Pilten Castle
| Pilten Castle | ||
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 Ruins of Pilten Castle |
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| Creation time : | First mentioned in 1335 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Construction: | Field stones, bricks | |
| Place: | Piltene | |
| Geographical location | 57 ° 13 ′ 21 ″ N , 21 ° 40 ′ 0 ″ E | |
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The ruins of Pilten Castle ( Latvian Piltenes viduslaiku pils ) are located near Piltene on the Venta River , Latvia . The castle was the bishop's castle of the Courland diocese , later the residence of King Magnus . In the past, the castle was also known as the Danish castle in Latvian . The foundations of the castle and parts of the Great Round Tower and the so-called Schmachturm are preserved to this day.
history
As part of the Baltic Crusade, the region was awarded to the Brothers of the Sword in the first spa treaty in 1230 . Between 1242 and 1247 the region was subjugated again by the Teutonic Order , in which the Order of the Brothers of the Swords was absorbed after the defeat of Schaulen. The region was only pacified by the perpetual peace that Master of the Order Otto von Lutterberg concluded with the cures in 1267.
When Courland was divided, the order received the area on the left bank of the Windau and the diocese of Courland the area on the right bank with Pilten. Bishop Edmund von Werd (1263 to 1299) resided in Memel, while Amboten initially served as his residence in northern Courland. Amboten Castle was given to the order for national defense during a temporary absence of the bishop in 1290. Pilten Castle was probably only built after this time. Pilten Castle may have been built as the new seat of the bishop, the bishop's office and the bailiff under Emund's successor, Bishop Burchard (1300 to 1311).
The castle itself was first documented in 1309 when the Bishop of Courland was forced to abandon his land and fortresses for the rest of his life and leave the country.
During the Livonian War , the last Bishop of Courland, Johann von Münchhausen , sold Pilten and the entire monastery in 1559 to the King of Denmark, who gave it to his brother, Duke Magnus von Holstein, who was appointed King of Livonia by Tsar Ivan the Terrible has been. According to a contract of submission between the King of Poland and Duke Gotthard Kettler from November 1561, the Pilten Abbey was to become part of the Duchy at that time. However , the monasteries did not want to submit to Poland or the Courland, which was dependent on them, but asked King Frederick of Denmark to take the monastery under his protection. The great tower of the castle was blown up so that it would not serve as a target for the Poles during a siege. In the spring of 1583 there was a violent guerrilla war between Poland and the monastery, with Amboten and Neuhausen being occupied by Poles, while Pilten remained in the hands of the pen niche. Magnus died on March 18, 1583 at Pilten Castle. The pen should go to Poland, who had to pay compensation to the King of Denmark. Since Poland did not have the required amount, Georg Friedrich von Ansbach , the regent of the Duchy of Prussia , paid the money to Denmark and became the pledge holder of the monastery with all rights of sovereignty.
In 1617 the Courland diocese came under the rule of Poland-Lithuania and Hasenpoth Castle became the administrative center. It is mentioned for 1621 that the Pilten Castle had partially collapsed.
description
Due to the change in the course of the Windau river, the hilltop castle, which was initially founded on the left bank, is now approx. 2 km from the river. The oldest part of the building was the convent house , the floor plan of which can still be determined archaeologically. The main rooms of the castle were in the north and west wings. A large outer bailey was attached to the convent house . In the 14th century a round tower was built on the southeast corner , the Schmachturm with a diameter of 8.6 m and a deep castle dungeon in the basement . Field stone was used as building material for the foundation walls and brick in the upper part .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ PILTEN [C.3.] In: Courtyards and residences in the late medieval empire - A dynastic-topographical handbook (= Residences research . Volume 15 ). Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 3-7995-4515-8 , p. 452 ( Online [PDF; 58 kB ; accessed on October 2, 2019]).
- ↑ a b Bernhard Schmid: The castles of the German order of knights in Courland . In: Journal of Construction . tape 71 , 1921, pp. 199-238 .
- ^ Karl Woldemar von Löwis of Menar: Burgenlexikon für Alt-Livland . Walters and Rapa, Riga 1922, p. 93 ( digitized version ).
- ^ Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia (= negotiations of the Estonian learned society . Volume 33 ). Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi Toimetused, 1942, p. 209–210 ( Online [PDF; 15.8 MB ; accessed on October 2, 2019]).