Schwarzenberg Castle (Plettenberg)
| Schwarzenberg Castle | ||
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| Creation time : | 1301 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Free nobles | |
| Place: | Plettenberg | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 13 '15 " N , 7 ° 54' 37" E | |
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The castle Schwarzenberg is the ruins of a hilltop castle in Plettenberg in North Rhine-Westphalia .
history
background
As a military base, seat of Brandenburg officials and temporarily also as the residence of the Counts of the Mark , the castle, which was built at the beginning of the 14th century and subsequently structurally altered several times, determined the fate of the region until it was finally destroyed by a fire in the 19th century and the people who live here. Even in its ruinous state, the beautifully scenic castle above the Lennetal has lost none of its attraction. The area around Schwarzenberg Castle was hotly contested in the Middle Ages. Here the Archbishops of Cologne (together with the Counts of Berg ) and the Counts of the Mark faced each other. Eberhard I. von der Mark destroyed the Cologne castles of Isenburg , Volmarstein and Raffenburg as well as the cities of Werl and Menden in 1288 . In the east of the Sauerland , Count Otto von Waldeck destroyed the castle and town of Hallenberg . The castles Rodenburg (near Menden) and Waldenburg were taken over. The Archbishop of Cologne had to grant the right to fortifications and in an agreement that no one was allowed to build fortifications on the other's territory. A castle policy directed against the Cologne archbishopric began .
In an atonement agreement, Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg waived all claims in 1289, in particular compensation for losses suffered. In addition, he had to pledge the Waldenburg to Count Adolf III. from Berg , who mortgaged the castle to Eberhard I. von der Mark. In this precarious situation, the archbishop made by his country Marshal Johann I von Plettenberg , the castle Schnellenberg , repair to failures of possibly there to do in the marrow.
After the Archbishop of Cologne, Wigbold von Holte , redeemed the Waldenburg on December 15, 1300, the Grafenhaus in Brandenburg saw the urgent need to secure its southern border, for which only the city of Lüdenscheid and Altena Castle were available until now . However, both were too far from the border. Eberhard I also allied himself with Count Ludwig von Arnsberg against his enemies, possibly in order to obtain approval from the Arnsberg for the construction of Schwarzenberg Castle . Eberhard I also apparently had King Albrecht confirm his right of fortification.
Construction of the castle
On July 11, 1301, Eberhard I signed an alliance with Count Ludwig von Arnsberg for the planned construction of Schwarzenberg Castle, which was also started by Rutger von Altena on October 2, 1301. Eberhard's successor, Engelbert III. von der Mark , got rid of the Arnsberg rights to Schwarzenberg Castle by having the castle house destroyed in the course of a feud against Count Gottfried IV von Arnsberg in 1352 and now he was the sole owner of the complex. In 1353, the ruler of the Brandenburg region instructed his drosten Gerhard von Plettenberg to expand and strengthen Schwarzenberg Castle , which consisted primarily of a "strong tower ( residential tower )" and a compact core system. Furthermore, he entrusted Gerhard von Plettenberg, who had administered the Brandenburg possessions in Gummersbach (Oberbergischer Kreis) since 1351 and had held a castle fiefdom on the Schwarzenberg from 1343, the task of founding the castle and town of Neuenrade in 1353 to safeguard Brandenburg's sovereign interests . Since Count Engelbert III. preferred to stay on Schwarzenberg during his reign (1347-1391) and the castle thus temporarily served as a "residence" or the center of power, the facility can be assumed to be spacious and representative. The importance that Schwarzenberg Castle for Count Engelbert III. von der Mark, document not only the 1353 verifiable construction work, but also a foundation made in 1385 for the castle chapel there . On May 1, 1385, he furnished the already existing "altare to the Swartenberge" with goods in Gevern, not far from Neuenrade . Although it was within sight of the Cologne border with the town of Rönkhausen , the archbishop could not prevent the castle from being built. This restored a balance on the border with Kurköln .
Schwarzenberg Castle was one of the most important regional castles , along with Mark , Altena , Wetter and Blankenstein , which, however, impaired the development of Plettenberg into a town.
Takeover by the Dukes of Berg
In the course of a feud between Count Adolf II. Von Kleve and Duke Adolf von Berg , the castle fell to the then ally of the Duke von Berg, Eberhard von Limburg . After Count Adolf II had reached a reconciliation between the two in 1399, the pledge was released against a cash payment. The knight Wennemar Dücker advanced the required sum of money to Count Adolf and received the offices of Lüdenscheid Neustadt and Schwarzenberg as a pledge.
In connection with the inheritance disputes with his brother Gerhard , Duke Adolf von Kleve pledged the castle and the parish of Plettenberg for 1,600 guilders to Diderich van Hemmerde in 1422 , his brother Gerhard then to Duke Adolf von Berg in 1423. For 25 years the castle was now withdrawn from the Brandenburg power. In 1423, Duke Adolf von Jülich-Berg appointed his follower Wilhelm II von Nesselrode as bailiff and instructed him to feed "20 bread eaters" at Schwarzenberg Castle. The twenty-strong castle crew consisted of six guards and a gatekeeper, a porter, a cook and a waiter. The waiter was responsible for the accounting and administration of income from the district. Before Heinrich Ovelacker took over Schwarzenberg in 1425, the castle was briefly in the hands of Heinrich Wredes, who had construction work carried out on the defense and residential buildings. Hermann Ovelacker was followed by his sons, from whom Gerhard von der Mark was finally able to repurchase Schwarzenberg in 1444, in the lien ownership of the Brandenburg state castle.
A year later, the fortifications, together with Herscheid , Altena , Lüdenscheid , Neuenrade and Hörde, came to the Archbishop of Cologne, Dietrich von Moers (1414–1463), with the approval of Gerhard von der Mark the castles and offices of Schwarzenberg. After the Count von der Mark had succeeded in redeeming Schwarzenberg in 1447, the castle was pledged in 1450 for 1500 guilders to the Brandenburg bailiff Wilhelm von Nesselrode , who also appeared as pledger of the castle and office and the parish of Lüdenscheid. Six years later, in 1456, Count Gerhard and his nephew, Duke Johann I von Kleve-Mark († 1481), allowed Evert von der Mark, an illegitimate son of Gerhard, to redeem the castle and office for 1500 guilders from Wilhelm von Nesselrode. They transferred Schwarzenberg Castle to Evert for life on the condition that the property should not be sold under any circumstances.
Takeover by the von Plettenberg family
In 1513, Duke Johann II von Kleve-Mark (1521) pledged the castle for a loan of 2,600 gold guilders to Heidenreich von Plettenberg , with whose descendants it remained for 140 years. until Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg redeemed it again. In the 17th century the residential tower and castle chapel were only preserved as ruins.
In 1661, Christoph von Plettenberg succeeded in acquiring the neglected castle as a deployed Drost , as well as the associated lands, rights and income of the von Plettenberg family. Finally, the castle came to the Plettenberg-Bodelschwingh line, donated in 1788 by Karl Wilhelm Georg von Plettenberg and his wife Christine Luise von Bodelschwingh , who lived here until around 1830 and laid out the baroque garden in the former kennel area. From 1836 the buildings served as accommodation for the forester Ludwig Vetter from Lenhausen and later for his son.
After a lightning strike, the castle burned down completely on June 13, 1864, along with all the other residential buildings, so that most of the walls still standing had to be demolished due to the risk of collapse. The stone material obtained was used to rebuild the still preserved forester's house below the castle. Today the castle ruins are owned by descendants of the Bodelschwingh-Plettenbergs, the Inn- and Knyphausen zu Bodelschwingh family . It has been preserved in its current state since 1911.
investment
The castle initially only consisted of a keep with a side length of about 13 meters and, together with the fountain and the count's house, formed the first stage of expansion. The extension of the Roisthaus, smithy, bakery and the castle chapel followed. Presumably in the last construction phase in the 15th century, the inner castle was walled, so that the outer courtyard with the gardens was created. The castle fountain , which was uncovered by the Plettenberger Schützengesellschaft between 1981 and 1985, is 26 meters deep. The outside toilet visible on the east side of the former bakery is still recognizable today. The foundation walls of the Drostenhaus , a round staircase and the Elector's House have been preserved, as have the bakery and parts of the keep with the aforementioned fountain.
View to NE, Roisthaus on the left, gate in the middle, Drostenhaus on the right
View to SE, exterior view of Roisthaus
View to NE, watch tower, exterior view
View to SW, watch tower, interior view
View to NE, view to the main castle
Toilet facility in the outer masonry
View to NE, Drostenhaus basement
View to NE, basement round ascent
Fountain
View to W, door inside
View to S, Drostenhaus
literature
- G. Becker, H. Mieles: Bilstein, Land, Burg and Ort. 1975, OCLC 257040200 .
- J. Boerger: A Thousand Years of Fjord. 1946, OCLC 1073992278 .
- J. Brill: history of the parish of Elspe. 1948, DNB 572530277 .
- Jens Friedhoff : Schwarzenberg Castle . Castellum issue 2. Nümbrecht 2001, ISBN 3-931251-81-0 .
- Albert K. Hömberg : home chronicle of the district of Olpe. 1958, DNB 452051789 .
- Albert K. Hömberg: History of the Comitate. 1955, OCLC 634296198 .
- Albert K. Hömberg: Westphalian regional history. 1967, DNB 457008628 .
- Friedrich W. Schulte: The dispute over South Westphalia in the late Middle Ages: The Counts of the Mark / The Archbishops of Cologne. 1997, ISBN 3-922885-86-1 .
Individual evidence
- ^ FW Schulte: The dispute over South Westphalia in the late Middle Ages; The Counts of the Mark / The Archbishops of Cologne. 1997, p. 28.
- ↑ EB Regesten, p. 305, no. 3833
