surrounding wall . The very high keep had exceptionally thick masonry and a pointed conical roof. The national defense was additionally secured with a neck ditch . The castle had a summit on the Landwehrberg cone with mountainsides sloping on all sides. Due to the advanced position of the mountain towards the middle of the valley, the castle crew had a wide and complete panoramic view of the Werra valley with Meiningen, Walldorf, Welkershausen , Wasungen and the Maienluft castle there , the Rhön and Dolmar . The high position also made it possible to monitor the Werrafurt near Walldorf, the Werratalstraße to Meiningen and the Hohen Straße trading route coming from Gotha / Schmalkalden , which continued to Würzburg and Fulda. This strategically very favorable location made the national weirs the most important castle in the region. There was a well in the castle courtyard and three agricultural yards at the foot of the mountain to supply the castle. In times of war, the Walldorf residents used the castle as a place of refuge. The lower part of the keep, remains of the foundation wall and the neck ditch have been preserved to this day.
history
In the year 1008, Heinrich II handed over donations from the imperial estate as compensation to the monasteries and dioceses affected by the loss of territory through the re-establishment of the diocese Bamberg in 1007 . This is how the royal estates of Meiningen and Walldorf came to the Würzburg monastery . The moated castle in Meiningen, built by the Würzburgers, initially served as protection for this exclave, and a little later the Landeswehre castle on the summit of the Landwehrberg was built alongside other fortifications.
The exact start of construction is not known, but based on finds and the construction of fortifications to protect the Würzburg properties around 1100, which took place after 1008. It was first mentioned in 1129. Until then, the Landwehrberg, like Meiningen, Vachdorf and other places in the Grabfeld district, had been fortified with a simple protective system since the Hungarian invasions in 899-955, which also served as a refuge for the Walldorf population. The Würzburg bishops sat ministerial as Burgmannen numerous lords of the gentry one. A lightning strike set the castle on fire in 1413, the damaged components were rebuilt soon afterwards. In 1493 the castle with all its goods and courtyards became part of the Würzburger Kammergut.
In the German Peasants' War on May 13, 1525, peasant troops moving up the Werra stormed the castle. Only the keep and parts of the castle wall survived the subsequent destruction. The castle was no longer built and from then on was no longer habitable. Only the farms belonging to the castle at the foot of the mountain were merged into one farm in order to continue to cultivate it. In 1542, the Landwehrberg with the castle ruins and courtyard came to the county of Henneberg . Soon afterwards, Count Wilhelm IV sold the mountain as an inheritance out of financial difficulties. In 1583, after the Counts of Henneberg died out, the county and thus also the Landwehrberg fell to the Ernestine line of the Wettiner rulers in accordance with the treaty . But other lines of the house as well as Hesse and the diocese of Würzburg raised claims on the Henneberg heritage, so that long-term negotiations came about. During the Thirty Years War, imperial troops in 1634 and Swedish troops in 1640 almost completely destroyed the farm on Landwehrberg. In 1660 it was finally agreed on a division of the county. In 1680, the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen was founded through an inheritance division and the Landwehrberg came into its possession.
Stones from the ruins of the Landeswehre were also used to build the new residential palace in Meiningen. In 1685 an attempt was made to blow up the mighty keep for this purpose, which did not quite succeed, so that the broken lower part is still in the ground at an angle to this day. The castle ruins and farm changed hands several times until the 19th century. In 1836, Duke Bernhard II of Meiningen bought the mountain, including the castle and court, and had August Wilhelm Döbner build a neo-Gothic castle based on the model of English aristocratic residences on the site of the castle ruins . Numerous finds such as keys, arrowheads, spurs and ceramics from the time of the state weirs were secured. The stump of the overturned keep was integrated into the castle ensemble in the area of the southern castle wall. The dairy on Landsberg with stables, barns, coach house and a manor house in the Swiss style was built in place of the farm . The dairy is now renovated and is a listed building.
Burgmannen
The Würzburg bishops predominantly appointed lower nobility as castle men , who were often also responsible for Meiningen Castle . The first known castle man was Wenzel Wolf von Landeswehre. Another Burgmann was Konrad von Landeswehre, who was mentioned in 1255. The other castle men included the noble families of Kühndorf, Salzburg, Helba, Habichtsburg and Herbilstadt . From 1330 to 1350, the Würzburg bishops appointed Count Berthold VII and Johann I von Henneberg from the higher nobility as Burgmannen in order to win their friendship as support in the power struggle against Emperor Ludwig. In 1406 the state defense came to the Junker von der Tann, but in 1418 they were deposed again because of their hostile attitude towards Würzburg and forcibly captured in Meiningen Castle. In the 15th century, the castle and its three courtyards gradually came into the possession of the hereditary castle men dynasty Wolfe von Landeswehre. After this line became extinct, the property was returned to the Würzburg monastery in 1493.
status
The overturned keep as well as the remains of the castle wall foundations and the moat of the castle Landeswehre are a protected ground monument . Today the keep, which is integrated into the castle ensemble, is a destination for excursions together with Landsberg Castle.
literature
- Meiningen City Book, Thuringian State Archives Meiningen.
- Caspar Friedrich Maaser: Brief history of the Landsberg castle or land weirs. In: Contributions to the history of German antiquity. Vol. 4, 1842, ZDB -ID 513330-0 , pp. 61-75.
- Ludwig Bechstein : Landsberg Castle. New edition. Mylius in Sonneberg, Meiningen 1847.
- Friedrich Tenner: Castles around Meiningen. In: Messages from the community of the Steinsburgfreunde. Vol. 2, Issue 5, 1937, ZDB -ID 802933-7 .
- Armin Ender: The Landsberg near Meiningen. In: Contributions to the town history of Meiningen (= Südthüringer Forschungen. Vol. 17, ISSN 0585-8720 ). Staatliche Museen, Meiningen 1982, pp. 51–64.
- Alfred Erck (Ed.): Meiningen. Lexicon on city history. Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809504-4-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Norbert Hübscher: Lexicon on the history of the city of Meiningen. 2008, p. 141.
- ↑ Armin Ender: The Landsberg near Meiningen. 1982, p. 52.
- ↑ Armin Ender: The Landsberg near Meiningen. 1982, p. 51.
- ↑ Armin Ender: The Landsberg near Meiningen. 1982, p. 53.
- ↑ Caspar Friedrich Maaser: History of the castle Landeswehre. 1842, p. 69.
- ^ Ingrid Reissland: The Meininger Schloss Elisabethenburg. Building history and significant interiors. Revised text of the 1st edition. Council of the District of Suhl, State Museums Meiningen, Suhl 1977.
- ↑ Armin Ender: The Landsberg near Meiningen. 1982, pp. 52 and 62.
- ↑ Johann Sebastian Güth: Poligraphia Meiningensis. Reyher, Gotha 1676, digitized .
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