Ortenberg Castle (Alsace)

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Ortenberg Castle
Ortenberg - view from the north

Ortenberg - view from the north

Alternative name (s): Ortenbourg
Creation time : 1262-1265
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Scherwiller
Geographical location 48 ° 17 '44.6 "  N , 7 ° 23' 31.5"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 17 '44.6 "  N , 7 ° 23' 31.5"  E
Height: 440  m
Ortenberg Castle (Bas-Rhin department)
Ortenberg Castle

The castle Ortenberg ( French Château de l'Ortenbourg ) is a medieval castle ruins at Scherwiller in Alsace ( Bas-Rhin department ), about seven kilometers northwest of Sélestat ( German  Schlettstadt ).

location

The complex, visible from afar, is enthroned as a spur castle at a height of 440 meters on the eastern edge of the Vosges on a ridge sloping south to the Upper Rhine Plain . It monitors the exit of the hamlet and liver valley . The open ruins can be reached in around half an hour each on hiking trails, some of which are difficult, from Gasthaus Hühnelmühl (junction from D 35 towards Châtenois / Kestenholz) or the Taennelkreuz northwest of Scherwiller.

history

Ortenberg is first mentioned in a document in 1166. The castle was rebuilt by Rudolf von Habsburg in the Interregnum . In 1265 the castle was habitable because a letter from Rudolf has come down from there. 1293 besieged Governor Otto III. from Ochsenstein Ortenberg from the neighboring Ramstein Castle . In 1314 the Habsburg castle and village of Scherweiler sold to the Strasbourg family Müllenheim . In 1374 the castle was damaged by Lorraine troops. In the 15th century, Ortenberg was initially a bone of contention for numerous gan heirs and subsequently sank into a robber baron's nest. Peter von Hagenbach , the bailiff of Charles the Bold , took possession of the castle in 1470, but was recaptured by the Strasbourgers in 1474. In 1562 a bailiff of Nikolaus von Bollweiler , who had acquired the castle in 1551, lived on Ortenberg. In 1633, during the Thirty Years' War , the castle was destroyed by the Swedes.

investment

Ortenberg Castle at the time of the Lords of Müllenheim

Ortenberg is considered to be the highlight and ideal type of early Gothic castle building in Alsace. The core castle rises on a granite rock , which is separated from the Rittersberg massif by a deep ditch . Directly above the trench, the 18-meter-high, multi-folded and put loopholes pierced jacket wall and immediately behind her placed 30 meters high pentagonal keep against the potential attacker. Both defense structures shield the two-storey residential and representative building behind them, whose (partially broken) early Gothic tracery windows open onto the level. A large cistern between the residential building and the keep ensured the water supply for the castle residents . From the east and south upstream Vorburg only are enclosing wall and the outer castle gate receive. The granite is used as building material, only the window frames are made of red sandstone .

Others

The cripple oak forests around the Ortenburg are protected with their occurrence of rare thermophilic plants (e.g. golden aster , great sedum plant ).

literature

  • Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: Ortenberg near Schlettstadt - the castle of Rudolf von Habsburg . In: Castles and Palaces . Journal for Castle Research and Monument Preservation . Volume 29, No. 1, 1988, ISSN  0007-6201 , pp. 1–21, doi: 10.11588 / bus.1988.1.41815 .
  • Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) (= The castles of Alsace. Architecture and history. Volume 3). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-422-06132-0 , pp. 198-210.
  • Walter Hotz : Palaces and castles of the Staufer period. History and shape. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1981, ISBN 3-534-08663-5 , pp. 148-149.
  • 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. 237–241.

Web links

Commons : Burg Ortenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Cf. Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300). 1995, p. 198; Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The Ortenberg Castle near Schlettstadt - the castle of Rudolf von Habsburg. 1988, pp. 1-21.
  2. ^ Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300). 1995, p. 198.
  3. ↑ For the appraisal cf. Walter Hotz: Palaces and castles of the Staufer period. 1981, p. 148; Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The Ortenberg Castle near Schlettstadt - the castle of Rudolf von Habsburg. 1988, pp. 1–21, here: pp. 6 and 13.