Landskron Castle (Upper Alsace)
| Landskron Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Landskron Castle ruins |
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| Creation time : | 11th century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Leymen | |
| Geographical location | 47 ° 29 ′ 17.5 " N , 7 ° 29 ′ 26" E | |
| Height: | 559 m | |
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The ruins of Landskron Castle are in Upper Alsace on the Landskronberg on the Swiss border in the French municipality of Leymen .
Location and surroundings
The castle is located about 15 km from Basel on the west side of the height of the Landskronberg. The ruins of Alt-Landskron Castle are on the east side . At the western end of the ridge there is a disused quarry in the area of which the Rheinegg castle ruins were located.
The Landskron can be reached from the Swiss side via Oberwil and Biel. From the French side you can reach Leymen via Hégenheim and Hagenthal-le-Bas . From Leymen the road signs to Chateau du Landskron lead to the car park in the hamlet of Tannwald. From there, the castle ruins can be reached on foot in 10 minutes.
history
The Landskron in connection with the German imperial history
In 1273 the interregnum in the Holy Roman Empire ended with the election of the Habsburg Count Rudolf as Roman-German King. With his election Rudolf ended his feud against the bishop of Basel, Heinrich von Neuenburg . In this feud, the noble free von Rötteln and the Münch were in the camp of the noble society of Psitticher , which supported the bishop. The Vitztum belonged to the noble society of Sterner, which supported the Habsburgs, the position of the Counts of Pfirt is disputed. After Rudolf's election as German king, Otto von Rötteln became his follower.
When Rudolf died, the electors did not elect his son, Albrecht, to be king, but Adolf von Nassau . When Adolf was deposed again in 1298, Albrecht was elected as his successor as German king on June 23, 1298. In the Knight's Battle of Göllheim (Battle of the Hasenbühel) on July 2, 1298, Adolf fell fighting the Habsburgs. On July 27, 1298, Albrecht was elected a second time and then crowned king in Aachen on August 24, 1298 . Otto von Rötteln supported Albrecht in his fight against Adolf von Nassau and one of the Münch dynasty fell for Albrecht in the Battle of Göllheim. The Counts of Pfirt and the Vitztum, however, were on the side of Adolf. The Röttler received from King Albrecht, among other things, the offices of Burgrave of Rheinfelden and the Imperial Bailiff of Basel.
The Landskron came to the Lords of Rötteln and the Münch of Landskron
In 1297 both the Vitztum and the Münch intended to build a castle on the Landskronberg and a feud between the two sexes ensued . The brothers and knights Burkard and Bertold Vitztum von Basel handed over their property, the Burgstall ob Rheineck in Leimtal and the Berg Horn ob Rheineck, with all rights to Count Tiebalt von Pfirt at Easter 1297 . Theobald von Pfirt, then governor in Alsace, gave the property back to the Vitztum as a man's fief . The Vitztum believed their possessions secured in the run-up to the civil war that was looming in the empire. As patrons, the Counts of Pfirt were able to further strengthen their influence in Upper Alsace.
The Münch, for their part, placed themselves under the protection of the von Rötteln and transferred their rights to the Röttler, from whom they in turn received them back as a man's fief. In the spring of 1299 - after King Albrecht's coronation - Theobald Graf von Pfirt was captured by Otto von Rötteln's servants. On November 9, 1299, Theobald renounced all rights to the Landskron mountain and also assured the Münch family that they would have undisturbed property on the mountain. Both castles on Landskronberg were destroyed in the Basel earthquake of 1356 .
Other gentlemen from Landskron
After the lords of Rötteln had died out in the male line in 1316, the margraves of Hachberg-Sausenberg came into their heirs, who were now feudal lords of the Münch von Landskron until 1430. Their successors as fief takers were relatively briefly the lords of Flachslanden followed by those of Ramstein. In 1461, the Reichenstein empire began their centuries-old rule. In 1503, Margrave Christoph von Baden became their feudal lord and, as part of the division of the Baden margraviate, the Landskron came to the Margraves of Baden-Durlach in 1535 .
As early as 1515, Solothurn acquired the Rotberg lordship with the villages of Hofstetten-Flüh , Witterswil , Rodersdorf and Metzerlen in the immediate vicinity of Landskron . In view of Solothurn's expansion policy, the Landskron was converted into a fortress by 1518 with the support of Emperor Maximilian .
When the Reich von Reichenstein wanted to sell their rights to the Landskron to the city of Basel in 1570, this deal was prevented by the objection of Archduke Ferdinand . On the one hand, the rule over Leymen belonged to the Landskron, half of which belonged to the Habsburgs, and on the other hand, at this time Habsburg also claimed rights to the Landskron in a dispute before the Imperial Court of Justice in Speyer against the Margrave Charles II of Baden-Durlach . When the Reich von Reichenstein made another attempt to sell to Basel in 1588, it failed due to the lack of interest on the part of Basel.
Fiefdoms and fiefdoms 1298–1663
| Feudal lord | coat of arms | Loan taker | coat of arms |
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| Edelfrei von Rötteln - 1298 to 1316 |
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Münch von Landskron |
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| Margraves of Hachberg-Sausenberg - 1316 to 1503 |
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Münch von Landskron - until 1430 |
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| Margraves of Hachberg-Sausenberg - 1316 to 1503 |
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Lords of Flachslanden - 1430 to 1444 |
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| Margraves of Hachberg-Sausenberg - 1316 to 1503 |
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Barons of Ramstein - 1444 to 1461 |
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| Margraves of Hachberg-Sausenberg - 1316 to 1503 |
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Reich von Reichenstein - 1461 to 1663 |
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| Margraves of Baden - 1503 to 1535 |
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Reich von Reichenstein - 1461 to 1663 |
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Margraves of Baden-Durlach - 1535 to 1663 1663 sold all rights to the King of France |
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Reich von Reichenstein - 1461 to 1663 from 1640 fiefdom of the French king recognized; 1665 sold to France |
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From the 30 Years War to the Vauban Fortress
On June 25, 1637 - during the Thirty Years' War - Swedish troops under Major Bernhard Schaffalitzky von Muckadell occupied the neighboring Rodersdorf and demanded in vain that the Landskron be surrendered. In 1638 Swedish-Weimar troops under Colonel Reinhold von Rosen besieged the Landskron, while Bernhard von Weimar besieged the Breisach fortress at the same time . Their commander Hans Heinrich IX. von Reinach surrendered on December 17, 1638 and with the surrender also gave an order to the imperial commandant of the Landskron, Lieutenant Valentin Jaeckel, to hand over the Landskron to the Weimar troops as well. On December 29, 1638, Bernhard von Weimar appeared in front of the Landskron and had the commandant handed over the transfer order issued by Reinach. Due to the lack of a secret sign on the document, the commandant initially refused to hand it over and was therefore massively threatened. On December 30, 1638, Bernhard von Weimar was able to occupy the fortress. During the occupation, Roderich von Württemberg-Weiltingen , who was held here, was also freed.
After the death of Bernhard von Weimar, Johann Ludwig von Erlach , who had been in French pay for years - one of the four directors of the Weimar army appointed in Bernhard's will - ensured that Breisach and the Alsatian conquests of Bernhard - and thus also the Landskron - by means of a treaty dated 19th October 1639 passed into French hands. From 1640 the Reichenstein empires - like many other Alsatian nobles - accepted French fiefdom.
In 1663, Margrave Friedrich VI then sold . von Baden-Durlach all rights to the Landskron for an annual payment of 3,000 livres to the Kingdom of France . The empire of Reichenstein, which were the last to have the Landskron as a fiefdom from the margraves, were bought out in 1665.
The Vauban fortress
From 1690, the Landskron was expanded into a border fortress and a state prison according to plans by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban . This lasted until the French Revolution.
Bernard Duvergier de Soubardon
One of the most famous (today) prisoners of the Landskron was Bernard Duvergier de Soubardon. Soubardon was born on May 22, 1737 in New Orleans (then French name: La Nouvelle-Orléans ). After France lost Louisiana in 1762/63 , Soubardon came to the court of Versailles as an officer. In 1769 he was arrested on the basis of a lettre de cachet and taken to Landskron, where he remained imprisoned for 21 years and - probably due to the long solitary confinement - went mad.
Since the arrest was made on the basis of a lettre de cachet, there are no files on the reason for the arrest. There are two versions in circulation. The more popular one says that Soubardon had a love affair with a lady-in-waiting in Versaille and thus got in the way of a minister, who then "elegantly" cleared his rival out of the way. The other version says that Soubardon had criticized the policies of the Duke of Choiseul , who at the time was in fact the head of government.
After the revolution of 1789, the Lettres de Cachet were abolished and the prisons searched for political prisoners. The now completely insane Duvergier was transferred to the Strasbourg hospital, where he died shortly afterwards.
Capture and destruction 1813/14
During the Wars of Liberation at the end of 1813, the powers allied against Napoleon Bonaparte advanced against France. With the Treaty of Ried (October 8th), the Kingdom of Bavaria also changed fronts. The fifth Army Corps of the Allies with the Bavarian troops under General Graf von Wrede reached the Basel area before Christmas 1813 and besieged the fortresses of Hüningen and Belfort . In addition, divisions were sent to conquer the smaller fortified places in Upper Alsace. On December 26, 1813, Colonel Friedrich von Treuberg and the 1st Battalion of the 9th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment, reinforced by small detachments of cavalry and artillery, took the Landskron fortress, which he had besieged since December 23.
On December 23, the column moved up at daybreak and reached Mariastein at around 2 p.m. on a hill opposite Landskron. In the prevailing fog, Bayern first tried a surprise attack, but it failed. The Bavarians decorated the fortress and withdrew the remaining troops back to Mariastein. On the following day, Colonel von Treuberg asked the French commandant to surrender. Since the condition was a 14-day period, this was rejected and after the clearing of the fog began to bombard the fortress with two cannons and two howitzers until the fog again obstructed the view too much. On December 25th the artillery bombardment was resumed and the guns of the fortress were put out of action after about three hours. An agreement on the surrender came about when they were asked to surrender. On December 26th, the 60-man crew went into captivity and the Bavarians were able to take over a relatively large war supply in the fortress.
In June 1814 the fortress was largely destroyed by fire and then blown up on the orders of Wredes. Only the mighty keep was spared.
Stop the destruction and start maintenance work
The ruins then served as a quarry until the de Reinach-Hirtzbach family bought them in 1856 and stopped operating. Occasional maintenance work was now carried out, but this could not stop the further deterioration of the ruin. In 1923 the Landskron was elevated to the status of a Monument historique classé, but without the maintenance work being intensified. After the end of the war in 1945, volunteers and private donations secured the most endangered parts of the ruin, which was meanwhile in an alarming state. In 1970 the owner fenced in the area and set up a colony of Barbary macaques on the ruins . In 1980 the monkey experiment was canceled and the ruin was up for sale. The municipality of Leymen waived because of the expected high maintenance costs. In 1983 the Pro Landskron association was founded and bought the ruins in 1984 for around 46,000 euros. In 1988/89 and 1998/99, the tower and the other walls were consolidated in two stages for a total of 1.2 million euros. The association, which had around 800 members at the time, assumed around 20% of the costs. The general council of the Haut-Rhin department assumed the remaining costs . There was also support from the Canton of Solothurn and the European Union for minor maintenance and security measures . At the foot of the castle there was the restaurant "Au Chasseur", which was closed in 2017.
description
The entire system can be divided into three sectors. In the south are the remains of the former outer bailey with a kennel and two protruding shell towers with a hornwork in front of them. The main castle is to the east of a fortress ring and to the west from the main castle .
Outer bailey
The outer bailey in front of the main castle in the south consists of two shell towers and a kennel with outbuildings. A hornwork was erected in front of the wall with the shell towers . The west-facing entrance was built in the late 17th century when Vauban was expanding it into a fortress and was originally protected by a moat with two drawbridges. The trench has been leveled today. A long arched tunnel extends beyond the gate. The entrance area was restored in the 20th century. In the east of the bailey there is a gate that led to the redoubts outside the castle , with a wooden walkway over the moat.
Fortress ring
At the east end of the outer bailey you come to the north through a gate into the courtyard of the fortress ring. An arched corridor leads through the 7 meter thick wall into the courtyard of the fortress ring, the so-called "outer courtyard". The Reichsadler (double-headed eagle) with a breast shield bearing the Austrian shield is attached above the gate . The year 1516 can also be seen. Although the castle belonged to the Margraves of Baden in 1516 and the Reich von Reichenstein sat on it as their feudal people, the conversion of the castle into a medieval fortress was initiated and financed by Emperor Maximilian in order to put a stop to the Solothurn expansion. It remains unclear why the emperor's coat of arms with the split breast shield (Austrian shield and Burgundian colors) was not used. The surrounding wall of the fortress ring was equipped with three towers, of which the Powder Tower was the most powerful. On the inside of the eastern wall was a three-part building with officers' quarters. On the west side there are traces of the foundations of a chapel and the fortress guard was in the north tower.
The powder tower
The Powder Tower was the main fortification on the east side of the fortress. He carried a battlements defensive plate that was used as an artillery platform. The vault, more than a meter thick, partially survived the demolition of 1814.
Core castle
The access to the inner castle leads from the northwest of the fortress ring through a triple gate let into the northwest bastion of the inner castle into a narrow inner courtyard. The bastion is also called the "flour tower" and had a mill and accommodations on the upper floors. In the west outside the main castle and beyond the neck ditch, the remains of a forework from the 16th century are visible.
The residential tower (Donjon)
The oldest part of the complex - still with building fabric from the 13th century - is the residential tower on the highest point of the area. The floor plan of the residential tower is a rectangle with a semicircle protruding to the west. The wall thickness of the original medieval building was about 2 meters. As part of the reconstruction into a fortress at the beginning of the 16th century, the walls were reinforced to 4 to 5 meters. The residential tower is provided with battlements and carries an artillery platform. A state prison was located in the tower from the 17th century. The south of the main castle is occupied by a large bastion that contained the armory and crew quarters.
Well and cistern
The water supply to the castle there was both a Sodbrunnen and a cistern . The Sodwell was built shortly before 1545 and had a 56 meter deep shaft to the water table and was roofed with a small building. The cistern opposite was not built until after 1687 and was 10.5 meters deep with a diameter of 4.5 meters. There was a pedal bike to scoop up the water from the depths. Excess rainwater was channeled into the well. After 1700, the water supply was also supplemented by an external supply line.
Hall
The palace was built on the foundations of an older building as part of the conversion to a fortress in 1516. The walls above the vaulted ground floor became thinner from floor to floor. The first floor was accessible through an external staircase that is still visible today. You also had to go through it to the donjon , which could only be reached via the Palas. In the 18th century the hall was used as a kitchen wing and hospital.
literature
- Paul Stintzi: The Landskron and the Alsatian Leimental , Laufen 1949
- Ulrich Farner, Ruth Wälchli-Bögli: The prisoner of Landskron. A historical narrative , 1952
- Nicolas Mengus, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Châteaux forts et fortifications médiévales d′Alsace. Dictionnaire d′histoire et d′architecture . La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2013, ISBN 978-2-7165-0828-5 , pp. 192–193.
- Paul Stintzi: The Landskron in the Alsatian Jura. In: Die Margrafschaft, issue 11/1964, pp. 5–8
- Christian Wilsdorf: Naissance et premières années des deux Landskron près de Leymen (Haut-Rhin) aux alentours de 1300. In: Revue d'Alsace , Volume 122 (1996) pp. 93-103 digitized
- Michel Adam: Histoire du Landskron et de ses seigneurs: D'après une nouvelle approche et des documents inédits Broché , Hegenheim 2004
- Alfred Weiß: A regional memorial. Landskron Castle and Fortress. In: Regio-Magazin (2000), pp. 30–32
- Eduard Spielmann: Once again: The origins of the Landskron! In: Annuaire de la Societé d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2000, pp. 97–111
- Eduard Spielmann: The water supply on the Landskron. In: Chateaux forts d-Alsace: histoire, archéologie, architecture, volume: 5/2002, pp. 55–72
Web links
- Lukas Schenker: Landskron. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Homepage of the Pro Landskron Castle Association; French; accessed on April 24, 2019
- Plan du château et des bâtiments du Landskron, 1764
- Entry on www.chateauxfortsalsace.com
- Landskron Castle on www.culture.gouv.fr - French
- Photographs of the castle on www.culture.gouv.fr - French
- Entry on the homepage www.isundgau.com; accessed on June 23, 2017
- historical representations at gallica
- Entry on www.lieux-insolites.fr; accessed on June 25, 2017; French
- Declaration relative à la cession du château de Landskron, Bade-Durlach; France, 1663. 28 mars
Individual evidence
- ↑ in the older literature mostly just called "old castle" - according to Springmann p. 102
- ↑ Veronika Feller-Vest: Vitztum. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ↑ Schwarzmaier, Lörrach im Mittelalter , p. 143, Roller, Geschichte der Edelherren von Rötteln , p. 30.
- ^ Corpus of old German original documents, No. 2683. Blumenberg 1297 April 14.
- ^ Hermann Pabst (Ed.): Annalen und Chronik von Kolmar , Berlin 1867, p. 81 Google digitized
- ↑ see Otto Konrad Roller : The history of the noble lords of Rötteln. (= Sheets from the Margraviate of Schopfheim, born in 1927). Schopfheim 1927. p. 114 No. 305 or online in Corpus of old German original documents, No. 3525. 1299 November 9.
- ↑ Christian Adolf Müller: The castles around Basel and the earthquake of 1356. In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Volume 55 (1956), doi: 10.5169 / seals-117002 , p. 51
- ↑ In the inheritance contract between the Margraves Philipp and Christoph, the "Dominions Rötteln, Sausenberg and Badenweiler ... with everything that goes with it" were included. Since the Landskron came from the Röttler inheritance of the Hachberg-Sausenberger, the rights to it belonged to the Rötteln rule. Thuringia von Reichenstein was one of the signatories of the inheritance contract.
- ↑ see Spielmann p. 109
- ↑ see Spielmann p. 110
- ↑ see Adam p. 140
- ↑ see Bernhard Röse: Duke Bernhard the Great of Saxony Weimar , Volume 2, p. 275 digitized
- ↑ see Bernhard Röse: Duke Bernhard the Great of Saxony Weimar , Volume 2, p. 291 digitized
- ↑ see Bernhard Röse: Duke Bernhard the Great of Saxony Weimar , Volume 2, p. 292 digitized
- ↑ see Bernhard Röse: Duke Bernhard the Great of Saxony Weimar , Volume 2, pp. 334–335 digitized
- ↑ see Adam p. 141
- ↑ see the French text of the contract from Johann Daniel Schöpflin : Historia Zaringo-Badensis , Volume 7, pp. 212–215, No. DXI digitized version and a copy of the handwritten original Déclaration relative à la cession du château de Landskron, Bade-Durlach; France, 1663. 28 mars . Charles Colbert, marquis de Croissy, negotiated for the French King Louis XIV
- ↑ s. Pro Landskron
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ half a squadron of the Royal Bavarian 4th Chevaulegers Regiment "König"
- ↑ half a moving battery
- ^ Baptist Schrettinger: Friedrich Freiherr von Treuberg. In: The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order and its members. , Munich 1882, pp. 904-905 digitized
- ↑ Homepage of the Pro Landskron association ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2017 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.
- ↑ see Marc Glotz: Promenades historiques à travers le Sundgau oriental , on the explanatory panel 6 in the ruin
- ↑ see Marc Glotz: Promenades historiques à travers le Sundgau oriental , on explanatory panel 8 in the ruins
- ↑ However, Albrecht Dürer also used the imperial eagle with the breastplate commons depicted on the Landskron in his portrait of Maximilian in 1519
- ↑ see Meyer p. 55 and flyer from Pro Landskron
- ↑ see Marc Glotz: Promenades historiques à travers le Sundgau oriental , on explanatory panel 8 in the ruins
- ↑ see Meyer p. 54
- ↑ see Meyer p. 56
- ↑ see Marc Glotz: Promenades historiques à travers le Sundgau oriental , on the explanatory panel 12 in the ruin
- ↑ Burg Flyers Pro Landskron
- ↑ see Marc Glotz: Promenades historiques à travers le Sundgau oriental , on the explanatory panel 11 in the ruin
