Wallenburg Castle

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Wallenburg Castle
Tower of Wallenburg Castle

Tower of Wallenburg Castle

Alternative name (s): Waldenburg (hus zu Waldinburg)
Creation time : around 1200
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status: Wall remains, trench
Standing position : Count
Construction: Boss cuboids, pincer holes
Place: Truse Valley
Geographical location 50 ° 46 '53.4 "  N , 10 ° 25' 47.3"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 46 '53.4 "  N , 10 ° 25' 47.3"  E
Height: 523  m above sea level NN
Wallenburg Castle (Thuringia)
Wallenburg Castle

The Wallenburg refers to the ruins of a summit castle at 523.8  m above sea level. NN high summit of Heinberg (also Hühnberg ) above the district Auwallenburg of the town of Brotterode-Trusetal in the district of Schmalkalden-Meiningen in Thuringia .

history

The castle, built around 1200, initially served to control the Altstrasse ascending from Herrenbreitungen to the Rennsteig Pass near Brotterode (Grenzwiese / Kleiner Inselsberg), which branched from there via Cabarz to Waltershausen and Gotha in the area of ​​the Thuringian Landgraves . The castle was built on the outskirts of the Herrenbreitungen monastery. Hessles with the Nüßleshof and the part of Bairoda east of the Farnbach belonged to the Wallenburg court and castle district . The Burgvogt of the Wallenburg belonged to the service aristocracy of the Frankensteiner.

  • 1247 When the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession broke out (1247–1263), the complex gained military importance; it was expanded by the Lords of Frankenstein (also known as "Counts of Frankenstein").
  • In 1249 it was first mentioned as "Waldenburch" in a comparison between Ludwig III. von Frankenstein and the Herrenbreiten monastery. Ludwig had to recognize the fiefdom of the monastery and pay compensation.
  • In 1295 the Lords of Frankenstein were hit hard when royal troops marched in in 1295, the ancestral castle Frankenstein near Bad Salzungen was captured and destroyed after a short siege, the defeated Counts of Frankenstein had to pay tribute.
  • In 1317 the first parts of the area in the Trusetal were sold, in the certificate, sealed on August 29, 1317, the Frankenstein's share in the castle ( half of her hus tzu Waldinburg ) was claimed. The Fulda Monastery , represented by Abbot Heinrich VI. von Hohenberg (1315–1353), was now a co-owner of the castle. The Wallenburg was accordingly divided into (initially) two equal shares, both gan heirs had to appoint the servants mentioned in the contract (gatekeepers, tower keepers, other servants as guards) and maintain the truce.
  • 1330 - with the second Frankenstein sale in 1330, Count Berthold VII (1272–1340) from the Schleusinger line of the Counts of Henneberg became co-owners of the castle. At the same time, the brothers Siegbodo and Ludwig von Frankenstein released all their servants from their oath of loyalty. Despite extensive sales of territory in 1330, they were ruined and disappeared as a political power in the mid-14th century.
  • around 1340 the Hennebergers were still in opposition to the bishops of Würzburg. The Wallenburg also came under partial ownership of the Würzburgs as a result of pledge and exchange agreements between the Würzburg and Fulda monasteries. The two gan heirs had to make a truce, which was broken at every opportunity. The dispute took place over the castle men and feudal lords from the lower nobility stationed at the castle .
  • In 1374, the Würzburg bishop Gerhard von Schwarzburg (1372–1400) asked his cousins, Counts Heinrich and Ernst von Schwarzburg , for military assistance to protect the Wallenburg. He wanted to pay 400 guilders as a wage. The Würzburg part of the castle came then
  • 1384 as pledge (for a debt that has already increased to 7400 guilders) to Count Günther and Johannes von Schwarzburg . At the same time, the bishop had to raise annual costs of 740 guilders for the maintenance of the fortifications and armament as well as food and 200 pounds hellers for the servants of the castle in the Schwarzburg service.
  • In 1388 a feud with the knights Wetzel von Buchenau and Hermann von Völkershausen residing in the Rhön resulted in the expulsion of the Blackburg count Günther and Johannes from the Wallenburg. Archbishop Adolf von Mainz was appointed referee for the feud. On April 24, 1388, he ruled in favor of the two knights and demanded that the Schwarzburgers pay a fine of 3000 guilders by the end of 1388 or leave the castle Wallenburg with an annual reimbursement of 300 guilders as a fief, the Schwarzburg counts agreed. As a result of this "hostile takeover", the Schwarzburg part of the inheritance was halved and the two knights each received a quarter of the castle as a share.
  • 1408 was the knight Otto von Buchenau (d. Ä.) Belonging quarter the Knight Hermann von Reckrodt sold and the other quarter should split amicably the Knights Wetzel from the stone , and his cousins Hans, Heinrich and Wetzel from the stone is passed in the Division of the castle should decide the lot. The Reckrodter clan, who were also wealthy in the Werra valley near Gerstungen , sold their share to the Würzburg bishop Johann II von Brunn as early as 1421 . In this context, the Wallenburg formed a base for military operations and at the same time made it possible to monitor and block the roads leading to the north.
  • In 1459 the Henneberg half of the Wallenburg was handed over to Hans von Wangenheim zu Winterstein , who was made responsible for the safety of the mines with his sons as bailiff. The importance of the castle had increased due to the strong expansion of iron mining in the Trusetal, the iron goods and weapons produced in the hammer mills and forges had a high material value and thus formed an incentive for targeted raids.
  • In 1470, Philipp von Farnrode , who was in the service of the Counts of Gleichen, received a quarter of the Wallenburg inheritance, presumably the Reckrodt part. He was obliged to provide armed servants in the castle. In 1471 Philipp von Farnroda asked Count Wilhelm von Henneberg in vain for money and wood to be used to repair the castle.
  • In 1477 Wolfgang von Stolpenrode, a bailiff of Sonneberg in the service of Würzburg, appeared as heir to the Wallenburg.
  • In 1479 an Andreas von Liechtenstein took over this part of the inheritance.
  • In 1483, the dilapidated condition of the castle made it necessary to inspect the damage and to agree on building and repair work. Wilhelm von Roßdorf was installed as the Henneberg bailiff and resigned from the fief for life.
  • From 1501 the Hennebergers tried in negotiations with the Counts of Gleichen as pledges of the Würzburg inheritance to gain possession of the entire Wallenburg. The knightly family of the foxes of Arnschwanz had been appointed castle men by the Hennebergers. The best known representative was Hans Christoph Fuchs , he had set himself a literary monument with his verse epic “The Ant and Mosquito War”, which was printed in Schmalkalden.
  • In 1516 Götz von Berlichingen hid himself in the castle for a few days for his own safety, he was feuding with Count Philipp II von Waldeck .
  • It was not until 1520 that Count Wilhelm IV of Henneberg-Schleusingen (1478–1559) of Henneberg acquired full ownership of the castle and entrusted the Füchse with the administration of the office.
  • In 1525 the castle was besieged by the insurgents during the Peasants' War and set on fire after a storm attack. The farm buildings and part of the main castle burned down.
  • In 1580 knight Hans Christoph Fuchs sold the ruinous Wallenburg on Arnschwang to knight Eitel von Boyneburg zu Lengsfeld .
  • In 1583 the ruins of the castle, which were still used as an official residence, were taken over by the Wettins as part of the Henneberg heritage. The military value of the castle ruins was now irrelevant.
  • In 1588, in the Treaty of Friedewald , the Wettins prematurely sold to the Hersfeld Monastery, which existed until 1606, but was already under the influence of the Landgraves of Hesse, who also ruled as sovereigns in Schmalkalden to the south.
  • In 1589 the Landgrave of Hesse acquired the castle and the associated settlements, which he immediately took over to the Oberamt Schmalkalden . Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hessen-Kassel needed building material for the construction of his secondary residence at Wilhelmsburg Castle in Schmalkalden and, for practical reasons, approved the demolition of the ruins of the Wallenburg. Only the tower was to be preserved, as it could still be used as a control room.
  • 1634–48, during the Thirty Years' War , the places around the castle ruins were badly hit, and the foreworks of the castle were also plundered and destroyed.

The last noble owner of the castle ruins became the ducal house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1866 with Duke Ernst II . The ruins were only part of an 8800 hectare former Hessian state forest, as well as Prussian land without sovereign rights between Oberschönau and Schmalkalden, which the Duke received from the Prussian state as war compensation for his loss-making participation in the Battle of Langensalza (June 27, 1866). The forest area, which was privately owned by the Gotha dukes, was expropriated in 1945.

description

The castle consisted of the built in Buteanu main castle and the dense lower position bailey on the west side with residential, commercial and outbuildings. To the east of the castle was a homestead known as the Vorwerk, it was devastated in 1643 and was inhabited until the 19th century. The main attack side was secured by a 300 m long trench on the east side of the mountain. Only the four-storey, 27.5 m high keep - a slender tower towering high above the forest - and a few remains of the wall remain of the castle . The tower wall, made of bosses , also has pincer holes as a construction feature. In addition to a fountain, the main castle included the representative Romanesque palace , of which only the foundation walls have been preserved. This part of the castle was surrounded by its own curtain wall and had a gate with a drawbridge. In front of it was the lower part of the castle with buildings also protected by a separate wall. Today the tower building is located there. Three moats protected this outer part of the castle. The main entrance was probably on the south side of the mountain. A sketchy representation of the Wallenburg office made in 1589 shows the castle still with two towers. During a systematic investigation of the castle ruins in 1979, a previously unknown underground passage was discovered, the broken and buried walls could only be followed a few meters. On an isolated rock section west of the keep, a wall remnant was assumed to be the location of the second tower. The excavators suspected that a drawbridge had to be used at the entrance .

Status and usage

The castle is a protected architectural and ground monument . As early as the 19th century, interested people from the surrounding areas began exploring the castle ruins. Today's entrance to the inside of the tower on ground level was created by miners. Perhaps one hoped to find interesting finds in the rubble at the bottom of the tower dungeon. It has been possible to climb the tower again since 1963. In the GDR era, a small kiosk was built below the castle, as the ruins were popular with vacationers and school classes. In 2012 the tower was closed due to dilapidation, repaired in 2013 and then reopened. Today it serves as a lookout tower again and can be climbed during the opening times of the neighboring tower building (April to December from Friday to Sunday from 10 a.m.). The view from the tower extends in a westerly direction over the Werra valley and to the Vorderern Rhön .

and display information about the image
View from the Wallenburg Tower

literature

  • Fritz Kühnlenz: Experiences on the Werra. Local history walks. Greifenverlag Rudolstadt 1973, p. 126f.
  • Between Ruhla, Bad Liebenstein and Schmalkalden (= values ​​of our homeland . Volume 48). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1989.
  • Thomas Bienert: Medieval castles in Thuringia. 430 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-631-1 , p. 270.
  • Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces. Jenzig-Verlag Köhler, Jena 2003, ISBN 3-910141-43-9 , p. 264.
  • Roland Geißler: hiking guide to Bad Liebenstein and the Inselsberg , Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2007, ISBN 978-3-938997-79-6 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The documents of the joint Henneberg archive in Meiningen . In: Karl Schöppach (Ed.): Hennebergisches Urkundenbuch . I, 23. Meiningen 1842, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10003300-0 (Castrum Waldenburch, quod heu in prejudicium et contra voluntatem ipsius violenter huc usque possedi).
  2. ↑ Hans Patze , Peter Aufgebauer (Ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 9: Thuringia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 313). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-520-31302-2 , pp. 124-125.
  3. ^ The documents of the joint Henneberg archive in Meiningen . In: Georg Brückner (Ed.): Hennebergisches Urkundenbuch . V, 38. Meiningen 1866 ( digitized version ).
  4. ^ The documents of the joint Henneberg archive in Meiningen . In: Georg Brückner (Ed.): Hennebergisches Urkundenbuch . V, 38. Meiningen 1866 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ During his term of office, this bishop aimed to expand his rule at the expense of knighthood in the canton of Buchen and Grabfeld through military actions: in 1419 he allied himself with Fulda, Hersfeld and Hesse against the Ganerbe von der Tann . In 1430 he joined forces with the Counts of Henneberg against those of Buchenau and von Schlitz . In 1437 he allied himself with Saxony against von Hutten .
  6. ↑ Earth description of the electoral and ducal Saxon lands
  7. ↑ The leaflet "The Wallenburg Tower - History of the Wallenburg" from the Heimat- und Burgverein.
  8. ↑ Harry Gerlach: Brotterode, Pappenheim, Trusetal, Steinbach near Bad Liebenstein . In: Wanderheft . tape 10 . VEB Tourist Verlag, Berlin / Leipzig 1987, ISBN 3-350-00202-1 , p. 29-30 .
  9. ↑ Erik Hande: Violent exchange of blows on the condition of the tower building - harsh words were spoken at the meeting of the city council when it came to the condition of the tower building on the Wallenburg tower. Südthüringer Zeitung (Schmalkalden editorial team), July 11, 2012, accessed on December 17, 2012 : “The actual starting point for the debate was the blocked Wallenburg Tower. When it will be repaired and to what extent, what work will be carried out on the site around the landmark and whether the trees will also be cut shorter so that the tower deserves its name as a lookout tower, were Werner Zeumer’s first questions. The work has been awarded and the roof renewal and other things are to take place in the coming weeks. The basic problem with the repair of the popular excursion destination is again the tight budget of the municipality. "
  10. ^ Rhönklub, Breitungen branch , accessed on June 11, 2016
  11. ↑ Internet presence of the tower building , accessed on June 11, 2016