Wölfersheim Castle

Wölfersheim Castle
	The castle's round keep was used as a church tower
Alternative name (s):	Wölfersheim Castle
Creation time :	probably end of 14th / beginning of 15th century
Castle type :	Spornburg, city castle
Conservation status:	Bergfried as part of the ev.-ref. Wölfersheim Church , remains of the foundation wall and cellar
Standing position :	High nobility
Construction:	stone
Place:	Wolfersheim
Geographical location	50 ° 24 '3.4 " N , 8 ° 48' 47.2" E Coordinates: 50 ° 24 '3.4 " N , 8 ° 48' 47.2" E
Height:	167 m above sea level NN

The castle Wölfersheim some cases, lock Wölfersheim called, was a medieval castle town in the municipality of Wölfersheim in Wetteraukreis in Hessen ( Germany ).

location

The spur castle was at 167 m above sea level. NN for example at the location of today's Evangelical Reformed Church in Wölfersheim , one of the largest baroque hall churches in Germany. This was built using the keep and stones from the already ruined castle in the years 1717 to 1740 on its foundation walls. The castle was located between today's Kirchgasse and Wingertstraße on the northern edge of the medieval town on a mountain spur .

history

" The lands of the prince. and gräfl. Solms house
1) Wölfersheim , a town whose old castle has been transformed into a
handsome church "

- Anton Friedrich Büsching : New Earth Description: Seventh Part, which contains the Westphalian, Chur-Rhenish and Upper-Rhenish districts of the German Empire , Schaffhausen 1770, p. 1167

The initial history of the castle is still in the dark today. Wölfersheim, first mentioned in 1141, belonged to the münzenbergisch - falkenstein rule (documented in 1331 at the latest), came to the House of Solms around 1419 , was administered by both in the division of 1423 into two Solm lines and in 1436 when the line Solms-Braunfels was again divided awarded. By then, at the latest, the castle had also come into such hands. The castle was officially mentioned in a Solmser Regest from January 22nd, 1436 as Wölfersheim (Wolüerßh-) with the castle . The decay probably began as early as the 15th century.

Floor plan of today's church with castle ruins:
1 church tower using the round keep , 2 sacristy , 3 pulpit and Last Supper table (pulpit wall), 4 central portals, 5 side portals, 6 stairways to the gallery

description

The spur castle was a city castle with the keep as one of the defense towers on the old fortification . The castle occupied the western part of today's church cellar. From there, two underground battlements run under the city wall, the entrances to which were walled up in the 1960s. Under the church cellar there is a concrete well that safely supplied the castle with water. When and by whom the castle complex was built and why it fell apart is not known. A ditch or the remains of a shield wall are no longer there today.

Todays use

The castle had become completely dilapidated towards the end of the 17th century, certainly also due to the confusion of the Thirty Years' War . On and off its remains and using the round keep, the defense tower was incorporated as a bell tower in the new church and received a new staggered tower dome . The east side of the church also consists of the remains of the previous castle . Remnants of the castle's cellars are still under the church. The text of the inscription in today's central portal of the church reads:

The inscription above the portal	“ VNTER DER REGIERVNG V. WITH HÜHFFE DES HOCHG. CVHH WILHELM MORITZEN Graffen TO SOLMS B. etc: IS THIS CHURCH ON DERO CASTLE PLACE ASSEMBLE BEGUN vnter THE GOVERNMENT V. ON gracious ARRANGEMENT OF HOCHGEBOHRNEN Graffen V. MR FRIEDRICH WILHELM GRAF ZSBGHTC. BY DONATION OF THE HJWV PAPPENHEIM a 6000 F. AS WERE EXPANDED AT THE COST OF THE COMMUNITY IN 1740 "	East side of the transverse hall with tower. The older corner cuboids can be clearly seen, which can probably be assigned to the remains of the castle

literature

Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 2nd Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1995, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 344-345.
Eugen Rieß: 250 Years of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Wölfersheim, Festschrift on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of its inauguration on May 22, 1991 , May 1991, pp. 9–12

Web links

Wölfersheim Castle, Wetterau district. Historical local lexicon for Hesse (as of January 28, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on October 1, 2014 .
Kathrin Ellwardt (Marburg): The evang.-ref. Church in Wölfersheim - A short guide , March 1994

Individual evidence

^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Evang. Parish church Wölfersheim, Kirchgasse 15 In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen
^ Georg Landau : Description of the Wettereiba district , self-published, Kassel 1855, p. 13
↑ While the current district of Södel fell on the Solms-Lich line .
↑ Knappe, p. 344
^ HStAD: Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt : Best. X 2 No. 10 , from Fürstlich Solmsisches Archiv Laubach, A LXI Originalia, No. II / 11a, recorded in: Battenberg, Solmser Urkunden, Vol. 1, No. 1033, p. 350

[1] State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Evang. Parish church Wölfersheim, Kirchgasse 15 In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hessen

[2] Georg Landau : Description of the Wettereiba district , self-published, Kassel 1855, p. 13

[3] While the current district of Södel fell on the Solms-Lich line .

[4] Knappe, p. 344

[5] HStAD: Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt : Best. X 2 No. 10 , from Fürstlich Solmsisches Archiv Laubach, A LXI Originalia, No. II / 11a, recorded in: Battenberg, Solmser Urkunden, Vol. 1, No. 1033, p. 350