Pappenheim Castle

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Pappenheim Castle
General view from the south

General view from the south

Creation time : around 1030, first mentioned in 1214
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Construction: Hunchback cuboid, half-timbered
Place: Pappenheim
Geographical location 48 ° 55 '58 .1 "  N , 10 ° 58' 17.8"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 55 '58 .1 "  N , 10 ° 58' 17.8"  E
Pappenheim Castle (Bavaria)
Pappenheim Castle

The Pappenheim Castle is the ruin of a Spur castle on a long mountain ridge in a Altmühl loop over the homonymous city Pappenheim in the district of Weissenburg-Gunzenhausen in Central Franconia . The ancestral seat of the powerful Reichsministeriales and later Counts von Pappenheim is one of the most important medieval castle ruins in Bavaria. An older castle stable is located a few hundred meters west-southwest of the ruin on a wooded hill ( Alte Bürg ).

history

A smaller castle complex may have stood on the area of ​​the outer bailey in the early High Middle Ages . This residence is said to have been restored around 1030 after being destroyed. However, some researchers doubt the existence of this predecessor system ( Daniel Burger ). The tradition of such a predecessor castle cited in the older literature goes back to the Augsburg canon Matthäus von Pappenheim-Biberbach (1458–1541) and has not yet been confirmed by excavations or readings. In terms of defense technology, this castle would actually have been rather unfavorable. It is possible that an older castle seat was on the "Alten Bürg", an originally early historical fortification, which was verifiably used until the High Middle Ages.

The partially preserved castle complex was probably founded around 1140 by the Reichsministeriale von Pappenheim, who later held the office of Reichsmarschalls. The oldest parts of the castle (archaeological studies are missing so far) are in the area of ​​the core castle. The castle chapel above the gate dates from the late 12th century. The later Pappenheimers already served the Salians as servants. The first tangible ancestor of the family is Heinrich Caput (head), an important and valued ministerial of Heinrich V. In the following generation, the division of the sex into several branches began.

The castle first appears in a written source around 1214 as the property of the Imperial Hereditary Marshals. The chapel was consecrated between 1171 and 1182 by the Eichstatt Bishop Egelolf .

The appointment of the Reichsministeriale von Pappenheim certainly served to secure the home power of Staufer Konrad III. In the region around Nuremberg , Weißenburg and Rothenburg, the king pursued an intensive imperial and domestic power policy as part of the overall concept of a "Terra Imperii". Pappenheim was in the border area between Franconia , Bavaria and Swabia . The new castle was certainly also a reaction to the smoldering conflict between the Hohenstaufen and the southern German Welfs , who did not want to stand idly by the loss of Bavaria and Saxony. Duke Henry the Proud had also refused to pay homage to the king.

In the early 13th century, the castle was massively expanded, recognizable by the large-format humpback blocks on the circular wall (remains), residential buildings and keep . Around 1220 the Bavarian Duke Otto the Illustrious besieged the fortress and caused some damage. The duke supported the opposing king Heinrich Raspe IV against the emperor and his partisans. Reconstruction began in 1221. In 1264 repairs had to be carried out again after repeated war damage.

At the end of the 13th century, the brothers Hiltprand and Heinrich divided the family property between themselves. Heinrich von Pappenheim began expanding the castle in 1280. At that time, the outer bailey in particular was expanded on the endangered west side.

In the following centuries the facility was rebuilt and modernized several times. There are a number of spoils of late Gothic extensions to the main castle, and two buildings from the late 15th century are still under roof in the outer castle. Around 1500 the main castle was surrounded by a kennel and round towers on the city side.

The main castle in the 17th century

In 1593 the ruling senior of the family left the Höhenburg and moved into his new city palace in the valley. The castle, however, remained inhabited and was reinforced with military technology, especially at the time of the Thirty Years War , in order to withstand the attacks of the Protestant troops. Around 1632 a fortress-like expansion of the main castle was even planned . A modern bastionary fortification would have been built in place of the late medieval double kennels. During the fighting, the castle changed hands several times. The preserved, unexecuted expansion plan seems to have been made by a Swedish builder. The bombardment of the facility by the troops of the Protestant Field Marshal Horn (1633) is likely to have caused considerable damage. In any case, the north-western hall building only appears as a ruin on a view from 1664.

In the War of the Spanish Succession in 1703/04 there was renewed destruction and occupation by French troops. Subsequently, the castle was largely abandoned and began to crumble. This decay was intentionally accelerated in the 19th century in order to convert the castle into a romantic landscape decoration.

Around 1960 the "Society of Friends of Pappenheim Castle" began with the first conservation measures. The owner intensified these measures after 1990 and set up a few small museums in the castle area. In the summer, a historical knight tournament with an attached medieval market is held here, which is also very well received nationwide.

Extensive renovations have not insignificantly changed the building fabric (especially in the area of ​​the chapel), but also contributed to its continued preservation.

In recent years, the outside area has been redesigned (including a garden), inside there are exhibition rooms on the history of the Pappenheim house and the castle, as well as rooms for church and civil weddings of both denominations.

description

and display information about the image
Pappenheim Castle, panoramic view, 2018
The main castle with the keep and the hall. On the left the city wall stretches up to the castle
View of the two shell towers of the outer bailey
"Knight's Hall" in the "Preißingerinhaus" on the outer bailey
The ruins of the Romanesque castle chapel
The city wall between the castle ring and the former "Lower Gate"
The Sola Tower on a map from 1571/72

The spur castle stands on a north-east facing mountain spur around which the Altmühl flows . The two-part complex is one of the largest aristocratic castles in Franconia (total length around 280 meters) and documents the prominent position of the Pappenheimers as hereditary marshals of the empire.

Outer bailey

The ridge southwest of the main castle is built over by an extensive outer castle . A predecessor castle "Kaltenegg" was possibly located here as the oldest residence of the Pappenheimers, who originally called themselves "von Kalden" or "Caletin".

The angular ditch of the outer bailey was blasted out of the rock and is about 15 meters deep. The high ring wall is reinforced by two massive shell towers. The wall was originally higher, with two battlements on the inside . The gate is to the north and is flanked by two tall 15th century buildings. In the “Preißinger (in) haus” in the east there are three hall-like rooms on the floors, which are supported by a strong beam construction.

Both buildings show late Gothic architectural decorations. The "donkey stable" wearing pointed arch panels and fialenartige essays, the "Preisinger (in) home" pointed arch friezes and Wandlisenen .

A brick bridge allows access to the main castle. Originally a wooden footbridge and a drawbridge spanned the moat.

Main castle

The main castle in the northeast is separated from the outer castle by a deep ditch. On the other sides, the mountain slopes drop relatively steeply and thus offered natural protection. The entrance to the main castle was protected by the unusually powerful keep, which was the only building to survive the multiple destruction of the fortress more or less unscathed. A kennel like Torgasse leads from the outer gate of the main castle for passage into the inner court. The remains of the Romanesque castle chapel St. Georg (formerly St. Blasius) have been preserved above this inner gate . A semicircular apse in the outer wall refers to its former function as a sacred space . The two-part floor below (the common vault ) seems to have served as a fire-proof room for storing certificates and documents.

The remains of the palace can be seen to the northeast . Old views of the castle show four storeys, only sparse wall remnants of the windowless ground floor have been preserved facing the castle courtyard. In the Middle Ages, the utility rooms were located here, above that a large hall, which was spanned by a wooden ceiling.

The other buildings are grouped around a narrow atrium, but are almost completely gone. Here stood a bower , the wing known as the high arcades , and an additional residential building. At times four branches of the Pappenheim family lived in the castle,

Under the almost rectangular ring of the main castle are mighty late medieval kennels, which are reinforced in the northeast by two round towers. The spacious outer kennel is protected in the northeast by the "Affenstein". The small round tower, like the two artillery towers above it, was changed in modern times by adding apartments.

Fountain

At the end of the gate kennel of the main castle, to the right of the gate, is the fountain house jutting out into the kennel. The castle well is said to have reached the groundwater level (around 75 meters). The well shaft was driven into the upcoming Jurassic limestone rock. A wooden treadmill made it possible to transport drinking and service water. The massive expansion of the well room goes back to the time of the Thirty Years War. During a siege , the well room was destroyed by an artillery hit, which is said to have led to the abandonment of the castle.

Keep

The mighty high medieval keep of the castle is considered to be one of the most important Hohenstaufen monuments in Bavaria. The tower, which is 25 meters high today, was formerly at least 30 meters high. The side lengths of the square structure are around 11.3 meters, the masonry is 3.3 meters thick and only tapers just below the current end.

The humpback cubes of the outer shell are in the base area partly over two meters long and very carefully worked. Large pincer holes date the main tower to the years around 1200, but the almost continuous, enormous wall thickness would indicate that it was built up to around 1170/80. The stones seem to have been lifted with an early form of stone tongs, which at that time replaced the "wolf" as a lifting tool.

The tower protected the entrance to the main castle and covered the buildings behind it with its wall mass. The masonry is not interrupted by any light openings or notches. The arched interior is accessible through a high entrance . The high entrance opens to the north to the castle courtyard. Noticeable is the unclean integration of the entrance arch into the ashlar. A wooden staircase enables the ascent to the tower platform , which enables a comprehensive all-round view.

Some researchers see the Pappenheim keep above all as a symbol of power for the Hohenstaufen monarchy and its followers, while other castle explorers also refer to the defense functions of the monumental structure. The tower jumps out over the line of the curtain wall and flanked the gate kennel with its formerly three gates.

The post-medieval castle

The surviving plans and views from the 17th and 18th centuries show that the medieval castle was largely overbuilt in the early modern period. The castle buildings around the narrow courtyard were still partly on the medieval masonry (palas wall), but seem to have at least partly (upper floor "Hohe Lauben") consisted of half-timbered , which was designed as a visible framework on the gables. In the north, the “Hohen Lauben” dominated the view of the castle. The eponymous wooden arbors ran over the high mediaeval remains of the palace around the narrow side of the palace building, on the east side of which there were three storeys with windows above the basement . The bottom row of windows was subsequently broken into the older stock. The extensive cellars, which can be documented by old descriptions, are completely buried.

The mighty keep served as a gun platform in the early modern era. Before the Thirty Years War, the main tower was closed by an attached tower room .

External works

The hilltop castle was connected to the largely preserved city ​​fortifications by side walls . Under the keep, the city wall runs as a "cannon path" to the castle ring. The weir system in this form dates from the 14th / 15th centuries. Century. A put in front of the kennel and two defense towers strengthen the main wall.

The "Sola Tower"

Via Niederpappenheim, the “Sola Tower”, which has now completely disappeared, blocked the access to the castle and the city. A map from 1571/72 shows a stylized gate tower with a gable roof .

Castle and city

The fortifications of the castle were connected to the newly built city fortifications from the 14th century. The northern part of the main castle lies within the settlement, which extends in the Altmühlschleife. The castle was only accessible from the city through a side gate. The actual access was via the western ridge, the narrowest point of which was additionally secured by the “Sola tower”, which was pushed far forward.

The mostly well-preserved city wall forms an irregular trapezoid in the river bend. The city ​​entrances were formerly secured by two gates under the castle . The “ Upper Gate ” in the north is almost completely preserved. The only thing missing is the early modern kennel of the Vorwerk. The “Lower Gate” was demolished in 1887, but is well documented by old illustrations and photographs. The bridge gate on the Altmühl, through which one could get to the older settlement center around the St. Gallus Church , was also removed in the 19th century.

The side wall between the former "Lower Gate" and the castle ring has been very well preserved. The northern side wall to the "Upper Gate" is largely covered by subsequent additions.

literature

See also

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.hochzeitsregion-nuernberg.de Wedding location - Pappenheim Castle.
  2. ^ Pappenheim Castle> Description on the Castles in Bavaria website