Wasigenstein Castle

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Wasigenstein castle ruins, view from the southwest

Wasigenstein Castle (French Château du Wasigenstein ) is the ruin of a medieval rock castle northwest of Niedersteinbach in the Alsatian Northern Vosges . It got its name after the rock on which it stands, the Wasigenstein.

Founded in the 13th century, the complex initially only occupied the eastern part of the castle rock, but was expanded from 1299 and supplemented by a second castle complex on the western part of the rock. Since then it has been a double castle. The shares in both plants were held by members of the various lines of the von Wasigenstein family until the middle of the 14th century. When this then died out in the male line, ownership came to those of Fleckenstein and von Hohenburg via heir daughters . They sold their rights to the plant piece by piece or passed on parts of them as fiefs, so that there was a strong split in ownership. Within 83 years a total of seven times besieged and captured, probably then heavily dilapidated castle was abandoned in the 15th or 16th century as a residence. After it was damaged by fire in the Thirty Years War , it was completely destroyed in the War of the Palatinate Succession and has been in ruins ever since. This is since 6 December 1898 listed building and is a monument historique freely accessible.

description

Schematic floor plan

The complex is one of the numerous castles in Wasgau . It is located above the Vallunga at about 340 meters above sea level on the western slope of the so-called Schlossberg, a western branch of the Maimont . The German-French border is only 350 meters away as the crow flies.

Wasigenstein is a double castle and consists of two structurally separate parts that lie on two rocky sandstone bars and are separated from one another by a narrow but deep crevice. The two rocky reefs are only connected at the base. They are up to 20 meters high and 75 meters long with a maximum width of eight meters. The facility is accessed from the east. There the castle area is separated from the rest of the mountain by a neck ditch . As with almost all castles in the northern Vosges, the two parts of Wasigenstein Castle are partly carved directly out of the rock and partly consist of masonry buildings. The eastern, slightly higher part is called Groß- or Alt-Wasigenstein . Other names for it are Old Castle and Upper Castle . The western and smaller part is called Klein- or Neu-Wasigenstein . Other names are Lower Castle and New Castle .

Groß-Wasigenstein

Gross-Wasigenstein's keep

From the east, the visitor crosses at the foot of the castle rock a kennel-like fortified area from the late 13th or early 14th century, the former, over time uses widened moat to a large extent. It served Groß-Wasigenstein as one of two economic areas with a large horse pond carved out of the rock , which thanks to its location also ensured that the foot of the rock could not be undermined or the rock climbed. In this area there is also a cistern that was filled with rainwater. This got there through clearly recognizable gutters in the eastern rock face. From the utility area, a staircase carved into the rock leads to the castle on the rock plateau. This is an access created at a later date, which was supposed to connect the buildings in the neck ditch area, which were built after the main castle, with the castle platform. The rock stairs lead up the southern rock face and could not be locked or had other security measures. It can no longer be used today because it breaks off halfway up the castle rock. In the past, wooden stairs led up from there. The second, older stairway to Groß-Wasigenstein Castle begins further west on the south wall in the area of ​​the former lower castle. However, since this could be controlled from Klein-Wasigenstein, the second access, further east, was set up later. The older staircase consists of a staircase carved into the rock, which is bordered on both sides by rock walls. The numerous beam holes still preserved in it show that it was thought of earlier.

Groß-Wasigenstein's shield wall

The older castle entrance ends in the western area of ​​the rock platform and thus in the partially collapsed rock cellar of the former residential building. Its southern area is partly occupied by a filter cistern. It is an elongated building that took up the entire width of the rock and of which only a few remains of the wall are left. Its wall thickness is only 0.84 meters above the precipices. How many storeys the building once had can no longer be determined today. What is certain, however, is that a castle chapel was housed in its eastern part . To the west to Klein-Wasigenstein Castle, the building is protected by a 4.80 meter thick section of shield wall. It has a spiral staircase in the wall thickness and, together with the south wall of the residential building, is more recent than the eastern section of the building. After Klein-Wasigenstein was built, it was extended to the entire length of the castle rock that was still available and was previously only 22 meters long. To the east of the residential building stands the towering remnant of a pentagonal keep , which is wedge-shaped on the attack side in the east. It served as protection for the residential building behind. Its masonry, which is clad on the outside with elongated humpback blocks, is partially up to a height of about ten meters. Due to the thick walls of the tower, its interior is so small that there was just room for a spiral staircase that led to the former defense platform . To the east of the keep are around 1.5 meter high wall remains that are younger than the tower. While Thomas Biller (see literature ) interprets it as the remainder of an extension building necessary due to lack of space, Charles-Laurent Salch (see also literature ) proposes that it could be a kind of fortification that dates from a time when Firearms were introduced. Overall, Groß-Wasigenstein is around 50 meters long and between five and eight meters wide.

Klein-Wasigenstein

The protective east wall of Klein-Wasigenstein

The Klein-Wasigenstein castle is a lot smaller than the Groß-Wasigenstein castle, which is due to the smaller castle rock. It essentially consists of a residential tower-like structure measuring around 20 × 8 meters , the polygonal floor plan of which is given by the castle rock. Today it has three basement floors carved into the rock as well as two of what used to be five floors, the outer walls of which consist of humpback cuboids with an edging or smooth cuboid with an edging. They are all made of red Vosges sandstone. However, only small remains of the first floor have survived. To the east, the building protects its up to four meter thick wall without any opening from the Old Castle, which is only ten meters away. In the thick wall there is a narrow spiral staircase that led to the former battlement . The ground floor measures 11 × 5 meters in the clear . A large part of it is taken up by the pit of a cistern. There is still a toilet niche on the north side, but not the corresponding bay . However, has become part of in one of the five double windows early Gothic jambs with quatrefoil - tracery received.

The Klein-Wasigenstein castle platform was accessible via a long, steep rock staircase that began in the western part of the lower castle. It flowed into a rock shaft that ended at a round arched gate in the lowest cellar of the residential tower.

Lower castle

Both castles shared a lower castle at the foot of the castle rock, which was previously divided into two areas by a wall running in north-south direction. It is located on a natural terrace in the western area of ​​the south side and probably dates back to the time the old castle was built . The area was of considerable size and was surrounded by a circular wall. The main entrance is still on the east side, where the main gate was already in the Middle Ages . However, this has completely disappeared today. An adjacent rock chamber with a loopholes to defend the gate has been preserved. A house and a cistern for the lower castle have come down to us for the year 1299. Later, almost all buildings in this area leaned against the castle rock.

history

Beginnings

The oldest surviving mention of the castle is in a document from 1270 in which the brothers Friedrich and Seman confirmed the donation of a pond to the Marienthal monastery . In the document, the two call themselves de Wasichenstein after their possessions . They were sons of Engelhard, the Marshal of the Palatinate Hagenau . It is uncertain whether the two brothers built the complex between 1268 and 1270, or whether it was already done by their father.

Under the von Wasigenstein family

The history of the castle is largely determined by the division of its builder family into several lines. In 1299 Fritzmann and Friedrich von Wasigenstein divided the castle between them. Fritzmann founded the older line and received the western castle rock in order to build a new castle there, which, however, was not allowed to be higher than the existing old castle according to the partition agreement. Friedrich founded the younger line of the von Wasigenstein family and received the eastern castle rock along with the buildings on it. These were secured to the west towards the newly built Klein-Wasigenstein Castle by a thick wall. After Friedrich's death in 1306, ownership and rights to the castle were split up again: Friedrich's sons Dietrich, Fritzmann and Engelhard divided the Groß-Wasigenstein castle among themselves. Dietrich and Fritzmann received the older part of the residential building, while Engelhard, who was probably also the builder of Klein-Arnsberg Castle , was responsible for the western extension of the residential building with the cistern. However, like the keep, this remained common property. The complex had finally become a Ganerbeburg .

The successors of the von Wasigenstein family

The von Wasigenstein family died out of the male line in the middle of the 14th century. Dietrich's son Johann von Wasigenstein was the last male representative of the older line. Katharina, one of his two daughters, married Heinrich I von Fleckenstein in 1350 and brought Groß-Wasigenstein Castle to her husband's family. They were the parents of Worms Bishop Johann II von Fleckenstein .

With the death of Cun (t) z von Wasigenstein from the older line in 1358, Klein-Wasigenstein Castle was inherited by his only daughter, Euphemia, in the family of her husband Wirich I. Puller von Hohenburg. Both parties passed on parts of their castle property as an after-fief or sold shares in it to third parties, which resulted in an extreme division of property. Ludwig von Frönsburg transferred a quarter of his stake to the Counts of Zweibrücken-Bitsch in 1369 , while the brothers Cunemann and Engelhard von Hohenstein sold their rights to the castle in 1377 to Erpf von Altdorf, Johann Ostertag von Windstein and Johann (es) von Kropfsberg.

In 1385 there was a feud between two of the castle parties, Werner von Ramberg and the Lords of Ochsenstein . The brothers Rudolph and Ottmann von Ochstein besieged and conquered the castle and put Werner prisoner. He was only released again after he had renounced his share in the Wasigenstein. Just one year later, the ownership structure had fundamentally changed again. In 1386 the plant belonged to Emich VI. von Leiningen, Bohemond von Ettendorf, the knight Emich von Wartenberg and Hennel Streiff von Landenberg. The siege in 1385 was the first in a long series of such events. In 1410 the brothers Heinrich and Cuntz Mauchenheimer von Zweibrücken besieged and conquered the old castle in a conflict with Heinrich Kämmerer von Dalberg , a son-in-law of Heinrich von Fleckenstein. In 1435, Eberhard von Sickingen tried to obtain compensation from the brothers Jacob and Ludwig von Lichtenberg for damage caused by the capture of the castle . In 1447 Groß-Wasigenstein was again by Johann III. taken by Nassau-Saarbrücken , before Count Palatine Friedrich I besieged and captured the Neue Burg, which was owned by the Hohenburger, in a feud against Richard von Hohenburg. Frederick I kept a quarter of the castle for himself, the remaining part he gave as a fief to the von Sickingen family. In 1464 the bishop of Speyer , Johannes II. Nix von Hoheneck , was able to take Klein-Wasigenstein after a siege.

Hanau-Lichtenberg

Wasigenstein castle ruins on a painting by Georg Osterwald
The castle ruins in 1900, photo by Emile Wagner

The Lichtenbergs have also been co-owners of the castle since 1466 , after having acquired shares from the Speyer and Palatinate Counts. The Lichtenberger share was assigned to their office in Wörth . They were also immediately involved in the next siege: in 1468 Groß-Wasigenstein was their destination again, because five of the castle owners were holding subjects of the von Lichtenberg family. However, the besieged immediately surrendered and released the prisoners.

In the course of history, shareholders included the Frönsburger, Altdorfer, Windsteiner, Ochsensteiner , Kropfsberger, Fleckensteiner and For 1463/66 a total of 15 castle owners have come down to us. Twelve sat on Gross-Wasigenstein, three on Klein-Wasigenstein. After the family died out in the male line in 1480, the Lichtenberg share in the complex (Neu-Wasigenstein) fell to Elisabeth, one of the two heiresses, to her husband Simon IV. Wecker von Zweibrücken-Bitsch. With the death of the last Count of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, Jakob, in 1570, the property passed to the family of her husband, Count Philipp V of Hanau-Lichtenberg, via his heir, Ludovica Margaretha . In 1711 they also acquired Groß-Wasigenstein from the Lords of Fleckenstein, who had been the sole owners of this part since the 16th century.

The numerous feuds and sieges left the castle in a poor condition at the end of the 15th century. It was abandoned in the 16th century at the latest. This fits the fact that no modifications of the castle to adapt it to firearms are recognizable. Since not only the fortifications, but also lands, forests and rights belonged to a castle, it still represented a value. In the 16th century, parts of the complex were already in ruins . After it was set on fire during the Thirty Years War, it was further destroyed by French troops under Joseph de Montclar in 1680 in the War of the Palatinate Succession .

After the death of the last Hanau count, Johann Reinhard III. , the inheritance - and with it the castle - fell in 1736 to the son of his only daughter, Charlotte , the Hereditary Prince and later Landgrave Ludwig (IX.) of Hesse-Darmstadt .

Modern times

With the upheaval started by the French Revolution , the Wörth office and the castle came under the sovereignty of France, but with the Second Peace of Paris in 1815 to the Kingdom of Bavaria and in 1825 to France again through the border correction . In 1871, the Peace of Frankfurt added most of Alsace and with it Wasigenstein Castle to the German Empire. In 1920 it came back to France.

The castle in poetry and literature

The gorge between the two castles is said to be the scene of the battles described in the Walthari song . Walther of Aquitaine rested here with his beloved Hildegunde.

Meanwhile, Walthari rode inland from the Rhine.
He rode into a dark, shady forest;
That was the hunter's joy, the old Wasigenwald,
Where the hunting horn sounds merrily to the dogs barking.
There two mountains rise up close together in the air,
A gulf between them gracefully splits,
Arched by jagged rocks, surrounded by branches
And green shrub and grass, a real robber's nest
(excerpt from the Walthari song, translated into German by Joseph Victor von Scheffel )

When the Burgundians approached under their King Gunther , Walther placed himself in the narrow crevice in a tactical manner and killed eleven Gunthers comrades-in-arms in a single fight. The following morning there was a fight between Walther and Hagen and Gunther in a clearing down the valley: Gunther lost a thigh, Hagen an eye and Walther his right hand. Hildegunde washed the wounds with red wine and made peace. After the brotherhood was closed, Walther and Hildegunde moved to Aquitaine , married and lived there as a royal couple.

Von Scheffel also dedicated one of his poems to the Wasigenstein castle ruins:

A path bends from the Maimont peaks
into an Alsatian forest valley
and the brown-red staring out of green treetops is
the double block of the Wasigenstein.
like a moss-covered forest secret,
the huge, broken house,
in rubble and silent dream, rests
puzzles from ancient times.

literature

  • Rüdiger Bernges: rock castles in Wasgau. Investigations of a special type of castle in the southern Palatinate Forest and in the northern Vosges . 6th edition. Truly, Ahrweiler 2005, pp. 107-114.
  • Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) (= The castles of Alsace. Architecture and history. Vol. 3). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-422-06132-0 , pp. 265-274.
  • Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: Wasigenstein. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit , Ulrich Burkhart, Rolf Übel (eds.): Palatinate Castle Lexicon. Volume 4.2: St-Z (= contributions to the history of the Palatinate . Vol. 12.4.2). Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore, Kaiserslautern 2007, ISBN 978-3-927754-56-0 , pp. 239-253 ( PDF ; 6.2 MB).
  • Walter Hotz: Handbook of the art monuments in Alsace and Lorraine . 3. Edition. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1976, p. 304.
  • Johann Georg Lehmann: Thirteen castles of Lower Alsace and Bad Niederbronn . Karl J. Trübner, Strasbourg 1878, pp. 196–215 ( digitized version )
  • André Lerch: Wasigenstein. Château-fort semi troglodytique du Wasgau d'Alsace (= Châteaux-Forts d'Europe . Special volume 42–43). Strasbourg June / September 2007, ISSN  1253-6008 .
  • Ferdinand Mehle: Castle ruins of the Vosges . Morstadt, Kehl [and a.] 1986, ISBN 3-88571-146-X , pp. 48-53.
  • Nicolas Mengus, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Châteaux forts et fortifications médiévales d′Alsace. Dictionnaire d′histoire et d′architecture . La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2013, ISBN 978-2-7165-0828-5 , pp. 338–339.
  • Roland Recht (Ed.): Le Guide des châteaux de France. Bas-Rhin . Hermé, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-86665-024-7 , pp. 100-101.
  • Charles-Laurent Salch: Nouveau Dictionnaire des Châteaux Forts d'Alsace . Alsatia, Strasbourg 1991, ISBN 2-7032-0193-1 , pp. 333-336.
  • Alexander Thon, Hans Reither, Peter Pohlit: ... like a banished, inaccessible magic castle . Castles in the southern Palatinate . 2nd Edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1570-5 , pp. 152–157.
  • Felix Wolff: Alsatian Castle Lexicon. Directory of castles and chateaus in Alsace . Strasbourg 1908. Unchanged reprint Weidlich, Frankfurt a. M. 1979, ISBN 3-8035-1008-2 , pp. 355-358.

Web links

Commons : Wasigenstein Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ F. Mehle: Burgruinen der Vogesen , 1986, p. 52.
  2. ↑ Entry of the castle ruins in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  3. ^ R. Bernges: Felsenburgen im Wasgau , 2005, p. 107.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f T. Biller, B. Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) , 1995, p. 265.
  5. ↑ a b c A. Thon, H. Reither, P. Pohlit: ... like a banned, unapproachable magic castle , 2005, p. 154.
  6. ↑ A. Thon, H. Reither, P. Pohlit: ... like a banned, unapproachable magic castle , 2005, p. 156.
  7. ↑ a b c T. Biller, B. Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) , 1995, p. 269.
  8. ↑ a b c T. Biller, B. Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) , 1995, p. 270.
  9. ↑ See T. Biller, B. Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) , 1995, p. 270 and C.-L. Salch: Nouveau Dictionnaire des Châteaux Forts d'Alsace , 1991, p. 333.
  10. ↑ a b c d A. Thon, H. Reither, P. Pohlit: ... like a banned, unapproachable magic castle , 2005, p. 157.
  11. ^ F. Wolff: Elsässisches Burgen-Lexikon , 1979, p. 358.
  12. ^ T. Biller, B. Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) , 1995, p. 273.
  13. ^ R. Bernges: Felsenburgen im Wasgau , 2005, p. 108.
  14. ↑ a b c C.-L. Salch: Nouveau Dictionnaire des Châteaux Forts d'Alsace , 1991, p. 335.
  15. ↑ a b T. Biller, B. Metz: The early Gothic castle construction in Alsace (1250-1300) , 1995, p. 274, note 10.
  16. ↑ a b C.-L. Salch: Nouveau Dictionnaire des Châteaux Forts d'Alsace , 1991, p. 336.
  17. ^ Fritz Eyer: The territory of the Lords of Lichtenberg 1202-1480. Investigations into the property, the rule and the politics of domestic power of a noble family from the Upper Rhine . In: Writings of the Erwin von Steinbach Foundation . 2nd edition, unchanged in the text, by an introduction extended reprint of the Strasbourg edition, Rhenus-Verlag, 1938. Volume 10 . Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1985, ISBN 3-922923-31-3 , p. 75 (268 pages).
  18. ^ Fritz Eyer: The territory of the Lords of Lichtenberg 1202-1480. Investigations into the property, the rule and the politics of domestic power of a noble family from the Upper Rhine . In: Writings of the Erwin von Steinbach Foundation . 2nd edition, unchanged in the text, by an introduction extended reprint of the Strasbourg edition, Rhenus-Verlag, 1938. Volume 10 . Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1985, ISBN 3-922923-31-3 , p. 239 (268 pages).
  19. ^ A. Thon, H. Reither, P. Pohlit: ... like a banned, unapproachable magic castle , 2005, p. 153.
  20. ^ Jean Braun: Walks through the castles of Alsace . SAEP, Ingersheim 1983, ISBN 2-85669-021-1 , p. 78.
  21. ↑ F. Mehle: Burgruinen der Vogesen , 1986, p. 53.
  22. ↑ Wasigenstein Castle on kastel.elsass.free.fr , accessed on December 15, 2014.
  23. ^ Fritz Bouchholtz: Castles and palaces in Alsace. Based on old templates (= castles, palaces, mansions . Volume 24). Weidlich, Frankfurt a. M. 1962, p. 40.
  24. ↑ Charles Matthis: Wasgowiana. Legends of the Wasgenwald . Heitz, Strasbourg 1918, p. 34.

Coordinates: 49 ° 2 ′ 52 ″  N , 7 ° 42 ′ 6 ″  E