Stein Castle (Hesse)

Stein Castle
Alternative name (s):	castro Lapide (1232), apud Lapidem (1284), zu dem Steine ​​(1326), Sloß zum Steyne (1363), Hus zum Steyn (1380), Veste Stein (1387), Zullenstein, Kellerei Stein, Schlossberg, Schlossbuckel
Creation time :	800 to 900
Castle type :	Niederungsburg, river castle
Conservation status:	Foundations
Standing position :	Clericals, counts
Place:	Biblis - Nordheim
Geographical location	49 ° 42 '13.3 "  N , 8 ° 23' 32.3"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 42 '13.3 "  N , 8 ° 23' 32.3"  E
Height:	93  m above sea level NN

Burg Stein , also known as Zullestein, Kellerei Stein, Schlossberg, Schlossbuckel , was a low-rise castle with an attached settlement near the village of Nordheim , Bergstrasse district in Hesse . A burgus has been found here since Roman times , the medieval castle was completely destroyed at the end of the 17th century and was forgotten. It was not until 1957 that the foundations were rediscovered during oil drilling work.

Construction of a fortress in Roman times

Reconstruction drawing and floor plan of the Roman Schiffslände-Burgus.

In the 2nd half of the 3rd century the Romans relocated the course of the Weschnitz by breaking through the dune hills near Lorsch and creating a canal west to the Rhine . After that, the stone blocks, weighing up to 30 tons, could be transported by damming the Weschnitz from Felsberg in the Odenwald ( granite ) or from Auerbach ( marble ) to the Roman forts as far as Trier . The basilica was built there between 328 and 337 . The quarry - and transit rights secured the Romans through a contract with the Alemanni king Macrian .

In the 4th century a late Roman multi-storey fortress (Burgus) or watchtower was built at the new mouth of the Weschnitz on an area of ​​21.3 × 15 meters and a landing stage 42 meters long. The time of construction is presumed under Emperor Valentinian I (364–375). 100 years after the Romans withdrew from the Limes to the left bank of the Rhine, the Schiffsländeburgus was built on the Germanic opposite bank, which was inhabited by Alemanni, to secure it. The place was called Zullestein, which is said to be derived from a Celtic river god.

A well-preserved Ländeburgus has also been found in Ladenburg (Roman Lopodunum ), about 30 kilometers further on the Neckar, from the same period of origin. There was a similar small fortress on the Schwarzbach near Trebur - Astheim .

The Zullestein settlement

On May 26, 836, King Ludwig II, the German , gave Count Werner (Werinher) his goods in Biblis, Wattenheim and the village of Zullestein. In 846, Count Werner donated the three named places to the Lorsch Monastery . This was followed by expansion as a port, trading center and settlement, as later ceramic finds could prove.

In 995 the castle was given the new name Stein by Otto III. the market right on the recommendation and request of Samuel von Worms . This transferred the rights of use to the Lorsch Monastery. The place was the seat and administration of the winery (tax collection).

The new Stein Castle

In 1068 stone came to the Worms bishops , who built a new castle. The residents were then liable to pay a fee to the St. Andreasstift . The Lorsch monastery had a farm in Worms where there were border disputes. In May 1160 a settlement came about, according to which the Worms citizen Werner had to pay an annual rent to the monastery. The document contains more than 46 witnesses, including the Worms bishop Konrad I and the Lorsch abbot Heinrich (r. 1151–1167). From 1232 a round donjon was built , as drawn by Matthäus Merian the Elder before it was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War .

The castle becomes Electoral Palatinate

In 1255 knight Jacob owned Burg Stein, who with Simon von Gundheim waged a great war against the citizens of Worms. 1363 was from the Wormser bishop Dietrich Bayer of Boppard , the winery of stone halfway to Count Walram of Sponheim added. In 1380 half of the winery belonged to the Electoral Palatinate . In 1385 Ruprecht I of the Palatinate established himself with a condominium share (joint rule) in the Stein winery. On January 8, 1387, the Steiner pledge began , after which half of the winery with its three districts of Lampertheim , Hofheim and Nordheim was pledged to the Electoral Palatinate.

On January 17, 1463, the governor and house commander of the Teutonic Order in Ibersheim sold his meadows on the right bank of the Rhine to ten citizens of Nordheim .

In his reign from 1450 to 1476, Frederick I, the victorious , set himself the goal of combating the robber knighthood of the lower nobility , which is common on the Rhine . This was necessary here because later between Stein Castle and Ibersheim Castle on the left bank of the Rhine , from a tower standing next to it, flag signals were exchanged over the treetops for communication so that the traders on the Rhine could then be attacked. Known for this was the Dutch nobleman Heinrich von Mauderich , the first Electoral Palatinate tenant of Ibersheim after the Thirty Years' War (from approx. 1651 to 1661), until afterwards Swiss settlers received a lease from the Electoral Palatinate court administration.

1504 conquered Landgraf Wilhelm II. Of Hesse , the castle stone due to the palatine-Bavarian feud when Emperor Maximilian I , the imperial ban on the son of the Count Palatine Philip the Sincere , Ruprecht imposed and Wilhelm II. With the enforcement of Eight commissioned. She then stayed with Hesse until 1517 . Since 1507 Thönges Wolff of Todenwarth Hessian cellar at the castle stone and 1510-1518 dortiger bailiff . In the period from 1550 to 1650, the Office of Starkenburg also built a ditch as a landwehr between Stein Castle and Bensheim .

The Stein winery during the Thirty Years War. Representation by Matthäus Merian: Topographia Palatinatus Rheni .

180 ° panorama of the castle complex

Stein Castle in the Thirty Years' War

On August 21, 1621 the Spaniards conquered Stein Castle under their new commander Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba , the successor of Spinola . They came with 2,000 mounted men, 4,000 foot soldiers and four guns. Before this overwhelming power, the crew of Frederick V , the Winter King, had to withdraw under Colonel Hans Michael Elias von Obentraut , known as the German Michel. - In 1612 Obentraut was captain of over 200 riders and in 1619, as colonel, commanded 500 riders from the Palatinate.

When the Swedes approached under Gustav II Adolf in 1631 , the Spanish troops of the Imperial Catholic League set Stein Castle on fire. Before that, Matthäus Merian was able to make his drawing with the fortress, the pontoon bridge over the Rhine and the two bridgeheads. In 1645 the engraving was published in the Topographia Palatinatus Rheni as Kellerei zum Stein .

The end of the castle

In 1657, Elector Carl Ludwig von der Pfalz and Archbishop Johann Philipp von Mainz decided to demolish the castle. At this time there was an illegal customs office with Heinrich von Mauderich at this point between Stein Castle and Ibersheim.

At the latest in 1688 and 1689 when the Palatinate was devastated , the more than 400-year-old round tower also disappeared. As a result of stone robbery, parts of the above-ground buildings came to Nordheim and Ibersheim (red sandstone blocks with the stonemason's mark M and W on the sheep chests).

On August 26, 1705, the Steiner pledge of January 8, 1387 ended by a contract between Prince-Bishop Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg and Elector Johann Wilhelm , after which the Worms Monastery received the Stein winery with Lampertheim from the Electoral Palatinate. Based in Lampertheim Office cellar of the high pin which places Lampertheim , Hofheim and Nordheim managed, called himself - to the castle - by the end of the 18th century officially "winery stone" .

In 1785, various Nordheim citizens bought land belonging to Stein Castle from the Episcopal Worms government. At that time the Steiner Gut was divided into 30 lots or numbers and stoned.

Because the Hessian Grand Duke absolutely wanted the land around the former castle, the citizens of Nordheim sold 10 acres and 195 fathoms for little money.

Rediscovery and scientific processing

On September 25, 1957, the Elwerath trade union , Hanover (later BEB, then Wintershall and today Exxon Mobil) began drilling the sixth drilling for crude oil in Wattenheim and stumbled upon the foundations of Stein Castle, which had previously been lost. The site is located approx. 500 m from today's bank of the Rhine south of the mouth of the Weschnitz. On March 12, 1958, the oil drilling in the Pechelbronn strata (lower Oligocene ) ended at a depth of 2,415 m.

On July 8, 1970, the excavations for the remains of the castle began by the state archaeologists, Darmstadt branch, under the direction of Werner Jorns at the "Schlossbuckel". This work dragged on until 1972 and was financially supported by the operators of the nearby Biblis nuclear power plant , RWE and Hochtief .

The scientific publication took place in 1974 by Friedrich Knöpp , archive director Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt . After 1980 it was handed over to the community of Biblis to maintain the archaeological site . In 1989 Werner Jorns published articles on the "Zullestein" in various writings. In 2001, Sven-Hinrich Siemers wrote a dissertation on the history of the castle.

In 2001 the oldest Salbuch , also called Pompernal, from the former Stein winery was discovered in the Worms city archive . In 2005, the Biblis community joined the Bergstrasse-Odenwald Geopark, which is responsible for maintaining the 30-year-old system. The Nordheim Home History Association (VfH) calls for maintenance measures to be taken at the excavation site, as otherwise there is a risk of decay.

Monument protection

Stein Castle and the monuments in the area are cultural monuments according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . All research, be it excavations , prospecting, digging, targeted collections of finds and changes to the inventory are subject to approval. Accidental finds are to be reported to the monument authorities.

literature

• Konrad Dahl: Historical-topographical-statistical description of the city and the office of Gernsheim ... , Darmstadt 1807, pp. 146–151.
• Dietwulf Baatz : Zullestein HP. Late Rom. Burgus. In: Dietwulf Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.): The Romans in Hessen. Licensed edition of the 3rd edition from 1989. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, pp. 504–506. ISBN 3-933203-58-9 .
• Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann : The Zullenstein at the mouth of the Weschnitz. Leaflet on the late Roman Burgus, the Carolingian royal court and the fortress Stein near Biblis-Nordheim, Bergstrasse district. Dept. Archaeolog. Preservation of monuments in the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-89822-082-6 , ( Archaeological Monuments in Hesse 82).
• Werner Jorns : The Stein Castle. Association of friends of antiquity in the administrative district of Darmstadt e. V., 1971.
• 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. 574.
• Jörg Lindenthal: Cultural Discoveries. Archaeological monuments in Hessen. Jenior, Kassel 2004, pp. 30-32. ISBN 3-934377-73-4
• Sven-Hinrich Siemers: From the Carolingian trading settlement Zullestein to the Stein fortress near Biblis-Nordheim, Bergstrasse district . Dissertation. Mainz 2001.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexander Heising : "Sensational find in the potato field" - small late Roman fortress and early medieval graves near Trebur-Astheim. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2003 pp. 119–123 and www.uni-frankfurt.de
2. ↑ Lorscher Codex , Certificate 26 , Reg. 3285
3. ↑ Lorscher Codex, Certificate 27 , Reg. 3327
4. ↑ Lorscher Codex, Certificate 84 , Reg. 3592
5. ↑ Lorscher Codex, Certificate 163 , Reg. 3646
6. ^ Johann Gottfried Gregorii (Melissantes): Newly opened scene, Frankfurth and Leipzig 1715, pp. 5-7
7. ↑ Obertraut on the website of the city of Stromberg ( memento of the original from September 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on August 3, 2015 
8. ↑ https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/terra-x/der-rhein-teil-1-102.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , there at the end of the film  
9. ^ Anton Friedrich Büsching : New Earth Description , 5th Edition, 3rd Part, Volume 1, p. 1145, Hamburg, 1771; (Digital scan)
10. ↑ Test report of the Funding Master Karl-Heinz Kreuschner, Biebesheim
11. ↑ http://www.worms.de/de/kultur/stadtgeschichte/wüsten-sie-es/liste/2012-12_Burg_Stein.php

Web links

• Stein Castle in the history of Nordheim
• History of Stein Castle and the Late Roman Burgus
• Zullenstein Castle, Bergstrasse district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).