Reichenbach Castle (Hesse)
| Reichenbach castle ruins | ||
|---|---|---|
 Keep used as a lookout tower (September 2009) |
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| Creation time : | around 1000 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Lookout tower, remains of the shield wall | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Hessisch Lichtenau - Reichenbach | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 10 '7.7 " N , 9 ° 45' 12.2" E | |
| Height: | 522.3 m above sea level NHN | |
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The castle Reichenbach is a Romanesque castle ruins in Hessisch Lichtenau in northern Hesse Werra-Meissner ( Germany ).
Geographical location
The castle ruins are located about 4 km southeast of the center of the core town of Hessisch Lichtenau between the villages and at the same time the districts of Reichenbach in the east-southeast and Retterode in the west. It is located on the Schlossberg ( 522.3 m above sea level ), the landscape of which slopes to the northwest into the Losse valley, northeast into the Hollstein valley, south into the Vockebach valley and west into the Essebach valley. The ruins and the mountain are located in the Reichenbacher Kalkberge nature reserve ( CDDA no. 165129), which was designated in 1996 and is around 1.5 km² in size.
history
Prehistory and construction
From 750 to 1219 the fortified mountain was probably owned by a branch of the Count Gozmar , who built a castle there in the middle of the 11th century and called themselves Count von Reichenbach from 1089 (see also the list of the Counts of Reichenbach ). The ancestors of this family are said to have been employed as counts at the previous castle at the time of the Frankish conquest of the area, under Pippin the Younger . The first secured document, however, relates to Count Gozmar II von Reichenbach, who was high bailiff of the Fulda Abbey from 1117 to 1139 . Members of the Reichenbach family and later Ziegenhain held this office until the first half of the 14th century.
The counts founded the Reichenbach nunnery in the 11th century , but it did not exist for long. On a princely convention in Nordhausen in August 1207, Count Heinrich III. von Reichenbach and the representatives of all other branches of the Reichenbach-Wegebach-Ziegenhain family shared the monastery complex and the entire property belonging to it with the Teutonic Order , which acquired its first settlement in Germany.
Object of dispute between Thuringia, Mainz and Hesse
The marriage in 1185 of Friedrich , a son of the Ludowinger Landgrave Ludwig II of Thuringia, with the heiress Luitgard (also called Lukardis) of Count Gozmar III. von Ziegenhain-Reichenbach meant a significant expansion of the Ludowinger influence in Hesse and brought Reichenbach Castle into the possession of the Ludowingers. Archbishop Konrad I of Mainz , who did not welcome this landgrave's increase in power, bought half of the castle in 1189/90.
Since the castle was located in the Hessian-Thuringian border area, it was repeatedly the target of disputes for strategic reasons. Around 1220, after disputes over inheritance, Landgrave Ludwig III conquered . of Thuringia after a long siege the castle. In 1225 Konrad von Thuringia , brother of the Landgrave and Count of Hesse, besieged the castle. In 1233 it came into his possession according to the contract. In 1249, in the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession , the troops of Sophie von Brabant conquered the castle for their son Heinrich I , who later became the first Landgrave of Hesse .
Hessian hunting lodge and office
The castle then remained in Hesse, but was pledged and redeemed several times - first from Sophie von Brabant to Thilo von Elben and Eckhard von Kappel, then in 1330 and 1350 to the Teutonic Order , and finally in 1403 again to the Lords of Hanstein . The Landgrave Hessian office of Reichenbach has been documented since at least 1315 . During this time the castle was used by the landgraves as a hunting lodge.
From 1376 to 1380, Landgrave Hermann III. of Hesse the castle in the Star Wars against the coalition of Archbishop Adolf I of Mainz, Abbot Berthold II of Hersfeld , Duke Otto I of Braunschweig-Göttingen and Landgrave Balthasar of Thuringia .
On November 4, 1471, Landgrave Ludwig II of Hesse suddenly died unexpectedly at the castle, probably as a result of poisoning.
Decay
The castle was inhabited until 1490, when the seat of the Reichenbach office relocated to Lichtenau and a landgrave's court was established there; thereafter the building was used as a tithe barn until 1540 . Landgrave Phlipp I was the last prince who stayed at the castle again. It was destroyed around 1550 on the orders of Emperor Charles V after the Schmalkaldic War . However, the two towers are mentioned as intact in 1697. In the 17th century Daniel Meisner depicted Reichenbach Castle in the "Political Treasure Chest". After that, the decline began, accelerated by the residents of neighboring villages, for whom the ruins served as a quarry. On December 12, 1820, the southeast tower collapsed.
Refurbishment and current use
The keep was expanded as a lookout tower from 1899 to 1901 and inaugurated as such on July 21, 1901, with management on Sundays and public holidays. In 1934/35 the keep was renovated again and the battlements were walled up. The monument conservator Gottfried Ganßauge excavated the castle. Severe damage to the masonry was discovered in 1948 and major frost damage in 1955/56. The tower was closed but reopened on October 26, 1958. On May 9, 1966, the "Burgverein Reichenbach" was founded, which has been trying to maintain the complex ever since. 1977 to 1980 the tower was repaired again. On June 22, 1986 the keep was reopened on the occasion of the Reichenbacher Heimatfest. On June 15, 1988, a large castle festival was celebrated on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the castle association. On August 8, 2004 the new external staircase was inaugurated.
In addition to the keep, which serves as a lookout tower, remains of the shield wall and a small and large neck moat are still preserved today.
Possibility of viewing
From the keep serving as a lookout tower, which is closed in the cold season, the view falls, among other things, over the northwestern Losse valley to the Kaufunger Wald ( 643.4 m ), over the northeast valleys of Hollsteine and weirs to the Hohe Meißner ( 753.6 m ), to the southeast over the Vockebach valley to the Eisberg ( 583 m ) in the Stölzinger Mountains and to the west over the Essebach valley to the Himmelsberg ( 563.7 m ; Günsteröder Höhe ) in the Melsunger Bergland .
literature
- Eduard Brauns: Hiking and travel guide through North Hesse and Waldeck , A. Bernecker Verlag Melsungen, 1971, p. 481.
- Karl E. Demandt: History of the State of Hesse , Johannes Stauda Verlag Kassel, 1980, pp. 175 and 204f., 319.
- Friedhelm Häring, Hans J. Klein (ed.): Hessen - Vom Edersee zur Bergstrasse , DuMont Buchverlag Cologne, 8th edition, 1988, p. 61.
- Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 554.
- Martin Röhling, The History of the Counts of Nidda and the Counts of Ziegenhain , Niddaer Geschichtsblätter No. 9, publisher Niddaer Heimatmuseum e. V., Nidda 2005, ISBN 3-9803915-9-0 .
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann zu Reichenbach near Hessisch-Lichtenau in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Burgverein Reichenbach , on burgverein-reichenbach.de
- Illustration by Daniel Meisner from 1626: Reichenbach. Pax optima rerum ( digitized version )
- Reconstruction drawing by Wolfgang Braun