Rheinberg Castle

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Rheinberg Castle
Keep of Rheinberg Castle, view from the southwest

Keep of Rheinberg Castle, view from the southwest

Creation time : around 1165
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: Remains of the keep, battery tower and walls
Standing position : Count
Place: Lorch
Geographical location 50 ° 5 '9 "  N , 7 ° 52' 13"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 5 '9 "  N , 7 ° 52' 13"  E
Height: 250  m above sea level NHN
Rheinberg Castle (Hesse)
Rheinberg Castle

The castle Rheinberg is the ruins of a hilltop castle above the Wispertals in the west of Hesse .

location

The castle complex is located in the small town of Lorch in central Hesse . It is located about 14 kilometers northeast of the town of Lorch on the Rhine , about three kilometers southeast of the district of Ransel . Rheinberg Castle lies above the valley of the Wisper at an altitude of 250  m above sea level. NHN on a mountain spur ( Spornburg ), which is separated from the neighboring ridges by the valleys of two smaller tributaries of the Wisper.

history

There are conflicting sources about the exact date of construction. Probably one of the first plant by the year 1165 was built by the then archbishop of Mainz and in 1170 Rhinegrave as kurmainzisches fief applied.

After a feud between Archbishop Werner von Eppstein and the Rhine Count Siegfrid von Rheinberg in 1279, the castle was besieged by the Mainz people. For this purpose, the Blideneck Castle , located about 500 meters north and a little higher on the same mountain spur, was built as a fortress, as well as the Aachener Schanze , located just 500 meters further west on a mountain ridge opposite . In 1280 Rheinberg Castle was conquered and destroyed by the Mainz people.

In 1315 it was rebuilt and today's keep was built. The castle became a fiefdom of the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1399, and from about this time it was expanded into a Ganerbeburg as it was inhabited by several families. In the centuries that followed, Rheinberg Castle, which had become strategically insignificant, was never again destroyed in military attacks, but structurally neglected and finally abandoned. The castle had been uninhabited since the end of the 18th century and was becoming increasingly dilapidated.

investment

Gate from the lower courtyard to the outer bailey

The castle is characterized by the keep standing on a rock plinth in the south of the ruin, which still has three floors and rises up to 13 meters high. The system itself is 60 meters long and 20 meters wide. The access leads from the north over the neck ditch and through the castle gate into the outer bailey . From here the path continues into the inner courtyard with the remains of the castle fountain , which lies a little below the outer bailey. In addition to the keep and the remains of the curtain wall, there are hardly any traces of the residential buildings to be seen. The eastern flank of the castle was secured by a battery tower , which is now in danger of collapsing , but was not built until later.

Todays situation

Today the ruin is privately owned. Do Not Enter. The facility is in danger of collapsing, safety and maintenance measures are not carried out. It is located in the high forest and can only be reached via narrow and sometimes steep footpaths.

Others

In the area of ​​the outer bailey of Rheinberg Castle there is an occurrence of the small evergreen . It can be traced back to a probably high medieval planting.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Waldemar Palasdies: Rheinberg Castle . In: Gesellschaft für Rheingauer Weinkultur mbH (Ed.): Burgen im Rheingau - Contributions to Wine Culture 1997 . 1997.
  2. ↑ Christian Stolz (2013): Archaeological pointer plants: case studies from the Taunus and northern Schleswig-Holstein. Plants as indicators for archaeological find sites: Case studies from the Taunus Mts. and from the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) . - Writings of the Working Group on Regional and Folklore Studies 11: 1-30

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg publishing house. Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 495 f.
  • Achim H. Schmidt: Rheinberg castle ruins in the Wispertal. Research on the history of construction and destruction of a 12th century castle in the Rheingau . In: Adventure archeology . Year 2014, No. 9 , ISSN  1615-7125 , p. 3-30 .
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 241.

Web links

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