Wachenbuchen Castle

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Wachenbuchen Castle
View of the castle grounds from the southeast. The largest part of the complex is now covered by a bird protection wood.

View of the castle grounds from the southeast. The largest part of the complex is now covered by a bird protection wood.

Alternative name (s): Buchen, castle of the beeches
Creation time : 11th century
Castle type : Niederungsburg, moth
Conservation status: Two castle mounds and moats in the area
Standing position : Ministeriale
Construction: Wood-earth plant
Place: Maintal - Wachenbuchen
Geographical location 50 ° 9 '47.7 "  N , 8 ° 52' 6.6"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 9 '47.7 "  N , 8 ° 52' 6.6"  E
Height: 108  m above sea level NHN
Wachenbuchen Castle (Hesse)
Wachenbuchen Castle

The former castle Wachenbuchen (also former castle of those von Buchen ) was a medieval tower hill castle (Motte) in Wachenbuchen , a district of Maintal in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis in Hesse . Their assignment to a gender is controversial.

location

The remains of the facility are located about 600 meters southeast of the outskirts of Wachenbuchen at 108 meters above sea ​​level in a damp meadow (field names " An der Burg " and " Krumme Hainwiese "), about 200 to 300 meters from the edge of the forest. The largest part is now covered by a field wood island , which offers protection both to the ground monument and to various animal species.

The Roman road from Hanau to Friedberg passes the castle ruins 200 meters to the east . If you follow the forest path known today as “Simmetsweg” for half a kilometer in the direction of Hanau, you come to a Roman burial hill grave from the 2nd century AD (at the natural monument oak ), which belonged to an estate behind it.

history

There is no contemporary documentary mention of the complex. Its historical context emerges from the first mention of the nearby villages of Wachenbuchen, Mittelbuchen and Lützelbuchen, which became desolate in the late Middle Ages, on June 1, 798 as marca bucha in a deed of donation to Lorsch Abbey .

Since 1122 several comites (= "counts") appear in documents of the Archbishop of Mainz , which call themselves "von Buchen" after this place. The brothers Dammo and Siegebodo von Buchen are mentioned several times as witnesses in various documents. Since 1143 Dammo has changed its name (place of origin) and signed as Dammo von Hagenowe ( Hanau ), as did his son Arnold, who appeared in 21 documents from 1144 onwards. With the founding of Hanau Castle , a change of rulership seems to be connected. If the allocation of the noble family von Buchen to today's castle of the castle ruins called von Buchen is correct, it represents the origin of the later Hanau rule. The later office of Büchertal , core area of ​​the Hanau rule, is likely to be largely identical to the domain of this family.

In 1175 a dammo (the younger one) from Hanau is mentioned last. Since 1166/8 a different sex, the von Dorfelden family, followed in the rule, initially named after the neighboring castle Dorfelden , and since 1191 after the castle Hanau.

The castle in Wachenbuchen was subsequently to Burgmannen from the gentry to fief given, which are mentioned in several documents since 1,222th These in turn are called von Buchen , beginning with Marquard von Buchen . The fiefdom was subsequently dismembered through the division of inheritance. An expansion of the castle complex (further outer bailey in the southwest) may be related to this development. But it lost its military importance in the 13th century. The knights and servants, who continued to call themselves von Buchen , lived more as landowners than as soldiers and, accordingly, could hardly have stayed at the castle.

The latest evidence of its use is the discovery of several ceramic shards from the 14th century, after which it was likely to have fallen into disrepair and served the neighboring towns as a quarry.

Former castle of those von Buchen, site plan

exploration

The assignment of the noble families to the castle of the castle called by Buchen at Wachenbuchen has not been proven with absolute certainty. It is an agreement of historical scholarship since the middle of the 19th century to call it the former castle of the von Buchen . It has had this name on official maps of the Grand Duchy and Electorate of Hesse since 1856. In Wachenbuchen there is no other castle, in Mittelbuchen the so-called Altenburg near Kinzigheimer Hof , which is geographically too far away.

Very few archaeological investigations have been carried out on the object. An excavation by the Hanau History Association in the 1920s or 1930s remained largely unpublished. 1993–1994 the State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen undertook a topographical recording and analysis of aerial photographs . This made it possible to precisely determine the course of the moat and it was recognized that the castle apparently has a more recent construction phase with another outer bailey.

investment

The castle of those von Buchen is a classic example of a moth , a frequently encountered low castle of the 11th and 12th centuries. A contemporary representation of such a system can be found on the Bayeux Tapestry . These castles were initially only built from ramparts, moats and wooden palisades , some of which were later built in stone. The excavation from the trenches was used for the ramparts and a central tower mound.

Regional examples of this can be found in Oberursel ( Bommersheim Castle ) or Bickenbach ( Weilerhügel ), in the latter case the tower hill is still 11 m high. The castle in Hanau, founded by the presumed lord of the castle, initially had a similar floor plan, but was expanded and rebuilt several times in the 700 years of its existence.

Former castle of those von Buchen, site plan in the more recent construction phase with another outer bailey in the southwest

Residential tower hill

The stump of the tower hill in the south, which rises 2 meters (2.60 meters opposite the ditch) over the leveled hill area, is particularly visible from the complex. It should have been much larger and higher and with an approximately rectangular area of ​​40 × 50 m with an assumed height of 5 meters at the top, it still offered 20 by 28 meters of space. That is far more than is necessary for a simple residential tower, which would be assumed at this point.

This tower on a raised mound of earth formed the core area of ​​such a castle and served at the same time as a dwelling and a central defense tower . Today the top of the remainder measures 6 by 10 meters. It is partially covered by wood and is otherwise largely eroded.

Outer bailey

NNW of the tower hill was the rectangular-round outer bailey , the hill of which is visible in the woodland island. This is only one meter high and measures 40 by 60 meters. The farm buildings of the castle complex are likely to have been located here. Trenches and cuts dug there provided little information about any buildings. Some stone finds suggest that the buildings may have been built in stone at a later date. The hill of the outer bailey is today extremely disheveled by improper excavations, so that there are hardly any prospects of new results from archaeological investigations.

Moat

There was a 10 meter wide moat between the outer bailey and the tower hill, which completely enclosed both parts of the castle. This inner ditch is still well preserved in the grove.

At a distance of 10 meters, the entire complex is enclosed by a second moat, with an outer wall in between. The outer moat has a circumference of over 400 meters and connects to the inner moat in the south of the castle near the tower hill.

More recent construction phase

The outer moat appears very indistinct on aerial photographs in the southwest of the facility. The reason for this is that it was probably leveled as early as the Middle Ages. It is cut transversely by another trench that encloses an area in the southwestern apron of the residential tower hill. This finding is interpreted as a younger outer bailey. Possibly the outer moat and the outer wall were leveled during the construction of the outer bailey.

Monument protection

The castle grounds and the monuments in the area are cultural monuments according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . All research, be it excavations, prospecting, digging, targeted collections of finds and changes to the inventory are subject to approval. Accidental finds are to be reported to the monument authorities.

  • Detail view of the tower hill from the southeast. The leveled moats are still visible in the foreground.

  • View from the northwest.

  • In the interior of the Feldholzinsel the moat is still visible and behind it the hill of the outer bailey.

  • Attack on a moth (Dinan Castle), contemporary representation on the Bayeux Tapestry .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Eugen Heinz Sauer: Büchertal stories . Festival book for the 1200th anniversary of the districts of Hanau-Mittelbuchen and Maintal-Wachenbuchen (Hanau-Mittelbuchen 1997), 2–7.
  2. ↑ as note 1, pp. 53–59.
  3. ↑ The description essentially follows the information in Herrmann 1994 (see literature).
  4. ↑ Herrmann 1994 p. 1

literature

  • Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann : The castle of the beeches . Archaeological monuments in Hessen 117 (Wiesbaden 1994), ISBN 3-89822-117-2
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 390f.
  • Christian Ottersbach : The castles of the lords and counts of Hanau (1166–1642). Studies on castle politics and castle architecture of a noble house. Ed .: Magistrat der Brüder-Grimm-Stadt Hanau and Hanauer Geschichtsverein 1844 eV , Hanau 2018, ISBN 978-3-935395-29-8 (=  Hanauer Geschichtsblätter vol. 51 ), pp. 403-406.
  • Günter Rauch: "Tammo de Hagenouwa". When the name Hanau was first mentioned in a document 850 years ago . New magazine for Hanau history 1993, 4 ff.
  • Heinrich Reimer: Historical local dictionary for Kurhessen. Publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse 14, 1926 pp. 73f.
  • Eugen Heinz Sauer: Büchertal stories . Festival book for the 1200th anniversary of the districts of Hanau-Mittelbuchen and Maintal-Wachenbuchen (Hanau-Mittelbuchen 1997).
  • Bert Worbs: beech Dorfelden - Windecken . Early castles in the county of Hanau. Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 30, 1988, 347-404.
  • Bert Worbs: "Castle of the von Buchen" . In: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany 27. Hanau and the Main-Kinzig-Kreis (Stuttgart, Theiss-Verlag 1994) 217–219, ISBN 3-8062-1119-1

Web links

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