Ramstein Castle (Cord)

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South-east view of the Ramstein castle ruins

The ruins of Ramstein Castle stand on a 182 meter high red sandstone rock on the edge of the Meulenwald in the lower Kylltal near Kordel in Rhineland-Palatinate and thus belong to the hill castle type .

Erected at the beginning of the 14th century by the Archbishop of Trier Diether von Nassau as the successor to a fortified manor , it was henceforth an Electorate of Trier fiefdom , which was given to electoral subjects and cathedral deans. During the Palatinate War of Succession , the facility was occupied by French soldiers and blown up in 1689. There was no reconstruction. The successor to the castle's former courtyard house is now used as a hotel-restaurant.

history

At the beginning of the 10th century, the archbishop was Radbod von Trier on a rock in cord at the site of an older previous building ( edificium ) a fortified house ( municiuncula ) build and appropriated it to 926 his vassals Vollmar for life. This agriculturally used property was the predecessor of today's Ramstein Castle and was officially named under Runnesstein and Castrum Ruynstein . The name of the facility, which is common today, did not appear until 1600.

Up to the beginning of the 14th century there is no further data on the castle complex , because it was only at this time that Diether von Nassau, Archbishop of Trier from 1300 to 1307, began building a castle at that point. The facility was located on the Roman road from Trier to Andernach, which was important in the Middle Ages, and not far from the old Roman road Trier- Cologne . However, the construction was only completed under Diether's successor, Baldwin of Luxembourg . The exact date is not known, but it can be assumed that the construction work was completed in 1317 because Baldwin sealed a certificate at the castle that year. On July 2, 1310, he had already given the unfinished building to his confidante and teacher Johann von Bruch ( Johann de Bruaco ) as a fief. Johann was cathedral dean in Trier, and the feudal contract stipulated that from now on the respective holder of this office should always be the tenant of Ramstein Castle. However, this provision was not complied with.

Walls of the residential tower, interior view

The construction of the castle was not without controversy. The knight Arnold von Pittingen, a high Luxembourg nobleman and his sign Vogt von Butzweiler , objected to its establishment. He sued the king , but Archbishop Baldwin was able to prove that Ramstein was built on archbishop's land. Although the verdict of the proceedings has not been passed down in writing, the process brought by Arnold was probably lost for him on March 13, 1310, because Balduin continued to expand the facility soon afterwards.

In 1328 Johann von der Fels and his wife Jutta von Reuland and Jutta's son from his first marriage, Wilhelm von Manderscheid , received Ramstein Castle half as a fief. However, Baldwin kept for the plant, the opening right in front. Both the couple and Wilhelm pledged their share several times in the following years.

Balduin's successor Boemund II of Saarbrücken transferred the facility to his palace master and lay judge Johann Wolf on July 1, 1358, with the condition that it be maintained and that enough guards be employed to guard it. Only a little later, Archbishop Kuno II von Falkenstein enfeoffed the abbess of the Trier monastery St. Irminen , Irmgard von Gymnich , with Ramstein. It was followed in 1402 by the canon and choir bishop Rupprecht von Hoheneck as a feudal man . He, too, received an obligation to repair the castle and had to undertake to live there himself.

Well after his death in 1417, Bernhard von Orley occupied the castle because he claimed ownership of it. As a result, Archbishop Jakob I von Sierck had Ramstein Castle besieged . The dispute was finally settled by an arbitration tribunal, which ruled in favor of the archdiocese . However, the castle had suffered from the long fighting and was in poor condition. However, in the absence of the necessary financial resources, the damage was not repaired for the time being and the buildings gradually fell into disrepair. It was not until Chorbishop Dietrich von Stein was enfeoffed with Ramstein for life on May 28, 1488, that improvement began. He had the castle rebuilt according to the terms of the feudal contract. After Dietrich's death in 1500, Heinrich von Hartenrode succeeded him in that year: Archbishop Johann II von Baden appointed him lifelong burgrave of Rumstein Castle .

Archbishop and Elector Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads lived in the complex himself in all probability in the 16th century. He solved the problem of the water supply by having a pipe made of clay pipes from a forest spring into the castle area. The so-called fountain stone, a memorial stone that commemorates this event, is still preserved today and is exhibited in the hall of the inn on the castle grounds. His inscription reads:

RICHART GRIFFENCLAE VONN VOLRACZ'S ARCHBISHOP ZW TRIER VUN CHOERFVUERST HAIT ME THOEN DRINGEN VSZ THIS FILSCHEN JUMPING ANNO XV XXVII [(1527)]

From 1578 the archbishop was succeeded by the cathedral dean Bartholomäus von der Leyen as owner. The property then went to the cathedral deanship as a fief and remained so until secularization at the beginning of the 19th century. However, the cathedral deans did not live at Ramstein Castle themselves, but had them run and administered by a courtier ( villicus ).

During the Dutch War , Ramstein was in French hands for a year from 1674 before it was liberated by imperial troops. The castle complex was then further fortified.

Ramstein Castle and the courtyard around 1900

Armed conflicts during the War of the Palatinate Succession finally put an end to Ramstein Castle. On September 18, 1689, it was set on fire by French soldiers and blown up in two corners. It has been in ruins ever since. After the residential tower was destroyed, the courtier moved into the farmhouse belonging to the complex, which had already burned down on April 19, 1675. Subsequently rebuilt, it was destroyed again by another fire in 1786. The lord of the castle at the time, Domdechant Anselm von Kerpen, planned the construction of a larger house, but since the costs estimated by the builder would have been too high, a reconstruction on the old, still preserved foundations followed.

After the occupation of the Rhineland by the French under Napoleon , the ruins were confiscated and, in the course of secularization, on the 21st of  Frimaire of the year XII, i.e. on December 13th, 1803, the Trier lawyer Wilhelm Josef Fritsch bought it for 9,000  francs . On November 30, 1826, the Fritsch heirs sold the facility to the Trier brewer and red tanner Franz Ludwig Bretz (also written as Britz), whose son Nikolaus opened a restaurant there in the 1870s. His descendants are still in the possession of the castle today and are now the fifth generation to run a hotel-restaurant.

The first restoration work was carried out in 1928. The east wall of the castle was greatly expanded. In the summer of 1930, security measures followed on the wall crowns . Towards the end of the Second World War , however, the ruins suffered severe damage from artillery fire , before the rest of the ruins were repaired and secured by 1987. Ramstein Castle can be visited as part of a guided tour after registration (contact via the Friends of Ramstein Castle eV).

description

Ramstein Castle consists of a core castle and the farm buildings belonging to the complex on an area of ​​around 37 × 57 meters in oval shape. Only small remains of the former curtain wall and the corner towers are left. The Gothic main castle consists of a residential tower on a trapezoidal floor plan with dimensions of 13 × 10.8 meters. Its roughly 1.35 meter thick quarry stone outer walls were previously an estimated 25 meters high and comprised four floors. Of these, only three, and in some places only two, floors with a maximum height of 18 meters have survived. On the inside of the walls, the holes in the former ceiling beams as well as the remains of seating niches and chimneys can be seen. Gray and red sandstone from the area was used as a garment . The tower windows have predominantly Gothic three-pass screens .

Is quite well preserved, the 1.55 meter wide and 2.45 meter high entrance on the west side of the tower, which through a 4.70-meters-in moat of the outer ward is separated. This used to be bridged by a wooden drawbridge. Once you got there from the outer bailey via a stone staircase carved into the rock. The beginnings of their steps can still be seen today.

The floors of the tower were on spiral staircases in two rounds, from Haustein built stair towers are opened next to the main entrance at the northeast corner and on the outside of the south wall. The largest fireplace in the house was on the ground floor, which is why it can be assumed that the kitchen was located there. Three more chimneys existed on the first floor, which was previously divided into two halves by a half-timbered wall. Perhaps the lord's private living quarters were located there. The second floor was taken up by a single large hall , which was probably used for festivities, receptions and meetings. The lack of chimneys on the third floor and therefore no possibility of heating indicate that there was accommodation for staff there.

Floor plans of the individual castle floors

literature

  • Matthias Kordel: The most beautiful palaces and fortresses in the Eifel . Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1999, ISBN 3-86134-482-3 , pp. 64-65.
  • Christian Lager: Notes on the history of Ramstein Castle. In: Trierische Chronik. No. 9, 1907, pp. 129-141.
  • Michael Losse : The Moselle. Castles, palaces, aristocratic residences and fortifications from Trier to Koblenz. Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-86568-240-6 , pp. 102-103.
  • N. Mohr: The story of Ramstein Castle. Part IX . In: Ehranger Heimat . Volume 3. 1937-1941.
  • Sandra Ost: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal . Matergloriosa, Trier 2006, ISBN 3-9811323-0-0 .
  • Hubert Thoma: Small Kordeler Chronicle . Heimatverein Kordel, Trier 1956, p. 19 ff.
  • Alexander Thon, Stefan Ulrich: "Blown by the showers of the past ..." Castles and palaces on the Moselle. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1926-4 , pp. 110-115.

Web links

Commons : Ramstein Castle  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. a b Magnus Backes: Castles and palaces on the Moselle and Saar. A castles and travel guide from Koblenz to Saarbrücken . Stüder, Neuwied o. J., p. 45.
  2. A. Thon, S. Ulrich: "Blown by the showers of the past ..." Castles and palaces on the Moselle. 2007, p. 111.
  3. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 10.
  4. M. Kordel: The most beautiful palaces and fortresses in the Eifel. 1999, p. 65.
  5. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, pp. 11-12.
  6. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 15.
  7. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 17.
  8. a b c Information about the castle on a website of the Kultur- und Förderverein Burg Ramstein e. V. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved August 3, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.verlag-smo.de
  9. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 19.
  10. Ramstein Castle on burgenreich.de , accessed on August 22, 2012.
  11. a b S. Ost: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 24.
  12. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 32.
  13. a b c S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 34.
  14. a b S. Ost: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 43.
  15. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 35.
  16. ^ S. East: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 44.
  17. a b S. Ost: Ramstein Castle in the Kylltal. 2006, p. 46.

Coordinates: 49 ° 49 ′ 25.6 "  N , 6 ° 38 ′ 38.7"  E