Trausnitz Castle in the valley

Trausnitz Castle
Creation time :	before 1261
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Received or received substantial parts
Standing position :	Dukes
Place:	Trausnitz
Geographical location	49 ° 31 '13 " N , 12 ° 15' 53.5" E Coordinates: 49 ° 31 '13 " N , 12 ° 15' 53.5" E
Height:	448 m above sea level NN

The Trausnitz in the valley is a hilltop castle on a 448 m above sea level. NN high hill tongue above the Pfreimd on the southern outskirts of the municipality of Trausnitz in the district of Schwandorf in the Upper Palatinate . It is one of the most beautiful and best preserved castles in Bavaria .

history

The castle was built by the Lords of Walthurn - Ministeriale of the Counts of Ortenburg-Murach - probably in the middle of the 13th century. It was first mentioned in a document in 1261. Around 1280 it came into the possession of the Wittelsbach family .

Trausnitz Castle became famous through the 28-month imprisonment of Frederick the Fair of Austria after the battle of Mühldorf . From this battle between Ludwig the Bavarian and Friedrich on the Ampfinger Heide near Mühldorf on September 28, 1322, the Habsburgs emerged as the loser and was imprisoned at the castle. This fight was also the last great knight battle on German soil.

In 1305 the Wittelsbachers had given the facility to their victum Weichnand. Although he did not come from the nobility, he enjoyed the greatest favor with Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian, which was shown, among other things, in the fact that the emperor handed the prisoner Friedrich over to his care.

After the victum died without male descendants, the castle temporarily came into the joint ownership of the Zenger - who had to share it with the victum beforehand -, Punzinger and Wiltinger , until it was then passed on to the Zenger alone.

From the middle of the 16th century, individual von Sparnecker can also be identified at Trausnitz Castle. After it came to the Upper Palatinate in Trausnitz via the Erlbeck zu Trausnitz , after the destruction of its ancestral castles by the Swabian Confederation , the family flourished again until it died out in 1744.

In 1689, a fire caused great damage in the castle. In 1700 the new castle was built next to the castle. An inscription above the main gate of the castle, later the brewery, gave evidence of this.

After lengthy negotiations, on June 12, 1714 the Hofmark and the castle were acquired by the barons of Quentel, hereditary keepers of Schwandorf . By means of a purchase from the estate, the property came into the ownership of the von Hannakam family and their son-in-law Freiherr von Karg-Bebenburg in 1763.

In order to solve inheritance problems, the barons of Karg-Bebenburg sold the castle to King Ludwig I of Bavaria with a certificate dated September 2, 1830 . The Hofmarks buildings and other properties were sold individually.

In 1825 a large part of the southeast wing of the castle, which had been uninhabited since 1700, collapsed. In 1837 the royal government had the building, which was almost in ruins , restored.

Todays use

youth hostel

Trausnitz Castle is used as a youth hostel . A comprehensive renovation of the castle complex took place from 1993 to 1997.

Trausnitz Castle Festival

The Trausnitz Castle Festival, which was brought to life in Trausnitz in 1926 with the play Friedrich the Beautiful of Austria and Ludwig the Bavarian, was intended to commemorate the imprisonment of Frederick the Beautiful as the most important event in the community . This piece, written by the historically and literarily ambitious Munich teacher Fritz Hacker and staged at great expense, was performed again in 1927, but was then forgotten again.

The Burgfestspiele interest group was founded at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1992 the play was successfully re-performed. In 1997 the Castle Festival took place again, but this time with the new play Gefangen in Trausnitz , written by Peter Klewitz. Despite the great success, there was no further performance after that.

Building description

Today the castle appears as a small three-wing complex on a pentagonal floor plan. On the west side of the entrance it is secured by a moat , but has no curtain wall . Thus, the high outer walls of the residential buildings also form the Bering . The canyon-like inner courtyard is enclosed by the three towering wings of the building. At the northwest corner next to the gate, a square keep dominates the complex.

Picture gallery

Trausnitz Castle in the valley
Trausnitz Castle in the valley
Entrance area of the castle
Trausnitz district (2009)
Trausnitz (2009)
Trausnitz (2009)

literature

Johann Baptist Schütz: Chronicle of Trausnitz im Thal . Trausnitz 1890.
Elisabeth Müller-Luckner: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . Part of Old Bavaria, issue 50. Munich 1981.
Richard Hoffmann, Felix Mader: The art monuments of Upper Palatinate and Regensburg. District Office Nabburg ; (Art monuments of the Kingdom of Bavaria 2.18); R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1910 (reprint 1983), ISBN 3-486-50448-7 , pp. 118-126.
Hans-Günter Richardi : Castles in Bavaria. A romantic guide. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-7991-5731-X , pp. 88-90.
Hans-Günter Richardi, Alfred A. Haase: Castles, palaces and monasteries in Bavaria . Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1991, pp. 130f.

Special time periods:

Peter Braun: The gentlemen from Sparneck . Family tree, distribution, brief inventory . In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia 82 (2002); Pp. 71-106. (Sparnecker in Trausnitz 1558-1701, description of three grave monuments in the cemetery chapel)

Web links

Commons : Trausnitz Castle in the valley - collection of images, videos and audio files