Stolzenberg Castle

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Stolzenberg Castle
Bad Soden - Stolzenberg Castle 0482 3 4.jpg
Creation time : before 1252
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Bad Soden-Salmünster
Geographical location 50 ° 17 '27.5 "  N , 9 ° 22' 5"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 17 '27.5 "  N , 9 ° 22' 5"  E
Stolzenberg Castle (Hesse)
Stolzenberg Castle

The Burg Stolzenberg is the ruins of a hilltop castle on the same 277-meter high "Stolzenberg" on the southern edge of the Büdinger Forest , northeast of Bad Soden , a district of Bad Orb in eastern Hesse , Germany .

Stolzenberg Castle
Stolzenberg Castle
Stolzenberg Castle

history

middle Ages

The founding date of Stolzenberg Castle can no longer be deduced from written records. It is possible that the first fortification was made in the 11th / 12th centuries. Century erected. The favorable location makes this likely: The castle was located directly above an old long-distance trade route, the Via Regia , which is still reminiscent of the name "Mouse Gate" ( abraded for toll gate ) for a - meanwhile demolished - city gate at the foot of the castle hill. A protective function of the early weir system in relation to the brine springs in the Salztal is not guaranteed.

The Stolzenberg is mentioned by name for the first time in a document from King Wilhelm of Holland from the year 1252. In it the abbot of the Fulda monastery , Heinrich IV. Von Erthal, is granted permission, which shortly beforehand ( nostris diebus ) from "enemies of the church" ( inimicos ecclesie ) to rebuild the destroyed castle. The wording suggests that the castle fell victim to an attack by the banned , although its identity is controversial. The Counts of Rieneck would come into question , whose attempts to conquer property in the Kinzigtal are documented for the period between 1230 and 1250 and who were banned because of the attacks on the Schlüchtern monastery in 1243. But the Archbishop of Mainz , Gerhard von Dhaun, could also have been interested in the destruction of the castle: the Mainz property at Salmünster was in the immediate vicinity of the Stolzenberg, which could lead to long-term conflicts. In addition, after 1250, Gerhard also fell under the ecclesiastical ban due to his rule policy and loyalty to the Staufer party . The confirmation of the property rights by the king, which was quite unusual for this time, in any case indicates previously existing discrepancies. At the same time, it underlines the political alliance between the Fulda abbot and Wilhelm, who was decried as "Pfaffenkönig" (also for this reason).

Probably was after 1252 keep rebuilt and expanded the entire system in stone. It remains unclear whether the curtain wall was already extended in this phase and led around the suburbium (= outer bailey ) created at the foot of the castle hill . For this settlement, the Fulda abbot obtained city ​​rights from King Adolf von Nassau in 1296 . However, the place named Stolzenthal in the document finally took over the name of the incorporated salt boiler hamlet Sod (en) .

In 1299 a Hermann von Hutten appears as the "officiatus in Stolczenberg". It is an early representative of the later important noble family von Hutten , who as Vogt , probably on behalf of the Lords of Hanau , administered the castle feud.

In 1319 the castle chapel was (newly?) Consecrated. It was also visited by the residents of Stolzenthal, for whom, however, a separate church was built some time later on the slope, halfway between the castle and town - "for the sake of convenience", as stated in a letter from Pastor Martin Göbel from the year 1597 is called. In 1335 a vineyard was laid out around the chapel. This older building was replaced by the Church of St. Laurentius in 1896.

Modern times

In the period that followed, the Stolzenberg castle loan was the object of extensive swap and replacement campaigns, in the course of which the von Hutten family gradually became firmly established at the castle. Since the 15th century at the latest, the family tribe sitting here has had the suffix "zu Stolzenberg". However, the castle fell into disrepair - in 1512 part of the bower collapsed , and another building had to be completely rebuilt in 1519.

The involvement of Frowin von Hutten in the so-called " Knight's War " on the part of Franz von Sickingen also proved detrimental : Opposing troops under Philip of Hesse advanced on October 24, 1522 against Frowin's ancestral seat and shot Stolzenberg ready for storm on the same day. Despite some repair work in the following years, Lucas von Hutten finally moved his residence in 1536 to the new Huttenschloss , which was located down the valley and was probably built on the site of an older farmyard belonging to the castle.

As recently as 1597, however, the Hutts held Protestant services in the castle chapel - which aroused the displeasure of the Catholic priest Göbel, who reported on this incident. The last known resident of Stolzenberg was the burgrave Cord Gaull , whose children were born in the castle until 1609, according to the church book . Another son was born in 1611 in neighboring Eckardroth .

In a donation from 1734 there is only talk of a "dilapidated Stoltzenberg Castle". The buildings were largely demolished and the stones used for structures in the area. At the end of the 19th century, a dance house was built below the plateau that formed the castle courtyard, which also changed the shape of the castle hill. In 1970, the remains of the rising masonry were secured and the keep was expanded into a lookout tower , which has since been marketed as the landmark of the spa town of Bad Soden.

investment

The listed ruins of Stolzenberg Castle are freely accessible. It consists of a keep about twenty meters high that protects the attack side of the fortification. The former high entrance at a height of about ten meters, which could only be reached via a staircase, can still be seen, but the modern viewing platform can be reached via a level access and 88 steps. A larger piece of wall, which probably formed the substructure or the back wall of earlier buildings in the castle courtyard, is in front of the tower. The curtain wall once encompassed the entire castle plateau; its course is now only indicated by the surrounding double moat.

Today the keep also serves as a training tower for a professional climbing school for training industrial climbers and high-altitude rescuers.

literature

  • P. Cauer: Stolzenberg Castle and Soden Castle. Two of Huttensche castle seats in the middle Kinzigtal , In: Our home 19 (1927).
  • H. Hofmann: Stolzenberg. Chronograph of the pledge and residents . o. o. o. J.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 32 f.

Web links

Commons : Stolzenberg Castle  - Collection of images