Wachtendonk Castle

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Wachtendonk castle ruins, view from the west

The Castle Wachtendonk is the ruin of a lowland castle and is located on the left bank of the Niers in a small wooded area on the southern edge of the Lower Rhine town Wachtendonk . The history of the complex is closely interwoven with the town and fortress of Wachtendonk, which were always highly competitive due to their location on the extreme eastern border of the Duchy of Geldern . In the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle and fortress were the militarily most important place in the Geldrischen Oberquartier .

As early as the 14th century, Wachtendonk has a castle that was located on an important crossing over the Niers. First Geldrisches fiefdom , then Geldrische Landesburg , the complex came temporarily to the Duchy of Kleve in the 15th century before it belonged again to Geldern. During the Eighty Years' War , the castle was temporarily in the hands of the Dutch States General and temporarily in the hands of Imperial Spanish troops. During a conquest in 1603 it was so badly damaged that it was never rebuilt.

In the 1960s, the foundations of the castle complex were exposed during excavations and some of them were rebuilt. Today the ruin is freely accessible at any time.

history

The area around today's Wachtendonk has been called Geisseren since the 9th century and was part of the Electorate of Cologne . The bailiffs of the Archbishop of Cologne built their first castle on a hill called Donk in the swampy lowlands of the Niers , which was called Vogtendonk. From this the name Wachtendonk developed and carried over to the settlement that had formed under the protection of the castle. In the 12th century, the castle owners probably also adopted the castle's name. An Arnold von Wachtendonk was first mentioned in 1196, and in a document from 1200 a Godefridus de Wachtindunc is listed as a witness. However, only with the mention of an Arnoldus dominus de Wachtendonk (Arnold, Herr von Wachtendonk) does an independent rule of Wachtendonk become tangible. A permanent house with a mill and a fortified settlement was first mentioned in 1326. At that time the house was owned by Arnold von Wachtendonk. However, dendrochronological studies of salvaged wood from the area around the castle have shown that the settlement and castle are much older, because the wood could be dated to the years 1252 and 1257.

Castle and town of Wachtendonk on a drawing from 1551

The Lords of Wachtendonk were able to maintain their independence for a long time by cleverly navigating between the Dukes of Geldern and the Electors of Cologne, although Wachtendonk was a Geldrian fiefdom. Arnold IV von Wachtendonk confirmed on March 5, 1390 that his property was a fiefdom of the Geldrian duke, but on December 20 of the same year declared his castle to be an open house of Archbishop Friedrich III of Cologne . von Saar Werden, so that this Wachtendonk would not be used for acts of war against Geldern. The Electorate of Cologne began in the immediate vicinity of the castle on the opposite side of the Niers. Duke Rainald IV of Geldern brought its independence to an abrupt end in 1407 when he forcibly conquered Wachtendonk and made it a Geldrian office . The first bailiff was Goswin Spede von Langenfeld, who was also a bailiff at Geldern Castle . Johanna, the heirloom of Arnold IV von Wachtendonk, married Wilhelm von Jülich, the illegitimate son of Rainald IV, who then gave the Wachtendonk Castle to the bride and groom as a wedding gift, without changing the fief status of the complex. In 1426 Wilhelm reassured the Archbishop of Cologne the right to open the Wachtendonker complex. However, an agreement from 1431 also stipulated that Wilhelm should help the Duke of Geldern with his castle in armed forces. Three years later, he and his second wife Hermanna von Batenburg sold the castle, town and country of Wachtendonk with all pensions and income to Duke Arnold von Egmond . Shortly afterwards, combined troops from Berg and Cologne took the castle for a short time, because Duke Adolf von Berg tried to dispute Arnold von Egmond's ducal dignity. Since Wilhelm von Jülich and his wife had not yet moved out of the castle, they lost numerous valuable items when they took them, including jewelry, gold-plated silverware and the furnishings in the castle chapel . A long list that Wilhelm drew up after the attack and for which he demanded compensation from the Duke of Geldern attests to the losses. The damage that occurred when the castle was captured was repaired between 1436 and 1439 under the Geldrian bailiff Johann von Gemen . In December 1440, Geldern pledged the complex to the Duke of Kleve, who appointed Heinrich von Wittenhorst as the first Klevian bailiff.

Wachtendonk Castle on a drawing from 1588

Based on an inventory from 1463, many of the castle's rooms have survived. There was a chapel , a hall , a kitchen, a wine cellar, a chamber above the inner gate, a maids chamber, a chamber above the gate, a sleeping room for the castle guards, a "lower tower room" and a brewery . Duke Adolf von Geldern redeemed the pledge in 1469 and appointed Siebert von Eyll as bailiff. At that time the castle was in serious disrepair and in need of repair. In 1470 the rent master sent a message to his sovereign that "the castle had fallen down". 100,000 bricks were required for the necessary repairs  . The restored complex finally came to Kleve in 1473 when Charles the Bold gave it to Duke Johann I of Kleve as a gift. However, the knight Otto Schenk von Nideggen , Herr zu Walbeck and Drost , took the town of Wachtendonk in 1503 and in 1504 - after a siege from September 1503 to Easter 1504 - also the castle for Karl von Geldern . This then appointed Otto to the Geldrischen bailiff in Wachtendonk. However, the castle complex was badly damaged by fire when it was taken. As early as 1505, the new lord of the castle switched to the side of Philip the Fair , who raised Wachtendonk to an independent glory . It was not until 1517 that Otto was reconciled with the Duke of Geldern. The two signed a contract that guaranteed Otto the position of bailiff von Wachtendonk as long as the duke had not fully repaid his debts of 17,000 Rhenish guilders, which had been used to rebuild the castle. When the defense system was restored, its mighty round tower was rebuilt and the existing building was supplemented by an east wing.

Depiction of Wachtendonk Castle in the Blaeu Atlas , 1649

The pledge lasted a long time. It was still valid after Geldern was united with the Duchy of Kleve in 1538 and then ceded to Burgundy in 1543 with the Treaty of Venlo . When Emperor Karl V, in his capacity as Duke of Geldern, sold the town, castle and glory of Wachtendonk to Godart von Bocholtz on October 15, 1547, this was done on the condition that the deposit amount be paid to the second wife of Otto's son Heinrich Schenk von Nideggen . Godart had repairs carried out and adapted the defenses of the castle to modern firearms. Nevertheless, it was briefly occupied by the troops of William of Orange during the Eighty Years' War in 1572 , before it - like the city - was occupied for a long time from 1578 by the Dutch States General. For this reason it was besieged for three months by Spanish troops under Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld in 1588 , shot at and then captured. A depiction from that year shows Wachtendonk Castle as a complex that consists of three groups of buildings and is located on an island in the middle of the Niers. The new rulers appointed Godart's son-in-law Arnold Huyn von Amstenrade, who had married Margaretha von Bocholtz in 1586, as governor of the castle and town. Both had suffered greatly in the conquest. The slate roof of the castle was destroyed, the buildings devastated by the shelling. Arnold began rebuilding the collapsed tower and restoring the damaged structures in 1589. In 1600 the complex was taken again by Dutch soldiers under the leadership of Count Ludwig von Nassau, because the severe winter had frozen the marshes around Wachtendonk and made it possible for the Dutch to get closer to town and castle. Although the Spaniards were able to recapture them for a short time in 1602, they had to give the field back to Dutch troops six days later. In 1603 the castle, but not the city, fell into Spanish hands again. Spinola's troops only succeeded in doing this in 1605 under the leadership of Charles Bonaventure de Longueval , Count of Bucquoi, as the summer had allowed the Wachtendonker swamps to dry up. When the castle was conquered two years earlier, it was probably so badly damaged that it was not rebuilt. Instead, their remains were laid down in favor of the city's fortress belt in 1605.

From 1967 to 1978 excavations took place on the area under the direction of Günther Binding , during which the remains of the core castle were partially excavated and secured. The ground plan of this part of the complex was made recognizable again by building up the excavation finds. Efforts to rebuild the castle and market it more touristically have not yet been implemented.

description

Ground plan of the inner castle

Wachtendonk Castle was a two-part complex, consisting of a core castle and a north-west upstream bailey , which were together on an island in the Niers. The complex thus had a shape that was typical for castle building in the Lower Rhine region in the late Middle Ages . While the appearance of the outer bailey is unknown, the shape and shape of the inner bailey could be largely reconstructed through excavations in the 1960s. According to this, Wachtendonk Castle was not built in one go, but grew step by step and had a floor plan measuring around 34 × 32 meters. The oldest parts are the round keep on the southwest side and an adjoining residential building in the southeast. This was followed at a right angle by a second, younger residential building on the northeast side of the complex. It was from the early 16th century. The other sides of the core castle area were closed off by a circular wall with a battlement . In the corner of the two residential buildings there was a round stair tower that opened up the upper floors. The shape of the core castle points to the 14th century as the period of origin, but the oldest ceramic that was found during the excavations under the keep dates from the early 15th century. There is documentary evidence of a castle in Wachtendonk from the 14th century.

The keep was probably the tallest building in the complex. It has about three meters thick walls and an inner diameter of 4.20 meters. The space in its ground floor was of a dome vault spans. The outer diameter of the tower is 10.40 meters above ground, but its foundation widens like a funnel downwards so that it has a diameter of 15.10 meters below ground. The south-east wing of the castle had a cellar. Chimneys and a fountain suggest that the castle kitchen was located there. The connection to the outer bailey was made by a representative gate on the northwest side of the inner bailey. It was built in the second half of the 15th century - at the same time as an eastern extension to the southern residential building of the complex - and had two flanking round towers that protected the castle gate .

To the north of the main castle are the remains of a bastion made of sandstone blocks , which has a diameter of around two meters. The early modern fortifications, dating from the first half of the 16th century, were probably connected to the castle and the city by earthworks. It is possible that this building is only the remains of a brewing furnace.

  • Remains of the castle gate, in the background the stump of the keep

  • Stump of the keep

  • Panorama of the south-eastern part of the castle

  • reconstruction

literature

Web links

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

Footnotes

  1. ↑ P. Clemen: The art monuments of the district of Geldern. 1891, p. 87.
  2. ^ A b S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 283.
  3. ↑ a b c A. Kaul: Geldrische castles, palaces and mansions. 1976, p. 119.
  4. ↑ a b Chronicle of Wachtendonk on the city's website , accessed November 6, 2015.
  5. ^ A b S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 267.
  6. ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, pp. 267, 270.
  7. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 3. Wolf, Düsseldorf 1853, No. 951 ( digitized version ).
  8. ↑ Norbert Andernach (arrangement): The regests of the archbishops of Cologne in the Middle Ages. Volume 9, Hanstein, Bonn 1983, ISBN 3-7700-7548-X , No. 2008.
  9. ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 271.
  10. ^ According to S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 276. The Ebidat entry for the castle means that the work will end in 1438.
  11. ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 277.
  12. ↑ a b c S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 279.
  13. ↑ A. Kaul: Geldrische castles, palaces and mansions. 1976, p. 122.
  14. ↑ A. Kaul: Geldrische castles, palaces and mansions. 1976, p. 123.
  15. ↑ A. Kaul: Geldrische castles, palaces and mansions. 1976, p. 127.
  16. ^ A b S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 280.
  17. ↑ a b c d e f Entry by Jens Wroblewski on Wachtendonk Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
  18. ↑ Walther Zimmermann , Hugo Borger (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 3: North Rhine-Westphalia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 273). Kröner, Stuttgart 1963, DNB 456882847 , p. 628.
  19. ^ Leopold Henrichs: History of the city and the country Wachtendonk in connection with the country's history. First volume: External history. Hüls 1910, p. 210.
  20. ↑ Walther Zimmermann, Hugo Borger (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany. Volume 3: North Rhine-Westphalia (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 273). Kröner, Stuttgart 1963, DNB 456882847 , p. 629.
  21. ^ Karl Emerich Krämer : From castle to castle on the Lower Rhine. Volume 1. 4th edition. Mercator, Duisburg 1982, ISBN 3-87463-057-9 , p. 52.
  22. ↑ News for archive and documentation. In: Castles and Palaces . Volume 10, No. 2, 1969, ISSN  0007-6201 , p. 63, doi: 10.11588 / bus.1969.2.41129 .
  23. ↑ Michael Klatt: You want to build the castle. In: Rheinische Post . Online edition from June 14, 2009 ( online ).
  24. ↑ Target catalog Berthold Perrets, 2015 mayoral candidate for Wachtendonk , accessed on November 8, 2015.
  25. ↑ Information based on the entry by Jens Wroblewski on Wachtendonk Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute. Stefan Frankewitz gives the dimensions slightly different at 33 × 32 meters. Compare S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 284.
  26. ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 284.
  27. ↑ a b c d e f S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 285.
  28. ↑ P. Clemen: The art monuments of the district of Geldern. 1891, p. 88.
  29. ↑ a b A. Kaul: Geldrische castles, palaces and mansions. 1976, p. 125.

Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 14.1 ″  N , 6 ° 20 ′ 17.5 ″  E