Trifels Imperial Castle
| Trifels Imperial Castle | ||
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| Alternative name (s): | Trifels | |
| Creation time : | before 1081 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, rocky location | |
| Conservation status: | not partially restored true to the original | |
| Standing position : | Reichsburg | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 11 '47.7 " N , 7 ° 58' 42" E | |
| Height: | 494 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Trifels Castle is a rock castle in the southern Palatinate Forest ( Rhineland-Palatinate ) near the southern Palatinate town Annweiler . In the High Middle Ages it had the status of an imperial castle for two centuries, from 1113 to probably 1310 . It is a protected cultural asset under the Hague Convention .
geography
The Höhenburg Trifels stands on a triple-split red sandstone rock that is 145 m long, 40 m wide and 50 m high and forms the top of the 494 m high Sonnenberg. The name Trifels, which means "triple rock" , comes from this stone base . The Sonnenberg is a typical rock in Wasgau with a flattened top , which consists of the southern part of the Palatinate Forest and the eastern part of the Northern Vosges .
The Trifels and its two ruinous sister castles Anebos and Scharfenberg (also "Münz" ), which are located on two mountains immediately southeast of the Reichsburg, are the landmark of Annweiler, which extends a good 300 m below the Trifels in the Queich Valley. The area offers a number of other castles in a small area, of which the Madenburg, which is just under 4 km away , was closely related to Trifels.
A stream rises in each of the two valleys to the west and east of the three castles. The Bindersbach in the west is 1.4 km long and drains 2.3 km². The Trifelsbach in the east is 2.9 km long and drains 2.8 km². Both streams flow north and in Annweiler flow from the right into the Queich, a left tributary of the Rhine .
meaning
The Trifels plays a prominent role in the history of the noble families of Salier , Staufer , Wittelsbach and the Palatinate-Zweibrücken family , which represented a side line of the Wittelsbach family.
Replicas of the regalia of the Holy Roman Empire can be viewed on the Trifels, which has mostly not been rebuilt true to the original . The originals are in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna ; there they are exhibited in the treasury of the Hofburg . Mountain and castle are among the main tourist destinations in the Palatinate . With over 100,000 visitors per year, the Trifels is the second most frequented castle there after the Hambacher Schloss (200,000). The Trifels owes this position to its importance in the Middle Ages, especially during the Staufer period in the 12th and 13th centuries. At that time, the Reichsburg was the focus of historical events for a century and a half.
The greatest interest besides the imperial regalia still arouses the captivity of the English King Richard the Lionheart , which, however, has only been documented with certainty for a period of three weeks (from March 31 to April 19, 1193) with regard to the Trifle. The incident is not historically guaranteed in the Blondelsage .
According to another legend, which is similar to the more well-known Kyffhauser legend, an emperor is said to sleep in Trifels. According to the oldest version of the legend, it is about Frederick II , in more recent versions Friedrich Barbarossa and Charlemagne also take on this role. The versions of the saga, which appear different in terms of content, time and place, obviously all have their origin in the long prevailing popular belief in the return of an emperor of peace .
The historical significance of the Trifel was honored twice in the 1960s as part of the German Buildings from Twelve Centuries stamp series . A comparison of the images shows that the main tower was raised before the second stamp was designed.
Replicas of the imperial regalia on the Trifels
1965 postage stamp
1967 postage stamp
In his novel Die Burg der Könige ( The Castle of the Kings) , published in 2013 , Oliver Pötzsch takes up the former importance of the Trifel and lets the castle play a major role in the struggle for political supremacy in Europe during the Reformation and Peasant Wars.
investment
Modern Staufer column from 2008 in the outer bailey
Imperial Hall in the Palas
Hunchback cuboid and choir bay of the royal chapel
Figurative representations on the console stones of the chapel bay window
View into the castle chapel
Staufer era fountain tower with arch bridge (far right)
Well tower
Salier period cistern in the inner castle
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history
Timetable
| Ascent | |
|---|---|
| 1081 | First mentioned in a deed of gift |
| 1113 | Reichsburg |
| 1125 | Safekeeping of imperial regalia by Duke Friedrich of Swabia after the death of Emperor Heinrich V. |
| circa 1190 | Construction of the main tower |
| 1193 (-1194?) | Captivity of the English King Richard the Lionheart (→ report on the capture and legend about the liberation ) |
| 1194 | Starting point of the campaign of Emperor Heinrich VI. against the Normans and then the hoard of the captured Norman treasure |
| 1208 | Safekeeping of the imperial regalia by the Speyer Bishop Konrad III. von Scharfenberg , who was also chancellor of the empire, after the murder of King Philip of Swabia |
| 1219 | Award of city status on the settlement Annweiler with presentation of the RIGHT TO MINT COINAGE favor of Trifels |
| circa 1230 | Second construction phase of the palace , construction of the fountain tower and start of construction of the curtain wall |
| 1241 | Trifels is one of the crown's most profitable holdings in terms of taxation |
| 1246-98 | Safekeeping of imperial regalia |
| Decline | |
| from 1310 | The Reichsburg is pledged to changing territorial lords |
| from 1400 | Increasing loss of importance |
| 1410 | Transfer to the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken |
| 1602 | Destruction by lightning strike; Abandonment and gradual decline of the castle due to its use as a "quarry" in the 18th century |
| reconstruction | |
| 1841 | Beginning of the reconstruction by the Kingdom of Bavaria |
| 1866 | Foundation of the Trifelsverein |
| 1935 | Excavation in front of the main tower |
| 1937 | Order of the Bavarian Prime Minister Ludwig Siebert : expansion of the castle into a "national consecration place" |
| from 1938 | Several years of new construction work on the Palas |
| 1954/55 | Construction of the first castellan's house and extension of the curtain walls |
| 1960 | Construction of the second castellan's house |
| 1964-66 | Elevation of the main tower |
| 1973/74 | Collapse and rebuilding of the northern curtain wall |
Beginnings
The castle probably dates from the 11th century and was first mentioned in 1081. At that time it was owned by a noble named Diemar , who was on the side of the imperial opponents in the investiture dispute . Later he retired to Hirsau Monastery and transferred the Trifels to the anti-king Hermann von Salm . Diemar came from the noble family of the Reginbodonen , in whose hands the county in the Baden Ufgau was among others . Diemar is said to have come into possession of the Trifels and the nearby Madenburg through his marriage to a sister of the Speyer bishop Johann von Kraichgau from the Zeisolf-Wolframe house . According to the Speyer Annals, Johann's mother was a sister of Emperor Heinrich IV , so Diemar's wife was a niece of the Emperor.
Reichsburg
In 1112 there was a dispute between Emperor Heinrich V and his former friend and chancellor, Archbishop of Mainz , Adalbert von Saarbrücken , over the possession of Trifels and Madenburg. Apparently Adalbert championed inheritance interests of his family, because his brother Friedrich was married to a granddaughter of Diemars von Trifels and daughter of the reginbodonian count Dietmar von Selbold-Gelnhausen . In 1113 Adalbert had to hand over the Trifels to the Emperor and was imprisoned by him until 1115, some of which he spent on the Trifels.
The most prominent prisoner at Trifels Castle, however, was King Richard I of England, known as Richard the Lionheart , who was captured in 1192 on his way home from the Third Crusade in Erdberg near Vienna and in 1193 to Emperor Heinrich VI. was delivered. The prisoner was released after almost two years, of which he spent at least three weeks, but possibly almost a year, on the Trifels for a horrific ransom on February 4, 1194. In the Blondelsage the shame was later reinterpreted as a glorious liberation of the king.
Another important prisoner was the Archbishop of Cologne , Bruno von Sayn , who was held in 1206 by King Philip of Swabia, initially on the Trifels, and later in the Alt-Ems Castle in Vorarlberg .
It is questionable whether princely prisoners actually had to spend their imprisonment on the Trifels in the dungeon carved out of the rock . Rather, it can be assumed that the imprisonment was more like an internment and that the prisoners lacked nothing, apart from the free choice of whereabouts.
In the period between 1125 and 1298, the imperial regalia (also known as "imperial insignia"), i.e. crown , imperial orb and scepter , were kept in the castle, possibly in the castle chapel. This usually happened when the throne was vacant until a new ruler was elected. At this time, the Cistercian monks of the nearby Eusserthal Abbey played a prominent role as guardians of the imperial regalia , and they also performed services on the Trifels.
Decline
Towards the end of the Staufer dynasty in the 13th century, the Trifels lost its importance. From 1410 he belonged to the Wittelsbach Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken , created by inheritance . In 1602 the castle was largely destroyed by a fire after a lightning strike . During the first half of the Thirty Years War , the castle ruins served as a place of refuge until it was finally abandoned in 1635 after the outbreak of the plague . The castle chapel was apparently still usable later, because in 1786 Baron Joseph von Laßberg received the knighthood there from his uncle. The site was later misused as a quarry , which means that the people of the area used the stones from the castle to build houses.
Redevelopment
In 1841 the Kingdom of Bavaria , to which the Palatinate had belonged since 1816, initiated the first renovation measures. In 1866 the Trifelsverein was founded, which from then on prevented further stone theft.
The rulers during the Nazi era (1933–1945) also took a liking to the Trifels and rebuilt it from 1938 onwards. Since little was known about the medieval state of construction of the castle despite a previous excavation campaign, the palace was designed according to plans by Rudolf Esterer in the style of southern Italian castles of the Staufer period according to the concept of the so-called “creative monument preservation” as a newly created “national consecration place”. The National Socialists were not interested in a reconstruction that was as realistic as possible, but a glorification of German history and their own legitimacy. The largely free new creation was intended to express the “bond between the Third and the First Reich” through the combination of traditional and modern stylistic elements. The large “Imperial Hall”, which extends over two floors and is located in this form on the medieval trifels never existed.
Towards the end of the Second World War , work was stopped for a good ten years. The final renovation of the castle dragged on from 1954 to the 1970s. It was delayed again and again due to further deterioration of the building fabric and a lack of money. In 1966 the main tower was raised with a new upper floor to a total of 32 m in height and since then it can be climbed as a viewing tower via two separate inner staircases .
On October 4th, 2008 a Staufer stele was inaugurated in the outer bailey .
Sport climbing
Sports climbers use the rock below the castle for their leisure activities.
literature
- Marco Bollheimer: Rock castles in the Wasgau – Northern Vosges castle paradise . 3. Edition. Self-published, Karlsruhe 2011, ISBN 978-3-9814506-0-6 , p. 42-45 .
- Benjamin Burkhardt: The Trifels and the National Socialist Culture of Remembrance: Architecture as a Medium of Collective Memory . In: Astrid Erl, Ansgar Nünning (ed.): Media of collective memory. Historicity - constructiveness - cultural specificity . de Gruyter, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-11-018008-4 .
- Susanne Fleischner: Creative preservation of monuments . Cultural ideology of National Socialism and positions of monument preservation. Lit Verlag, Münster 1999, ISBN 3-8258-4123-5 (including on the reconstruction of Trifels Castle from 1938).
- Wolfgang Hartmann: From the Main to Trifels Castle - from Hirsau Monastery to Naumburg Cathedral . On the traces of the Franconian noble family of the Reginbodonen in the Middle Ages. In: Publications of the History and Art Association Aschaffenburg e. V . No. 52 . Pattloch Verlag, Aschaffenburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-87965-098-9 .
- Bernhard Meyer: Trifels Castle (= Small Art Guide, Germany - Rhineland-Palatinate - Palatinate ). 4th edition. Schnell and Steiner Verlag, Regensburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7954-6397-7 .
- Bernhard Meyer (Author): Trifels Castle . The medieval building history. Ed .: Jürgen Keddigkeit , Roland Paul , Jens Stöcker and Alexander Thon (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate . Palatinate Castle Lexicon . Special volume 1). Institute for Palatinate Culture and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2001, ISBN 978-3-927754-50-8 .
- Oliver Pötzsch : The Castle of the Kings . Paul List Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 3-471-35083-7 .
- Helmut Seebach: The German imperial treasure at Trifels Castle . Bachstelz Verlag, Annweiler 2000, ISBN 3-924115-22-2 .
- Helmut Seebach: The Trifels - a German castle . Bachstelz Verlag, Annweiler 2001, ISBN 3-924115-23-0 .
- Helmut Seebach: Small history of the Trifels and the city of Annweiler . G. Braun Buchverlag, Karlsruhe 2009, ISBN 978-3-7650-8538-3 .
- Henning N. Schlaaff: Oratio De Celeberrimo Quondam Nobilissimoque Imperii Castro Trifels . Habita Et Recitata AD XII Cal.Octobr. On. MDCCXXV, Cum Sollemnis Gymnasii Bipontini Perageretur Lustratio. Zweibrücken 1726. Digitized (MDZ) , translation .
- Günter Stein (Author): Trifels and Hohkönigsburg . Quotes and thoughts on the reconstruction of two castle ruins. Festschrift for Günther Haselier. Ed .: Alfons Schäfer. Oberrheinische Studien, Vol. 3. G. Braun Buchverlag, 1975, ISBN 3-7650-0913-X , ISSN 0930-522X , p. 373-404 .
- Alexander Thon: "... the light falls through a round opening in the vault, over which green shrubbery swayed down, moved by the wind" . Joseph von Laßberg (1770–1855) and the alleged double chapel at Trifels Castle. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit, Jens Stöcker, Alexander Thon (eds.): Vestigiis Historiae Palatinae . Festschrift for Karl Scherer (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate . No. 20 ). Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2000, ISBN 978-3-927754-49-2 , p. 123-134 .
- Alexander Thon (Author): Die Reichkleinodien . Once at Trifels Castle - symbols of power, relics and coronation robes. Ed .: Karl-Heinz Rothenberger (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate . Volume 1 ). 2nd, improved edition. Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2002, ISBN 3-927754-43-9 , p. 220-231 .
- Alexander Thon: From the Middle Rhine to the Palatinate . On the prehistory of the transfer of the imperial insignia from Hammerstein Castle to Trifels Castle in 1125. In: Yearbook for West German State History . No. 32 , 2006, pp. 35-74 .
- Alexander Thon (Ed.): "... like a banned, inaccessible magic castle" . Castles in the southern Palatinate. 2nd, improved edition. Schnell and Steiner Verlag, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1570-5 , p. 146-151 .
- Reinhard Zimmermann: The Trifels, the Reich and Richard the Lionheart . Edition Lioncel, Trier 2010, ISBN 978-3-942164-01-6 .
Web links
- Live images from the Trifels with the current weather conditions
- Information on the book Vom Main zur Burg Trifels
- Panorama: View from Trifels over Annweiler and the surrounding area
- Reichsburg Trifels at the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate
References and comments
- ^ Emblem of the Hague Convention at the entrance to the castle.
- ↑ GeoExplorer of the Rhineland-Palatinate Water Management Authority ( information )
- ↑ Restored and at the same time expanded / stocked up a little in the years 1882–83
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Hartmann: From the Main to Trifels Castle - from Hirsau Monastery to Naumburg Cathedral . On the traces of the Franconian noble family of the Reginbodonen in the Middle Ages. Aschaffenburg History and Art Association, Aschaffenburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-87965-098-9 .
- ^ Magnus Backes: State castles, palaces and antiquities in Rhineland-Palatinate . Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2003, ISBN 3-7954-1566-7 , pp. 194 .
- ↑ Helmut Seebach: The German imperial treasure at Trifels Castle . 2000.
- ↑ Alexander Thon: Die Reichkleinodien . Once at Trifels Castle - symbols of power, relics and coronation robes. 2002.
- ↑ a b Susanne Fleischner: Creative monument preservation . Cultural ideology of National Socialism and positions of monument preservation. 1999, p. 66 .
- ↑ Die Trifels , section Main Tower on the website of the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate.
- ↑ Trifels 2008 on stauferstelen.net. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
- ↑ Peter Koblank: Whoever has the Trifels has the empire. The Staufer stele on the former Reichsburg in Rhineland-Palatinate. Retrieved December 13, 2013 .