Tannenberg Castle (Seeheim-Jugenheim)

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Tannenberg Castle
Tannenberg castle ruins

Tannenberg castle ruins

Alternative name (s): Seeheim Castle
Creation time : before 1230
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit castle
Conservation status: Building foundations with remains of walls and cellars, stump of the round keep, parts of the ring and Zwing wall
Standing position : Nobles
Place: Seeheim-Jugenheim - Jugenheim
Geographical location 49 ° 45 '23.2 "  N , 8 ° 39' 24.5"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 45 '23.2 "  N , 8 ° 39' 24.5"  E
Height: 335  m above sea level NHN
Tannenberg Castle (Hesse)
Tannenberg Castle

The Tannenberg castle is the ruins of a hilltop castle on 335  m above sea level. NHN east of Jugenheim in the municipality of Seeheim-Jugenheim in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district in Hesse .

The castle complex is located in the Geo-Naturpark Bergstrasse-Odenwald above Seeheim on a summit rising from the Stettbach valley, 339.5  m above sea level. NHN high Tannenberg, which is geographically part of the first chain of hills in the Odenwald .

history

The beginnings

The castle was built by Ulrich I von Münzenberg around 1230 on the basis of the Lorsch Monastery in order to secure his southern official area (Amt Tannenberg and Seeheim). This official area was on Bergstrasse in southern Hesse. From documents it can be seen that his father Kuno started building the castle as early as 1210. At that time he no longer called himself "von Münzenberg", but already "von Tannenberg". But it is also possible that the castle was built on an even older fortification at the beginning of the 12th century. It was first mentioned in a document in 1239 as Seeheim Castle . With the death of Ulrich II von Hagen-Münzenberg , the castle came to Philipp von Falkenstein 5/6 through the Munzenberg inheritance and then to his daughter Guda, who was married to Konrad VI for the second time. von Bickenbach was married. Reinhard I. von Hanau received the remaining sixth . The castle was the center of a small lordship. Due to the Munzenberg inheritance, it had become a Ganerbeburg , the parts of which had become more and more fragmented over time:

  • 1333
    • 2/12 Hartmud von Kronberg
    • 3/12 Klaus von Scharpenstein
    • 5/12 von Fleckenstein (legal successor of Gottfried von Bickenbach)
    • 2/12 gentlemen from Hanau
  • 1377
    • 1/24 Krig from Fetzberg
    • 1/24 von Kronberg family
    • 1/12 Lion of Steinfurt
    • 1/12 Johann von Frankenstein
    • 1/12 Johann and Heinrich von Thann
    • 1/12 Dieter II Chamberlain
    • 5/12 gifts from Erbach
    • 1/12 Eberhard von Katzenelnbogen
    • 1/12 Ulrich V. of Hanau

In 1382 a total of seventeen Ganerbe are named. The Ganerbe usually did not live in the castle. They were represented by their castle men.

The robber baron's castle

On August 29, 1379, 18 knights met at Tannenberg Castle , who concluded an extended truce and agreed to protect one another. Count Wilhelm II von Katzenelnbogen was one of these comrades-in-arms. He was a founding member of the Lion Association founded on October 13, 1379 . The Löwenbund also included Werner Kalb from Reinheim , who at that time was the administrator of Tannenberg Castle (and fiefdom owner of Nieder-Modau Castle ) and entered the history books as a robber baron , as well as Johann von Cronberg as the 19th colleague.

After violent feuds between the Kronbergers and the city of Frankfurt ( Kronberger Feud ), Hartmut the Younger moved from Kronberg with 30 helpers and servants to the Tannenburg at the end of the 14th century, of which he only owned 1/8. From then on, the castle became a dreaded seat of robber barons , from which raids and looting were carried out.

The destruction

Blidenstein

On March 15, 1398, the Rhenish electors united with the cities on the Rhine and in the Wetterau to renew the peace for ten years. Count Philipp von Nassau was appointed governor of the peace by King Wenzel . The alliance of Archbishop Johann von Mainz , Count Palatine Ruprecht III. , Bishop Raban von Speyer and the cities of Worms , Mainz , Friedberg and Gelnhausen had nothing to oppose Hartmut and his brother Johann. In June and July 1399 the castle was besieged. Heavy weapons, including five guns, were used to attack the castle, which was now occupied by 65 men. The largest Blidenstein thrown in Germany was found in the castle's kennel and weighs an estimated 286 kg. However, the crew was able to repel the first attacks because they already had handguns. The turning point only brought the heavy Frankfurt gun . The stone rifle weighing around 3500 kg was pulled with 20 horses . Around 40 balls, each 50 cm in diameter and weighing 170 kg, breached the castle. But only when the dungeon was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion, the crew gave up. The names of all prisoners have been handed down.

Tannenberg Castle was thus one of the first German castles whose destruction by firearms can be clearly seen in the archaeological finds. The remains of the castle were further destroyed by robbery graves , especially at the end of the 18th century. The castle was not rebuilt and later served as a quarry for the people of the surrounding areas.

Building description

The keep after 2017 renovation

Tannenberg Castle was a small oval hilltop castle with an open kennel and a cylindrical keep . The favorable location on the western edge of the Odenwald enabled lines of sight to the Rhine valley , the adjacent valleys and the nearest castles ( Starkenburg , Veste Otzberg ). The castle was surrounded by a Wall-grave system and the Palas on the vulnerable east side was by a strong defensive wall protected. In the 14th century, it was extended on the west and north side by a front castle complex with a wall and tower, in which residential, storage and stable buildings were verified. Another outer bailey on the east side remained unfinished. Access was secured by a drawbridge and two gates. The equipment of the castle was comparatively very comfortable. The findings make it clear that it was equipped with flat glass windows, elegant Gothic tiled stoves ("Tannenberg type" from Dieburg pottery) and ornate floor tiles, which were rare at the time . The water supply was ensured by an internal cistern with a perfect gravel filter system and by an external source. Well-shaped utensils such as drinking cups ("Tannenbergkrug") and ceramic cooking pots as well as very elaborately decorated horse bridles point to a - at least temporarily - knightly life . Today parts of the ring, kennel and outer castle walls, building foundations with wall and cellar remains and the stump of the cylindrical keep are still preserved. A model of the castle and interesting finds can be found in the Bergstrasse Museum in Seeheim-Jugenheim (open: Sunday 3pm to 5pm) .

For years, the Seeheim Home and Improvement Association has been working to expose and secure the castle walls and to keep the entire complex in a condition worth visiting. In the years 2015 to 2017, on the initiative of the association, the donjon was made accessible again through commitment and donations and was raised by an approx. 1 m high pinnacle wreath. Along the castle wall to the north of the keep, 21 steps lead to a small metal bridge and over this to the newly designed viewing platform , which was supplemented by a round metal grille in the middle of the keep. Since the elevation, this has been around six meters high. Visitors are offered an unobstructed view of the Rhine plain with a view of Frankfurt am Main in the north and Mannheim in the south.

Excavations of Tannenberg Castle

Tannenberg rifle: Oldest German handgun (before 1399), found in the cistern of the ruins of Tannenberg Castle

The excavations by Hefner and Wolf in 1849 and their subsequent exemplary publication are among the pioneering achievements of archaeological research. It is the earliest investigation into archeology from the Middle Ages . During excavation work, the bronze Tannenberg rifle , one of the oldest known handguns in the world, was found. It is now in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg.

Excavations in October 2002 in the courtyard by Norbert Wand and students from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as well as members of the Seeheim Home and Beautification Association and the Seeheim-Jugenheim Museum Association with the aim of uncovering the remains of the castle chapel had the following results:

  • The foundation walls of the chapel with the altar foundation and the adjoining room were exposed. All parts were supplemented up to the surface level with existing natural stones, so that the walls and altar foundation can now be seen in the lawn.
  • The building is rectangular and measures approx. 9 × 5 m in a northeast-southwest direction. The southern part of the building is the chapel of St. John the Baptist , the adjoining room is separated to the north by a thinner wall. Door elements were not found. The arrangement of the building parts in the castle model in the permanent exhibition "The medieval world of Tannenberg Castle and the region around Seeheim-Jugenheim" in the Bergstrasse Museum Seeheim-Jugenheim needs to be corrected (the model dates from the 1970s). There the northern part is shown as a chapel.
  • The excavations also showed that the chapel was arranged free-standing in the courtyard, i.e. not attached to the western wall, and was covered with red bricks ( monk and nun ). This is a very remarkable result and almost a unique selling point of Tannenberg Castle, because with castle constructions of this size and importance, Christian prayer rooms are almost never free-standing as a chapel in the very narrow courtyard, but mostly on the upper floor e.g. B. the entrance structure in the courtyard were arranged.
  • The excavations have not brought to light any finds specific to the chapel. This is not surprising, as this area of ​​the castle courtyard was built over with a wooden pavilion (with a view of the Seeheimer Rhine plain) in the 19th century, the concrete foundations of which were excavated and removed in 2002. The appearance of this pavilion is known from a sketch of the castle courtyard from the 19th century.
  • Deep excavations under the chapel down to the Odenwaldfels (approx. 1.5 to 2 m) uncovered sections that contain several layers of fire (4?). From this one can conclude that the Tannenberg was already built on (several times) before 1210. Conjectures go so far as to assign the first building to the Carolingian era. This is supported by the fact that, on the one hand, a wall in the castle courtyard was uncovered during the securing work of the Seeheim Home and Improvement Association from 1970, the construction and wall technology of which is much older than the other walls in the castle courtyard and, on the other hand, during work to uncover the southern Zwingermauer in 2009 an ornate iron bar was found (now restored in the museum mentioned above), which was made by the supervising archaeologist Dr. Astrid Schmitt was dated between the 7th and 9th centuries.
  • The excavation results were scientifically and in great detail recorded by the wall and students of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in numerous sketches, descriptions and measurement results. The finds were assigned three-dimensionally, labeled and packaged. Original sketches and finds have not been found since Wand's death.

Traffic and walking

Tannenberg Castle is located on the Burgensteig Bergstraße (HW73), a 120 km long main hiking trail of the Odenwaldklubs eV , which runs on the western edge of the Odenwald along the Bergstraße from Darmstadt-Eberstadt to Heidelberg . Coming from Frankenstein Castle in the north, it leads over the Langenberg and past the Lufthansa Seeheim conference hotel onto the historic Alten Burgweg am Tannenberg and over a replica drawbridge to the Tannenberg castle ruins. The next castle to the south is Heiligenberg Castle .

literature

  • Siegfried Rudolf Carl Theodor Enders et al .: Darmstadt-Dieburg district. ( Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany , cultural monuments in Hessen .) Vieweg, Braunschweig 1988, ISBN 3-528-06235-5 , p. 544.
  • Rainer Atzbach : The siege of Tannenberg Castle near Darmstadt in 1399. New results from old excavations. In: Find reports from Hessen 50, 2010, Wiesbaden 2012, pp. 707–728.
  • Thomas Biller: Castles and palaces in the Odenwald. A guide to history and architecture. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1711-2 , pp. 59–62.
  • Joseph von Hefner, Johann Wilhelm Wolf: Tannenberg Castle and its excavations , Frankfurt am Main 1850, 115 pages (Online: Digital Collection Darmstadt - University and State Library or: Google Books )
  • 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. 528f.
  • Alois Meixlsperger: Tannenberg castle and ruins then and now. Seeheim 1977.
  • Astrid Schmitt: Tannenberg Castle near Seeheim-Jugenheim / Lkr. Darmstadt-Dieburg. A late medieval Ganerbeburg in the light of the archaeological finds . Habelt, Bonn 2008, ISBN 978-3-7749-3549-5 , (University research on prehistoric archeology 151).
  • Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck and Johann Wilhelm Wolf: The Tannenberg Castle and its excavations . Frankfurt 1850. ( go books google.com)
  • Norbert Wand: The chapel of St. Johannes of Tannenberg Castle near Seeheim-Jugenheim. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2003 Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1912-5 , pp. 132-135.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  2. ↑ Information from Astrid Schmitt, p. 22.
  3. ↑ HStAM inventory Urk. 1 No. 1676  In: Archive Information System Hessen (Arcinsys Hessen), status: January 2007.
  4. ↑ Arthur Funk: On the history of the Schlossberg near Nieder Modau . Association for local history, Ober-Ramstadt 1985, according to Demandt (Reg. No. 1720) and Daniel Schneider: Complete Hoch-Gräflich-Erbachische Stamm-Tafel. In addition to their explanations and validations, or the history of the High Counts Erbach. From attached, true and for the most part never come out documents . Stock and Schilling, Frankfurt am Main 1736, documents for the third sentence, p. 590.
  5. ↑ Adolf Koch, Jakob Wille : Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214–1508 , Volume 1: 1214–1400 , Innsbruck 1894, No. 5950, 5970–5980, 5982–5983. On-line
  6. ↑ Michael Kirchschlager: The Blidenstein - from the "projectile" to the decorative element. In: Burgen und Schlösser , magazine for castle research and monument preservation , ed. from the European Castle Institute , 2017, issue 2, pages 107-120, on this page 111 with further reference to: Bernhard Rathgen: The gun in the Middle Ages. Source-critical investigations. VDI-Verlag, Berlin 1928, p. 49 (Reprint. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3-18-400721-9 )
  7. ↑ Lambert von Oberndorff: Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214-1508 , Volume 2: 1400-1410, Innsbruck 1912, No. 46-48. On-line
  8. ↑ Start - HVV Seeheim. Retrieved November 10, 2017 .
  9. ^ Echo Newspapers GmbH: Tannenberg Castle is kissed awake again . ( echo-online.de [accessed on November 10, 2017]).
  10. ^ Echo Newspapers GmbH: A castle gets its tower back . ( echo-online.de [accessed on November 10, 2017]).
  11. ↑ The results are in hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2003 , Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1912-5 . Pp. 132-135, summarized.
  12. ↑ Burgensteig Bergstraße and Blossom Path on diebergstrasse.de

Web links

Commons : Burg Tannenberg (Jugenheim)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files