Steyerberg Castle
| Steyerberg Castle | ||
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 Castle hill of Steyerberg Castle |
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| Creation time : | First mentioned in 1259 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 34 '21.5 " N , 9 ° 0' 44.9" E | |
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The castle Steyerberg is the Burgstall a medieval castle on the Knappenberg in Steyerberg in Lower Saxony . The castle, first mentioned in documents in 1259, was destroyed in 1519 during the Hildesheim collegiate feud .
Location and history
The castle was built as a hilltop castle on the southern slope of the Knappsberg, a steeply sloping protrusion of the Heisterberge. The Great Aue flows in the west below the elevation .
The castle was built by the Counts of Hoya to protect their territory against the Minden bishops . It was owned by the Minden bishops, which led to border disputes with the Counts of Hoya. After a negotiated solution could not be found, the Bishop of Minden allied himself with the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg in 1293 . As a result, both parties conquered Steyerberg Castle. In 1315 the Bishop of Minden pledged it to the Count of Hoya. As a result of financial difficulties, they pledged the castle to other nobles in 1416. During the Hildesheim collegiate feud , Steyerberg Castle was conquered and then demolished. Remnants of construction can no longer be found on site.
The Counts of Hoya built the Amtshof in Steyerberg from the stones of the castle in 1550. From 1549 to 1766 a line of the aristocratic Münchhausen family had its seat there as Drosten . In 1573 the well-known Feldobrist Hilmar von Münchhausen died here . Later, his sons were enfeoffed with Steyerberg, including Statius von Münchhausen .
According to Merian's Topographia Germaniae , Steyerberg Castle was built by the Counts of Hallermund or the Minden Bishop Ludolpho in 1304. The castle initially stood on the Steyerberg as the closest mountain and was later relocated to the lowlands by the Count of Hoya.
legend
Up to the castle there is a narrow gorge with steps, called the witch's staircase , about which there is a local legend. As a result, witches came to the Walpurgis Night (as on the Blocksberg in the Harz Mountains) on the Knappsberg. In order not to be discovered on the way there, the witches crept from the valley of the floodplain over the narrow gorge up the witch's stairs to the mountain top, where they lit a hidden fire. There they told each other their crimes with screeching and cheering, which in Steyerberg sometimes heard a strange hoot.
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann about Steyerberg Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Brief description of the place and castle Steyerberg
- The witch's staircase from Knappsberg at Heimatverein Steyerberg