Neuscharfeneck Castle
| Neuscharfeneck Castle | ||
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| Creation time : | uncertain: around 1300 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Ministerials | |
| Place: | Flemlingen (forest area) | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 15 '9.8 " N , 8 ° 1' 18.5" E | |
| Height: | 500 m above sea level NHN | |
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Neuscharfeneck is the ruin of a castle in the Palatinate Forest . It is located in the Flemlingen Forest east of Ramberg and Dernbach and is listed as a monument zone in Flemlingen .
Geographical location
The ruin of the Höhenburg rises in the eastern part of the Palatinate Forest at a height of about 500 m on the western foothills of the Kalkofenberg .
Nearby is the Zimmer (manns) Platz from the time the castle was built, where the Landauer Hütte is located. The ruin can be reached via forest paths and hiking trails from there, from the Drei Buchen pass or from Dernbach . Parking spaces are available directly at the Dernbacher Haus and at the access to the latter. The ascent from there to the castle ruins is signposted and is also highly recommended as a family excursion destination.
history
The assumption that the complex was built around 1232 by Johann von Scharfeneck as a preliminary work for the now completely destroyed castle Alt-Scharfeneck , comes from a forged document from the 16th century. The Scharfeneck-Metz belonged to a sideline of the older, extinct Scharfeneckers who had built Alt-Scharfeneck Castle at the entrance to the Hainbach Valley near Frankweiler at the beginning of the 13th century. After the main line died out around 1250, the Knights of Scharfeneck-Metz also inherited the Alt-Scharfeneck Castle.
Neu-Scharfeneck was the headquarters of the family as early as the late Middle Ages, while Alt-Scharfeneck fell apart. The subsequent owners of Neuscharfeneck were Heinrich III. von Scharfeneck and his wife Lukardis von Kellenbach ; Heinrich dropped the nickname Metz . He founded a new Gothic church in Dernbach. On the coat of arms of Scharfeneck is shown "in red a looking, crowned, silver lion ".
The von Scharfeneck gentlemen came from the Reich Ministry in the vicinity of the Trifels . After the end of the Hohenstaufen rule , they could no longer hold their independent position and leaned against the most powerful territorial lords in the Palatinate area, the Count Palatine near the Rhine . In 1363 the elector was given the right to open the castle. In the same year, the Scharfeneckers offered him their castle as a fief and received it back as a man's fief ; former imperial vassals became servants and fiefs of the Electors of the Palatinate. In the 14th century, the Scharfenecker's financial situation deteriorated noticeably, which is why they pledged parts of their castle to the knights of Kirrweiler and the Speyer monastery . They also often entered the Palatinate war or administrative service. In 1416, Friedrich von Scharfeneck, the last of the Scharfeneck-Metz family, died and the castle fell to the Wittelsbach electors of the Palatinate.
Elector Friedrich I the Victorious had the castle expanded on a large scale. Under his rule the outer bailey , the shield wall and the large residential building were built. This replaced the small knight's house on the castle rock, which was demolished. In 1469 Friedrich founded his son Ludwig (1463-1524) (from the connection with Clara Dett from Augsburg ) the rule of Scharfeneck with Neu-Scharfeneck Castle as the center.
Ludwig was Herr von Scharfeneck from 1477 to 1523. In 1488 he received the town and castle Löwenstein in the Heilbronn district . From then on he called himself Count von Löwenstein, Herr von Scharfeneck and was the founder of the later Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim .
During the reign of his son and successor, Count Friedrich I. von Löwenstein (1502–1541), the castle was burned down by the Nussdorf peasants in 1525 during the Palatinate Peasants' War . The heap was able to take the castle without any major problems, as the castle captain had neglected to provide the castle with gunpowder. After the Peasants' War, the castle was rebuilt as a palace complex by labor .
The castle remained in the hands of the Löwenstein-Scharfeneck until it was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War . It was "sent into the air with powder" by the Swedes around 1629 or 1633 and has been in ruins ever since. This came into the possession of the municipality of Flemlingen in 1828 through the division of the Haingeraiden as a quarry. However, the Bavarian King Ludwig I issued a demolition ban, which led to the preservation of the ruins.
The first measures to preserve the castle ruins were decided on August 30, 1961 by the Palatinate Forest Association of Landau. The castle ruins were cleared of weeds in the winter of 1961 in cooperation with a group of students from Heidelberg University . However, the measures were unsuccessful and the castle threatened to deteriorate further.
To preserve the castle, the Scharfeneck-Verein e. V. founded who leased the castle. In the period up to 2016, he invested over 260,000 euros and many hours of work in the castle. On October 27, 2013 Alois Konstantin Fürst zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg visited the ancestral castle of his ancestors; he was officially received there by the Scharfeneck Association and guided through the complex. The association has set up numerous information boards with QR codes to give an impression of the former interior of the facility.
investment
The first castle of the 13th century was much smaller than the current ruin. Only small remains of the Hochstaufischen castle have survived.
The entire system measures around 150 × 60 m. Its shield wall , which was built from around 1212 to 1232 and expanded in 1470 and 1530, is 58 m long and 12 m thick, making it the mightiest in the Palatinate. Within the shield wall there are a few passages, chambers and casemates . The shield wall carried the no longer preserved cannon and served mainly as a passive cover for the castle behind it. The original access was via a drawbridge through the shield wall into the castle. There is still a partially preserved gate with a flanking tower .
Four water basins carved into the rock in the 13th century were supplied as cisterns with rainwater and from the 16th century onwards from a source 2 km away on the Roßberg via clay and dyke pipes . Rare herbs such as Weiß Bülsen , Ingräu and Kloster Hysop were planted in the castle garden .
The 30 m long upper castle, the first residential building built on the central rock between 1212 and 1232, no longer exists. An inaccessible chamber carved into the rock as well as stairs and the well construction have been preserved .
The newer housing ( Palas ) with double abortion shaft was built in 1470 and closed like redesigned to 1530th The lavatory shaft has a clear width of 0.75 to 2.75 m and represents a further development of the high medieval abortions, which were only designed as an oriel open at the bottom. The collapsed gable of the palace was rebuilt in 1978/79. From the residential building there is a passage to the chambers in the shield wall. Below is a cellar that was uncovered and made accessible in 1891. You can also see remains of the kitchen and blacksmith's shop.
In honor of its members who died in the World Wars, the Landau section of the German Alpine Club has carved a monument with edelweiss and name on the rock face opposite the shield wall; a bronze plaque reproduces the text. Another bronze plaque commemorates the Scharfenecker Bund .
In November 2016 it was reported that the ruins were visibly deteriorating and could only be secured with a financial outlay in the upper six-figure range, which, however, neither the association as leaseholder nor the municipality as owner was able to raise. Finally, the castle was closed to visitors in October 2019, as the structural substance had deteriorated further in recent years. A renovation was estimated at around one million euros. The association and the local community plan to raise funds and apply for grants.
View from the shield wall to the gate tower
Gate tower from the courtyard
View from the gate tower towards the Palas
Palas (2018)
View from the shield wall towards the Palas (1970s)
Say
According to some legends, the knight Einaug von Scharfeneck was an evil lord of the castle. The farmers of the Dernbachtal had to give him the tithe, do him labor and pay interest . He attacked and killed passing merchants and clergymen . Anyone who fetched wood in his forest was punished with imprisonment with bread and water. Bridal couples had to spend the first night in his castle in separate rooms after the marriage, some virgins are said to have dishonored the Einaug.
He also coveted the wife of his neighbor, the knight of Ramberg on the Ramburg . All attempts by Einaug to persuade her to leave her husband and take him as a husband failed. He therefore promised his servant a high reward if he wanted to murder his rival. At night the servant climbed the walls of the Ramburg unnoticed. When the knight of Ramberg made his way across the courtyard towards the chapel early in the morning , the servant shot him a supposedly fatal arrow through the chest and was able to escape undetected. But the Knight of Ramberg survived and quickly recovered.
The one-eye called his servant a bungler, but gave him a second chance. Together they rode to the Ramburg and visited the Knight of Ramberg under the pretext that they were worried about him and wanted to see for themselves that he was well. The Ramberger did not suspect the fraud and was happy about the visit. They drink together until late at night. The Ramberger invited his guests to stay the night. Before they moved into their rooms, the servant made a note of the Ramberger's room. During the night he went to it to kill the knight with the dagger . The room was empty, however, because the Ramberger had briefly stepped out. The servant thought he was in the wrong room and chose the next door. Here, however, his own master slept. It wasn't until he stabbed it that he realized his mistake. Caught in the act by the Ramberger, the servant was hanged for murder .
Because of his crimes , the one-eye went to hell . As an enchanted ghost , he is said to have been up to mischief at Scharfeneck Castle for 700 years. From time to time it is said to appear on dark nights on the Schlossberg and in the nearby town of Dernbach and scare everyone who pursues a dishonest profession .
One day the spirit of Einaug followed a potash maker from Dernbach through the forest to his hut. The potash maker saw in him only a pale and pathetic man, he invited him into his hut and was hospitable. The spirit of Einaug asked the Pottaschsieder to free him from his 700 year old curse. The Pottasch boiler agreed. The spirit of Einaug gave him a golden rose, with which he had to go to Scharfeneck Castle and open a black box in the last room, then he would be released from his curse. At the castle the potash maker saw a large gate like he had never seen it before at the castle. He walked through it as well as many rooms in which armor was hanging on the walls or in another a fine company sat at the richly laid table. In the last room he discovered the box, but on it sat a large and dark monster. Just as he was about to put the rose in the lock, the monster opened its mouth. The potash maker got scared, dropped the rose and ran away. If the 700 years are not yet over, the suction still goes around as a spirit.
literature
- Rolf Übel, Klaus Beck: Neuscharfeneck Castle . Uff the Mantell andt in the Salstuben, with Bastian at the castle in 1578. 1st edition. 2009, ISBN 978-3-929893-19-9 .
- Alexander Thon (Ed.): "... like a banned, inaccessible magic castle". Castles in the southern Palatinate . 2nd, improved edition Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1570-5 , pp. 122-127.
- Walter Herrmann : On Red Rock. Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2004, ISBN 3-7650-8286-4 , pp. 150-155.
- Rolf Übel : Neuscharfeneck Castle near Dernbach, Southern Wine Route district . Verlag für Burgenkunde und Pfalzforschung, Landau 1998, ISBN 3-929893-04-5 .
- Jochen Goetze : Castles in the Palatinate. Heidelberg 1991, ISBN 3-921524-94-6 , pp. 46-50.
- Floor plan in Dehio / Gall : Handbook of the German Art Monuments Palatinate and Rheinhessen. Deutscher Kunstverlag München Berlin 1951, p. 220 ( no longer included in later edition of the Dehio manual ).
Web links
- Entry on Neuscharfeneck Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- on burgenwelt.de
- Pictures of Neuscharfeneck Castle on burgenparadies.de
- Neuscharfeneck Castle on the website of the Scharfeneck Association
Individual evidence
- ↑ Landesvermessungsamt Rhineland-Palatinate: Topographic map Annweiler am Trifels , 4th edition 1999, ISBN 3-89637-288-2 .
- ↑ a b Dernbacher house, Frederik Fink: Dernbacher house - Frederik Fink - Palatinate cosiness. Retrieved June 19, 2018 .
- ^ Rolf Übel : Palatinate Castle Lexicon III IN. Kaiserslautern 2005, ISBN 3-927754-51-X , pp. 755-771.
- ^ Bernhard Peter: The details of the coat of arms of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg. In: Photos of beautiful old coats of arms No. 290. Retrieved on September 12, 2016 : "Field 9: Scharfeneck, a silver lion in red, crowned."
- ^ Günter Stein : Castles and palaces in the Palatinate. Frankfurt 1976, ISBN 3-426-04405-6 .
- ^ Neuscharfeneck and Ramburg - wonderful castles in the Palatinate Forest. In: Pfalz Express. March 20, 2015, accessed on September 12, 2016 (cancellation ban).
- ↑ Palatinate Forest Association Landau - 100 years. Accessed June 19, 2018 (German).
- ^ Website of the Scharfeneck Association
- ↑ http://www.echo-online.de/lokales/nachrichten-rhein-neckar/schildmauer-der-burgruine-neuscharfeneck-ist-marode_17447865.htm Echo Online, Rhein-Neckar, November 5, 2017
- ↑ Arndt Hartung : Palatinate Castle Brevier. Landau 1985, ISBN 3-9801043-0-3 .
- ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. In: Weltbild . Augsburg 1996, p. 276.
- ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. In: Weltbild . Augsburg 1996, p. 490 f.
- ↑ Report in SWR1 on November 12, 2016.
- ↑ Flemlingen: Benefit events to rescue Neuscharfeneck Castle in Die Rheinpfalz on December 13, 2019
- ↑ The Rheinpfalz - Südwestdeutsche Zeitung - from June 16, 2007.
- ↑ Viktor Carl : Palatinate sagas and legends. Edenkoben 2000, ISBN 3-9804668-3-3 , pp. 387-396.
- ↑ Tatjana Stegmann: The Einaug von Scharfeneck. In: Grandma Nagers Palatinate Legends - Of devils, ghosts and evil knights. RHEINPFALZ-Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-937752-06-8 .