Lehnhaus Castle

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Ruin of the Lehnhaus Castle

The Lehnhaus Castle ( Polish: Zamek Wleński Gródek ) is located above Wleń (German: Lähn ) in the powiat Lwówecki ( Löwenberg district ) in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. It is located on the left bank of the Bober on a basalt hill west of Wleń.

history

The castle was probably founded in the 11th century to secure the western border of the Duchy of Silesia from Upper Lusatia and Bohemia . It was mentioned for the first time in 1155 as the seat of the Castellany "Valan" in a bull of Pope Hadrian IV for the diocese of Breslau . Before 1155 , the Wroclaw bishop Walter consecrated a church of St. Mary in the “ante castrum Len” settlement that already existed at that time .

Due to the settlement of the Löwenberger Weichbildes under German law in the first half of the 13th century by Duke Heinrich I , the castle had lost part of its castellanei district. In 1256 Bishop Thomas I and in 1277 Duke Heinrich IV were held captive at the castle. In the second half of the 13th century the castle was the seat of a governor of the Weichbild Lähn.

Since the 14th century, the castle has been pledged to noble families. From 1372 it was the von Zedlitz family , from whom the von Kolditz family acquired it in 1377 . From 1391 to around 1460 followed the von Reden and 1465–1512 the Zedlitz-Rochlitz, among these Hans von Zedlitz. During the reign of the Bohemian counter-king Matthias Corvinus (1469–1490), the Lehnhaus castle was a center of the nobility set against him as well as aristocratic robber barons against the townspeople.

From 1530–1536 the castle was owned by the Hohbergs , who were followed by von Zedlitz again until 1556. From 1556–1567 the castle was owned by the von Schaffgotsch family . From 1567 the castle was owned by Sebastian von Zedlitz-Neukirch, who had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style in 2570 . From 1581–1598 the castle was again owned by the von Schaffgotsch. Due to excessive indebtedness, they had to cede the property to Konrad von Zedlitz-Wiesenthal, who acquired it in 1605 as a hereditary fief .

At the invitation of the lord of the castle, Lutheran theologian Matthias Flacius came to the castle Lehnhaus on May 7, 1574 , who campaigned for the convening of a synod. However, there was only a dispute with Silesian pastors about "Original sin and the free will of man after the fall", which was continued at Langenau Castle .

During the Thirty Years' War the castle was held by the imperial family. It was conquered by the Swedes on December 6, 1645. Therefore, it was destroyed in 1646 on the orders of the imperial general Raimondo Montecuccoli and not rebuilt. In 1653 the French colonel Adam von Koulhas bought the castle, which was no longer habitable. He built the Lehnhaus Castle below the castle ruins in 1656 .

It was not until the 19th century that the castle ruins were rediscovered and secured as an excursion destination. After the transition of Silesia to Poland as a result of World War II in 1945, the castle was placed under a preservation order.

Building

The castle was originally accessed via a south-eastern kennel , via which the outer bailey could be reached to the north. From this an entrance in the east of the upper castle was accessible. Today you can enter the inner courtyard of the upper castle through a former hatch. In the upper castle there were residential buildings in the west, the palas in the east and the keep in the south. After a landslide in 2005, the castle was renovated again.

literature

  • Arne Franke (Hrsg.): Small cultural history of the Silesian castles . tape 1 . Bergstadtverlag Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn, 2015, p. 140-141 .

Web links

Commons : Wleń Castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

  • Hexagonal tower

  • View of the castle from the tower. On the right is the entrance, on the left the remains of buildings

  • Castle wall

  • Castle plan

  • View from the north

  • Leaning house, city view with castle

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig Petry et al. (Ed.): History of Silesia - From primeval times to 1526 , volume 1. Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen 1988, ISBN 3-7995-6341-5 , p. 114.
  2. ^ Dehio handbook of art monuments in Poland: Silesia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-422-03109-X , p. 1017.
  3. ↑ Brief overview of the owners of the castle and palace Lehnhaus until 1945. Accessed on February 9, 2020 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 3.1 ″  N , 15 ° 39 ′ 46.4 ″  E