Wartenberg Castle (Hesse)

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Wartenberg Castle
Wartenberg castle ruins (December 2004)

Wartenberg castle ruins (December 2004)

Alternative name (s): Waiting stream
Creation time : around 1220
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Knight and Ministeriale in the service of the Fulda Monastery
Place: Wartenberg - Angersbach
Geographical location 50 ° 37 '54 "  N , 9 ° 27' 46"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '54 "  N , 9 ° 27' 46"  E
Height: 268  m above sea level NHN
Wartenberg Castle (Hesse)
Wartenberg Castle

The Castle Wartenberg (historical name forms: Wartinberg (1232); Warta Mountain (1293); locally as the waiting Bach called) is the ruin of a Spur castle about one kilometer east of Anger Bach , a district of the central Hessian Vogelsberg commune in Wartenberg . It is 268  m above sea level. NHN altitude on a flat rock spur above the small river Lauter . The ruins gave Angersbach and Landenhausen their names after their merger in 1972 and the coat of arms in 1978. Furthermore, the castle ruins are the symbol of the community and are also under monument protection .

History of the castle

Keep of the ruin. Since 2002 the tower has been nine and a half meters high.
View into the inner courtyard of the main castle

prehistory

During the prospecting of the archaeological site and in the course of excavations by Karl Maurer from 1938 to 1940, two storage pits from the Roman Empire (approx. 200 AD) and the remains of 8 Carolingian fortifications (approx. 700 AD ) were found under the ruins of the castle . Discovered. Inclined foundation walls that were processed with clay were found. According to the “Lauterbach-Schlitzer border description” from 812, these foundations could have been part of the “Ungefures” settlement. The document says in Latin in villa, que dicitur ungures . It can be assumed that there are at least four houses on the core hill. Around 1000 AD, before Wartenberg Castle was built, the ancestral castle of the Lords of Angersbach was located at what is now the Protestant church in Angersbach.

Construction of the castle

In the years around 1220 Friedrich von Angersbach (from 1232 called Friedrich von Wartenberg) had a castle built on the "Wartenbachhügel", to which the keep and then the inner curtain wall and the other buildings were assigned. The sons Heinrich and Dietrich von Wartenberg are considered to be the owners of Wartenberg Castle after the death of Friedrich.

Destruction of the castle

The castle was destroyed in 1265 by troops from Bertho II von Leibolz , Abbot of Fulda , in the course of a feud with the monastery governor, Count Gottfried V. von Ziegenhain . The count sought to enlarge his territory at the expense of the abbey area and rose up against the abbot together with his subordinates, including those of Wartenberg. Bertho managed to defeat the rebellious nobles and to conquer or to conquer 15 castles of his opponents between Rhön and Vogelsberg destroy, including the Wartenberg Castle and Eisenbach Castle near Lauterbach (Hesse) .

Lords of Wartenberg

Wartenberger coat of arms on the outer wall of the Wartenberg castle ruins
Basic features of the castle chapel with a cross

The Angersbach nobles originally lived in a small valley castle in the village. With the construction of the castle on the Wartenberg, from 1232 onwards they called themselves the Wartenberg family . The year 1232 thus reveals the existence of a von Wartenberg family for the first time . The country noble dynasty of the von Wartenberg belonged to the noble service of Benedictine - Abbey of Fulda and was under a ministerial (officials) to the abbot as senior feudal lords and the vassals the Counts of Ziegenhain as a pin Vogt. (Bailiffs were active in purely secular matters for the clerical rulers.) The Wartenbergers had a small but well-ordered territory. Their area included the towns of Lauterbach , Maar, Angersbach , Salzschlirf , Müs, Landenhausen and other goods. Furthermore, the local nobility had the right to exercise administrative as well as judicial and executive power. Lauterbach was due to the place of jurisdiction - Wartenberg Castle - and the church affiliation aswart Bergisch.

The heirs of the castle after Frederick's death, this was the first mentioned von Wartenberg , were his sons Heinrich and Dietrich, who continued to administer the family property. Gisela von Wartenberg, daughter of Friedrich von Wartenberg, married Guntram von Schweinsberg. One of Friedrich's sons, also called Friedrich, became a clergyman in Amöneburg in 1249 . In 1252 Heinrich von Wartenberg allied himself with the Vogt of Fulda Abbey, Count Berthold I von Ziegenhain , whom Heinrich promised to make his castle available as a base in the event of a war. In the course of the 13th century the conflict of interests between the abbot on the one hand and the bailiff, his subordinates and their followers, on the other hand, led to a conflict which led the von Wartenbergs into a feud between Count Gottfried V. von Ziegenhain and Prince Abbot Bertho II . entangled by Leibolz . In the course of this, Wartenberg Castle was destroyed in 1265 by the abbot's troops.

The following enforced peace brought the Wartenbergers considerable sanctions , whereby their claim to rule over the Warteberg area was declared null and void . They were also not allowed to rebuild the castle. Abbot Bertho II endowed Lauterbach with the rights of a town and built a castle there, which the Wartenbergers had to help build. The prince abbot divided the resulting Vogtei Lauterbach into two halves. He left one to the people of Wartenberg and took the other. The daughter of Dietrich von Wartenberg, Mechthild, was married to Trabodo von Eisenbach, so that the Eisenbachers came under the ownership of the Lauterbach bailiwick. Heinrich von Wartenberg and his son Friedrich sold their half of the Lauterbach Vogtei to the Fulda Monastery. In doing so, however, they encountered resistance from their Eisenbach relatives, as a Fulda court document from 1336 indicates. Friedrich von Wartenberg died in 1369, and his wife Else followed him around 1375. The Wartenberg family died out with them; it passed in 1350 in the noble family of those von Eisenbach and thus finally in 1428 in that of the barons Riedesel zu Eisenbach .

Excavations and restoration

Reconstruction of Wartenberg Castle: replication of the original state

After the castle ruins had served the surrounding villages as a quarry for centuries , the first excavations began in 1828. Some entrances and walls were partially exposed. In the period between 1850 and 1914, excavation attempts were made again and again, but they did not reveal any particular findings. It was only through Karl Maurer, the then director of the Hohhaus Museum in Lauterbach, that the ruins were uncovered from 1938 to 1940 and recognized as an important cultural monument. The Hohaus Museum in Lauterbach shows a permanent exhibition of numerous finds. Individual finds received international attention at the Staufer exhibition in 1977 in Stuttgart and in the exhibition Phoenix made of sand and ashes: Glass of the Middle Ages in 1988 in Bonn .

Karl Maurer, who led excavations in 1938-40 and published his results in 1961, played a decisive role in Wartenberg research. In 2005, Maurer's research was re-evaluated as part of a master’s thesis by Susanne Sehrt with a focus on prehistory at the Philipps University in Marburg . Sehrt's analysis was limited to the metal finds at Wartenberg Castle, including coins, window, door and lock irons, horseshoes, spurs and arrowheads. Based on comparative finds from other archaeological excavations and medieval, contemporary image sources, Sehrt was able to determine the age and function of the finds. One result was, for example, that knives with spiral tips were used as writing utensils and not as cutlery, as assumed. Furthermore, the more than one hundred projectile points found on the castle hill suggest a military defeat of Wartenberg Castle. On the basis of this scientific work, Sehrt believes that the construction took place several decades earlier and that the destruction of the castle can be confirmed in the last quarter of the 13th century.

Selected finds

  • Coins: 6 silver bracteates , 8 halved silver bracteates , 6 double-sided silver pennies.
  • The coat of arms of the Wartenbergers: 7 cm high gilded bronze coat of arms applique; on a blue (or green) background a white sloping bar from top left to bottom right in the right field is accentuated by a gold star. Model for today's coat of arms of the municipality of Wartenberg .
  • Blue glass bowl, Saracen arrowheads, rose oil ampoule, clay field or pilgrim bottles - in connection with the Crusades
  • The " waiting bachman ": probably a small cult object, or a toy?
  • various construction sacrifices
  • A chest key
  • Silver bells
  • Jewelry: amulet , reversible collar, neck collar and double spiral needle
  • The "Stone Eagle" - eagle figure from Wartenberg Castle
The von Wartenberg family had a special position in the region, because they exercised the jurisdiction. This is evidenced by the find of an eagle, which is interpreted as a symbol for a court seat at Wartenberg Castle.
Main castle fountain
Walkable interior of the keep

restoration

The aim of the restoration work is, according to Edmund Lorenz, Chairman of the Association for the Rescue of the Wartenberg Castle Ruins, "not to rebuild the castle", but rather to preserve the monument from the Staufer era as a ruin for posterity. The parts of Wartenberg Castle that have been restored in their beginnings include:

  • archway
From 1993 to 1994 the building yard of the Lauterbach Masons' Guild rebuilt the archway at the entrance to the main castle .
  • Tower stump
This was built in 1984 as part of a job creation measure, at that time with a height of five meters. Since 2002 the tower has been nine and a half meters high. By means of the extension, an accessible interior space has been created under the platform , which can be reached via a staircase attached to the side of the keep. The tower room now enables weddings to be held. From here another staircase leads to the platform, which offers a good view of the castle complex and the surrounding area.
  • Castle fountain
Since 2006 there has been a rebuilt fake fountain in the core of the castle at the site of the former water source, which has a striking impact on the image of the castle.
  • Outer wall
The outer wall was built from 2001 to 2004.

Other construction projects were in the main castle made: Among them were the oven, Cellar 2 in the front Palas and the inner ring wall . Furthermore, the external gate system was reconstructed.

The people who helped to restore the castle for years are immortalized in a stone tablet inside the keep.

More pictures

  • Wartenberg Hill

  • Ascent to the entrance gate and tower

  • Part of the basement area

  • Part of the outer wall system

  • Former oven in the castle

  • Part of the outer wall with a bridge. In the background tower and entrance gate to the main castle.

  • Memorial plaque with inscription in front of the castle ruins

  • Castle ruins from a distance

literature

  • Support association for the rescue of the Wartenberg castle ruins eV (publisher): Wartenberg castle ruins . 1984.
  • Georg Landau : The Hessian knight castles and their owners . 3rd volume. JJ Bohné, Cassel 1836.
  • Wartenberg castle ruins. Hiking destination between Angersbach and Bad Salzschlirf . Fotoclub Lauterbach eV, Lauterbach 1992, ISBN 3-89313-106-X .
  • The Wartenbergers and their castle . Funding association for the rescue of the castle ruins Wartenberg eV, Wartenberg / Hessen 2001.
  • K. Maurer / W. Farmer: Wartenberg Castle near Angersbach / Upper Hesse. Prehistoric Journal 39, 1961, pp. 217-265.

Web links

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

References and comments

  1. ↑ "Burg Wartenberg, Vogelsbergkreis". Historical local lexicon for Hesse (as of February 12, 2015). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on October 15, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Count Berthold I of Ziegenhain , Gottfried's father, is often mentioned as an opponent of the abbot in this conflict, but had already died in 1258.