Tanstein Castle

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Tanstein Castle
The Dahner Burgengruppe

The Dahner Burgengruppe

Creation time : between 1100 and 1127
Castle type : Höhenburg, rocky location
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Dahn
Geographical location 49 ° 9 '1 "  N , 7 ° 48' 9"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 9 '1 "  N , 7 ° 48' 9"  E

The Tanstein Castle is the ruin of a rock castle in the southern Palatinate Forest , the German part of the Wasgau , near the Rhineland-Palatinate town of Dahn .

Geographical location

The castle is located about 1 km east of Dahn and belongs to the Dahner Burgengruppe , which also includes the Altdahn and Grafendahn castles . The three castles were not built at the same time, but right next to each other on a ridge.

In the very north-east of the Schlossberg ridge, at an altitude of 316 m, lies the Löchelfelsen natural monument.

investment

Tanstein Castle extends on the two westernmost castle rocks of the Dahner Burgengruppe. Both rocks were previously connected by a bridge. On the rocks there are modern parapet walls, which were set rather arbitrarily and do not give any impression of the former castle buildings. The Westfelsen was apparently built on with residential tower-like buildings that leaned against the rock. Testimony to this are beam holes and work-offs on the rock as well as a large cistern in which water from the roofs was collected.

The lower castle to the south still has original masonry from the 15th century. The remains of a blacksmith's building and a melting furnace were found there.

  • View from Tanstein over Grafendahn to Altdahn

  • View from the south, location Unterburg

  • Cistern in the western castle rock

  • Lower castle on the west rock

history

Tanstein is the oldest of the group's three castles. A deed from 1127 names an Anshelmus de Tannicka as owner or administrator; therefore the beginning of the 12th century is assumed to be the time the castle was built. In 1189 a document from Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa mentions Heinrich von der Than and describes the castle as an immediate imperial fief. In the period that followed, Ulrich von Dahn and Konrad von Dahn were named as Reich Ministerials. Since 1328 the castle has been a fief of the bishops of Speyer . Up until 1464 there were frequent changes of ownership, so that it can be assumed that the fiefdom was repeatedly granted anew, i.e. was not hereditary at this stage.

In 1512 Friedrich von Dahn bought the castle. Because he was an ally of the knight Franz von Sickingen , he was involved in his battles with southwest German imperial princes. After Sickingen's defeat and death in 1523, Tanstein also fell into the hands of the victors. The occupation by troops of the Archbishop of Trier lasted until 1544 and probably led to irreparable damage to the structure, as the castle was finally abandoned in 1585. In 1689, during the War of the Palatinate Succession , the French completely destroyed the ruins.

literature

  • Stefan Grathoff: The Dahner castles. Alt-Dahn - Grafendahn - Tanstein (=  Edition Castles, Palaces, Antiquities Rhineland-Palatinate . Guide booklet 21). Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2003, ISBN 3-7954-1461-X .
  • Walter Herrmann: On red rock . A guide to the most beautiful castles in the Palatinate and Alsatian Wasgau. DRW-Verlag Weinbrenner, Braun, Karlsruhe 2004, ISBN 3-7650-8286-4 .
  • Elena Rey: Castle Guide Palatinate . Superior, Kaiserslautern 2003, ISBN 3-936216-15-0 .
  • Günter Stein : Castles and palaces in the Palatinate . A manual. Weidlich, Frankfurt 1976, ISBN 3-8035-8356-X .
  • Alexander Thon, Peter Pohlit: Grafendahn . In: Jürgen Keddigkeit (Ed.): Palatinate Burgenlexikon (=  contributions to the Palatinate history ). tape 12/2 . Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2002, ISBN 3-927754-48-X , p. 213-223 .
  • Alexander Thon (Ed.): ... like a banned, inaccessible magic castle . Castles in the southern Palatinate. 2nd, improved edition. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1570-5 , p. 18-25 .

Web links

Commons : Dahner Burgengruppe  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ In the center of the picture the base of a kiln, behind it on the left the foundation of an iron ore smelting furnace.