Lichtenfels Castle (Upper Franconia)

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Lichtenfels Castle
Creation time : probably around 1000
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit castle
Conservation status: Burgstall, the site is now modernly built over
Standing position : Count castle
Place: Lichtenfels - "Castle Hill"
Geographical location 50 ° 8 '36.2 "  N , 11 ° 3' 48.3"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 8 '36.2 "  N , 11 ° 3' 48.3"  E
Height: 300  m above sea level NN
Lichtenfels Castle (Bavaria)
Lichtenfels Castle

The Burg Lichtenfels is a completely Outbound hilltop castle on the 300  m above sea level. NN high castle hill, south of the old town of Lichtenfels in the Upper Franconian district of Lichtenfels in Bavaria , Germany . The castle, probably founded by the Counts of Schweinfurt, was a bone of contention for a long time between the Counts of Andechs-Meranien and the Bamberg bishops, who triumphed in the end. During the modern era it was abandoned and used as a quarry. Today no remnants of the building structure have survived.

history

The exact time of origin and the builder of Lichtenfels Castle is not known, it is assumed that it was built around the year 1000 by the Schweinfurt counts . After they died out, the castle was inherited by the Thuringian lords of Beichlingen . Around the year 1100, Lichtenfels Castle and Giechburg Castle, which was also schweinfurtsche, went through the marriage of Adela von Beichlingen with Count Reginboto III. from Wertheim to the Counts of Wertheim . When her daughter Kunizza married Count Poppo von Andechs -P Lassenberg in 1137 , she received the two castles as a wedding gift. This enabled the Counts of Andechs-Meranien to expand their supremacy in the area even further, which, however, displeased the Bamberg Bishop Otto von Bamberg , as it was under the rule of the Bamberg Monastery. The bishop had the marriage annulled in 1142 allegedly because of blood relatives, whereupon the pious Kunizza donated, among other things, Lichtenfels Castle to the bishopric. In this deed of gift Lichtenfels Castle was also mentioned in writing for the first time as "Litenuels". Count Poppo von Andechs-Meranien did not recognize this donation and occupied the two castles Lichtenfels and Giech, whereupon there was a military conflict between him and the bishopric. It was not until the following year 1143 that an agreement was reached between the Count and the Bamberg Bishop Egilbert with the Giechburg Treaty , in which the Count was able to occupy half of the Castrum Lichtenfels and the entire Giech Castle. This contract was also under the successors, the Bishop Eberhard II. Von Otelingen and the Count Berthold III. Renewed in 1149, whereby it was also agreed that Lichtenfels Castle should be occupied by a castle keeper recognized by both parties. This stalemate was only ended when in 1177 with Otto VI. von Andechs a member of the Andechs-Meranier was elected bishop of the Bamberg diocese . This enabled the counts to further consolidate their position of power on the Upper Main, presumably before 1200 the Lichtenfels market was founded at the foot of the castle hill. Lichtenfels Castle became one of the main castles of the Counts of Andechs-Meranien, documents were often issued there and a court day was held there in 1232 .

After the extinction of the Counts of Andechs-Meran by the death of Otto II. On the castle Niesten on June 19, 1248 Burg Lichtenfels was back to the Bamberg Bishop Henry I of Bilversheim passed, he made it in 1249 on the episcopal TafelGUT , that is , it should not be further lent . During the late Middle Ages , the castle was the seat of an episcopal bailiff .

The Lichtenfels Castle was preserved until the beginning of the 16th century, as it is recorded in the Staffelsteiner Zentplan from 1508 . In the German Peasants' War parts of the castle were destroyed, the chapel , the old tower, a "little flock" and the castle gate were subsequently restored. From the 17th century, the ruins were further demolished, and in the middle of this century only a prison building and a cellar remained. The demolition of the castle continued during the 18th century. In 1743 it was used as a quarry for the extraction of building material for the construction of the Lichtenfels town hall . In 1847 only "a few walls" were left.

In 1866 the so-called Bergschloss was built in place of the previous castle, a destination that was rebuilt between 1960 and 1970. In 1990 another conversion to an asylum home followed, which was located there between 2005 and 2010. Today the church services house and a television tower stand on the site of Lichtenfels Castle, and the northern part of the castle hill serves as a city park.

The former castle site is registered as a ground monument D-4-5832-0052 "Medieval Castle Stables " by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation .

literature

  • Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Forays in Meranierland am Obermain - A guide to archaeological and monuments of the early and high Middle Ages . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. District of Upper Franconia, Bayreuth 2006, ISBN 3-9804971-7-8 , pp. 109–114.
  • Fritz Mahnke: Palaces and castles in the vicinity of the Franconian Crown . 2nd volume. Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Neue Presse GmbH, Coburg 1978, pp. 114–115.

Individual evidence

  1. Location of the Burgstall in the Bavaria Atlas
  2. ^ Source for this paragraph: Fritz Mahnke: Palaces and castles in the vicinity of the Franconian Crown . Volume 2, p. 115
  3. Source history: Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archäologische Streifzüge im Meranierland am Obermain - A guide to archaeological and monuments of the early and high Middle Ages , p. 110 ff.
  4. List of monuments for Lichtenfels (PDF) at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (PDF; 192 kB)