Limpurg Castle

Limpurg Castle
Creation time :	before 1230
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Count
Place:	Schwäbisch Hall
Geographical location	49 ° 6 '24 "  N , 9 ° 44' 49"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 6 '24 "  N , 9 ° 44' 49"  E
Height:	356.7  m above sea level NN

Gate of the Limpurg ruins

Castle gate from the inside with a view towards Comburg

Ruins of a castle tower, in the background the Comburg

The castle Limpurg is the ruin of a Spur castle and was the family seat of the later ascended to the rank of count Lords of Limpurg or taverns of Limpurg . Their ruins still stand today on the southern outskirts of Schwäbisch Hall .

location

The Limpurg lies at 356.7  m above sea level. NN about 1 km southeast of the center of the Schwäbisch Hall old town above the suburb of Unterlimpurg on a spur of the Haller level protruding towards the west in front of today's Oberlimpurg property, within a presumably prehistoric (probably Celtic ) fortification, from which a ditch in nature can still be seen South towards the upper edge of the slope next to a bend in the field is clearly visible.

history

Prehistory and early history

From the fortifications running about 150 m east of the castle area, a remnant of a section wall with a ditch in front of the south-western edge of the valley, about 40 m long and up to 4 m high, has been preserved. Finds mostly made during construction work, most of which come from the area of ​​the Oberlimpurg estate within the ramparts, prove the existence of a settlement and were initially assigned to the late Neolithic Michelsberg culture (4400-3500 BC). However, according to recent research, they belong to a “late Neolithic mixed culture” that is difficult to classify in terms of style and time. Only a few finds from the La Tène period (500/450 BC to around AD) support the theory that a Stone Age fortification already existed here, which was used or expanded by the Celts . A connection between these traces and the Celtic salt works in the area of ​​the Schwäbisch Hall old town is obvious, but based on the current state of knowledge, it can only be assumed. The section wall itself cannot yet be dated and could also be of medieval origin (e.g. to protect the castle's estate).

middle Ages

The medieval castle complex was probably built by Walter Schenk von Schüpf, who was first mentioned in a document in 1226 in the entourage of the German King Heinrich (VII) . He came from the wealthy family of Schenken von Schüpf in today's Main-Tauber district , who had held the office of heir to the Reich since the 12th century . It is believed that he came into possession of extensive estates in the Schwäbisch Hall area through his marriage to an heiress of the noble free von Bielriet . Until 1230 he had obviously built a new castle complex on his own property in the immediate vicinity of Schwäbisch Hall . This original building can be Stauffer period remains of the keep and a palace building assign in the main castle. In connection with a donation from Heinrich (VII.) That year, in which he is mentioned as a witness, Walter was first referred to as "pincerna de Limpurc". This is the first indirect mention of the castle. The first direct mention was made in 1263 in connection with a donation of goods by the brothers Walther and Konrad von Limpurg to the Lichtenstern monastery near Löwenstein .

After Konrad von Limpurg had lost his ancestral estates in the course of his participation in the failed uprising of Henry VII against Emperor Friedrich II , the family tried to build up a new domain on the Kocher with the Limpurg as the center. The efforts to gain supremacy in Schwäbisch Hall led to a protracted conflict in which the city was finally able to maintain its independence with King Rudolf's “Vienna arbitration” of 1280 . The territorial expansion of the later imperial city of Schwäbisch Hall subsequently blocked further development of the Limpurgian territory.

A large-scale expansion of the castle complex is dated to the 15th and 16th centuries and is probably related to a renewed flare-up of the conflicts with Schwäbisch Hall during the time of the taverns Georg (ruled 1470–1475) and Wilhelm (ruled 1475– 1517). The building historian Dr. Eduard Krüger distinguishes between two expansion phases. As a result, around 1470 the castle was expanded to include a south-west bailey with farmhouses and a reinforced gate. Around 1515 a kennel area was added to the east of the core castle in place of the previous ditch, in front of this a deep neck ditch with a ditch barrier consisting of two towers and a wall and a side gate to the Badersklinge to the north. A residential building on the western edge of the main castle is also assigned to this phase; from this u. a. the part of a window frame with a jagged frieze was preserved.

Schenk Erasmus von Limpurg (r. 1530–1553) sold Limpurg Castle, the Unterlimpurg settlement and other properties for 45,700 guilders to the imperial city of Schwäbisch Hall in 1541 . Although he began building the castle in Obersontheim , he lived in Crailsheim until his death . The structural condition of the castle must have been bad at that time. The Schwäbisch Haller chronicler Johann Herolt , a contemporary, quotes criticism that it was "a tewerer Kauff umb such an old, torn, baseless castle". The Haller already carried out extensive renovation work this year. In this context Herolt mentions a well hewn through the rock that reaches down to the level of the stove. According to Eduard Krüger, the new owners also demolished the Staufer Palas after 1541 and built a new building that was to be regarded as the seat of a castle bailiff, offset to the east, but still partly on its ground plan. The decision to demolish the entire castle complex probably came because the imperial city was no longer willing to raise the construction costs for maintaining the complex. The demolition must have been largely completed in 1575, as the city builder was supposed to file the bill for the "agreed house in Lympurch" that year.

Modern times

Remnants of the castle ruins remain visible and seem to have been visited occasionally by hikers and walkers as early as the 19th century. One of them was the poet Eduard Mörike , who temporarily lived in Schwäbisch Hall , who described Limpurg in 1844 in a letter to his friend Wilhelm Hartlaub . The ivy-covered wall remains themselves are insignificant, but the square offers an admirable view. The grammar school professor and later honorary citizen of Schwäbisch Hall, Georg Fehleisen, headed an excavation of the ruin in 1904/05, in the course of which individual parts were also restored. The reason for this was the discovery of the remains of the keep during leveling work on the castle area. The individual finds made on this occasion include a. a window pillar from the 13th century and a Limpurger coat of arms carried by an angel. As a result, a garden-like facility was laid out according to Fehleisen's ideas. The insufficient documentation of the excavations and repair work by today's standards makes it much more difficult to interpret the findings. It is now difficult to distinguish between the original ruins and the reconstructions by Mehleisen. After the excavation, the Limpurg became a popular excursion destination, which was also often used as a postcard motif . In 1985, an “eco-squad” from the city carried out further excavations that were also not documented.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Olaf Höckmann: The history of the area around Schwäbisch Hall. In: Guide to Prehistoric and Protohistoric Monuments. Volume 23: Schwäbisch Hall. Comburg. Vellberg. Zabern, Mainz 1973, pp. 30–81, here pp. 43–44.
2. ^ Emil Kost: The settlement of Wuerttemberg Franconia in prehistoric times. In: Württembergisch Franken. Yearbook. Neue Episode 17/18, 1936, ISSN  0084-3067 , pp. 11-109, here p. 51; Hartwig Zürn : Catalog Schwäbisch Hall. The prehistoric and early historical finds in the Keckenburg Museum (= publications by the State Office for Monument Preservation Stuttgart. Series A, Issue 9, ISSN  0521-9930 ), Silberburg, Stuttgart 1965, p. 40.
3. ↑ Gerd Wunder: The taverns of Limpurg and their country (research from Württembergisch Franken, vol. 20), Sigmaringen 1982, p. 19f.
4. ^ Eduard Krüger: Schwäbisch Hall. A walk through history and art . Edit again by Fritz Arens and Gerd Wunder, Schwäbisch Hall 1981, pp. 163–166.
5. ↑ Gerd Wunder: The taverns of Limpurg and their country (research from Württembergisch Franken, vol. 20), Sigmaringen 1982, p. 38.
6. ↑ Christian Kolb (Ed.): Johann Herolts Chronica (Württembergische Geschichtsquellen, Vol. 1), Stuttgart 1894, p. 145.
7. ↑ A. Schneider: The castles in the Schwäbisch Hall district. An inventory (research and reports on the archeology of the Middle Ages in Baden-Württemberg, vol. 18), Stuttgart 1995, p. 210.
8. ↑ Heinz Voigt: The poet's interlude. Eduard Mörike in Schwäbisch Hall . In: Elisabeth Schraut , Harald Siebenmorgen, Manfred Akermann (eds.): Hall in the 19th century. An upper administrative town in Württemberg between Vormärz and the turn of the century, Sigmaringen 1991, pp. 111–117, here p. 113
9. ^ Georg Fehleisen: The Limpurg near Schw. Hall , in: Württembergisch Franken. Yearbook of the Historical Association for Württembergisch Franconia, New Series 9, 1906, pp. 83–85.

literature

• Alois Schneider: The castles in the Schwäbisch Hall district. An inventory (= research and reports on the archeology of the Middle Ages in Baden-Württemberg. Vol. 18). Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-8062-1228-7 , pp. 206-211.
• Gerd Wunder , Max Schefold, Herta Beutter: The taverns of Limpurg and their country (= research from Württembergisch Franconia. Vol. 20). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1982, ISBN 3-7995-7619-3 .

Web links

Commons : Limpurg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Haller houses lexicon: Oberlimpurg castle ruins
• Reconstruction drawing by Wolfgang Braun
• Illustration of the castle on a contemporary woodcut, shortly after the takeover by Hall - Historisches Lexikon Bayerns