Vetzberg Castle

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Vetzberg Castle
Vetzberg Castle

Vetzberg Castle

Alternative name (s): Vogtisberg
Creation time : around 1100 to 1150
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Count
Place: Vetzberg
Geographical location 50 ° 37 '13.4 "  N , 8 ° 37' 1.1"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '13.4 "  N , 8 ° 37' 1.1"  E
Height: 310  m above sea level NHN
Vetzberg Castle (Hesse)
Vetzberg Castle
The Vetzberg (center) between Dünsberg and Gleiberg Castle

The ruins of Vetzberg Castle are located in the village of Vetzberg , a district of the municipality of Biebertal in the Gießen district in Hesse , approx. 1.5 kilometers (as the crow flies) northwest of Gleiberg Castle .

Geographical location

The ruins of the summit castle are visible from afar on the extinct 310  m above sea level of the same name . NHN high volcano Vetzberg .

history

The upper castle of the hill fort with the keep was probably built in the first half of the 12th century. It was first mentioned in a document in 1150. In 1226 it was announced as Vogtisberg . This designation, from which the current name is derived, means that the castle was a second castle of the Counts of Gleiberg and was occupied by their bailiffs. From the middle of the 13th century, the facility was expanded with the construction of the lower castle.

The 1226 mentioned Conradus de Deyrenbach ( Konrad von Dernbach ) is considered the progenitor of significant particularly in the 14th and 15th centuries Dernbacher ganerbschaft , in addition to the Vetzburg the small moated castle ( Motte ) Alt-Dernbach belonged at Herbornseelbach. The individual branches of the family were sometimes called von Dernbach, sometimes von Vetzberg (Voitsperg), with and without surnames such as, called Rode, Graul, Krig, Holzappel, Ruchschade or Mul .

The branch of the family, which had to sell Alt-Dernbach to the Counts of Nassau after the Dernbach feud , built Neu-Dernbach Castle in Dernbach before 1350 , today the municipality of Bad Endbach , which was inhabited by von and zu Dernbach , see also Dernbach (noble family ) .

In the course of time, up to 34 heirs shared the Vetzberg estate through inheritance alone. Some of the Vetzberger Ganerbe made a name for themselves through their unbridled robber baronism, for which they used the Vetzburg as a base. The castle was therefore besieged and destroyed several times, the last time in 1463 by the city governor of Frankfurt. It was only when the " Eternal Peace of the Land " of 1495 put an end to this bustle that the last Vetzberg heirs left the castle, which had now become meaningless. The last remaining four gan heirs sold their rights and possessions to the princes of Nassau-Weilburg in 1765 . The strategically and militarily worthless castle gradually fell into disrepair.

description

Today only the 22.7 m high keep , the gable wall of the palace , parts of the circular walls and remains of the lower castle are preserved. In the keep there are three floors covered with domed vaults. The current access to the tower was built in 1935; the original high entrances were located at a height of 8.6 m and 12.8 m on the middle floor.

In 2000, the Vetzberg Association had a steel staircase installed between the palace and the keep , which leads to the high entrance on the north side of the tower and further to a small viewing platform that offers a good view of the village of Vetzberg. Since then, the tower has been accessible as a viewing tower and offers a small viewing balcony on the southeast side with a view towards Gießen and a viewing platform at a height of approx. 21.5 m, which can only be accessed via steep stairs by prior arrangement.

As of February 2016, the keep was secured with a net and lashing straps because some stones had come loose from the masonry. Access to the tower is temporarily not possible due to its upcoming renovation.

Since 1965, the Vetzberg Association, founded that year, and the municipality of Biebertal, which has owned the castle since 1970, have been trying to maintain the castle complex.

Visual arts

In the 1830s, the Hessian painter Carl Engel von der Rabenau produced a 33.4 × 23.5 cm watercolor over pencil The ruins of Vetzberg Castle near Gießen with bushes with a wall and a view of a town that has been in the possession of the historical since 1920 Museum Frankfurt am Main is located.

literature

  • Hans Heinrich Kaminsky : Vetzberg Castle and its knights in the 13th century. In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte , Volume 52, 2002, pp. 1–17.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hesse: 800 castles, castle ruins and castle sites . 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 294-295.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 50.

Web links

Commons : Burg Vetzberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  2. ↑ a b c Photo of the information board about the castle, on commons.wikimedia.org