Weckenstein Castle

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Weckenstein Castle
Alternative name (s): Heidenschloss Storzingen
Creation time : before 1150/1227 to 1233
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Edelfrei / Ministeriale
Construction: Small cuboid, quarry stone
Place: Storzingen
Geographical location 48 ° 7 '15 "  N , 9 ° 7' 34.2"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 7 '15 "  N , 9 ° 7' 34.2"  E
Height: 700  m above sea level NN
Weckenstein Castle (Baden-Württemberg)
Weckenstein Castle

The castle Wake stone , even Heath Castle Storzingen called, is a medieval castle ruins south of Storzingen , a part of municipality of Stetten in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg , Germany . It was the ancestral seat of the noble family von Weckenstein .

location

The ruins of the Spornburg are located on a wooded edge of the valley to the right of the Schmeiental at around 700 meters above sea level between Storzingen and Oberschmeien in the Obere Donau Nature Park . It was built in a strategically favorable location on a steep slope on the north and south sides. To the east of the castle and at around 620 m, the Schmeie river flows south towards the Danube .

history

Weckenstein Castle is one of the early castle complexes in the region. Its foundation is dated before 1150. A class assignment of the gender of the Weckensteiner is not certain. An assignment of the Weckensteiner to the nobility is just as conceivable as one to the noble free .

Knight Burkhard von Weckenstein is mentioned in a document in 1212 as the founder of the Cistercian monastery in Wald . His sister Judintha becomes abbess , another sister Ita becomes prioress . Before that, however, he bought a piece of land south of Storzingen from Ulrich von Balbe , on which there was also a small church. The plans to build a Cistercian monastery there for his two sisters, he rejected after the founding in Wald in favor of the castle built between 1227 and 1233. At that time Burkhard was in the service of Emperor Friedrich II.

His name appears again and again in documents: He is a witness to a donation of goods to the Wald monastery (1230), to the handover of the Boos estate to the Sisters of Mengen by Count Gottfried von Sigmaringen (1231). The Counts of Veringen (1236/37), von Heiligenberg (1240) or von Helfenstein (1241) also include him as a witness in their documents. Konrad von Weckenstein (1238–1249) and Hermann von Weckenstein (1250) entered the Cistercian Abbey of Salem as monks . In 1287 a Konrad von Weckenstein was named in the servants of Duke Konrad von Teck . In a document from 1304, Count Eberhard von Nellenburg names the brothers Johann , Heinrich and Burkhard von Weckenstein his faithful.

Coat of arms of the municipality of Wald

The von Weckenstein family had a silver diamond on the top of a green three-mountain as a coat of arms on a red shield. The diamond shape is referred to in the heraldic language as a wake . The people of Weckenstein probably owe their name to the layout of the castle - it resembles a diamond. Dreiberg and Raute can be found in the coat of arms of the municipality of Wald to this day.

In 1382, a Johann von Weckenstein is mentioned on the occasion of the foundation of a measurement pledge in the Ebingen chapel . This was the last mention of a Weckensteiner. With the extinction of the family, the fall of the family castle began. In 1410 or 1460 it is referred to as " Burgstall " in a border description when the Werdenbergs were enfeoffed with the county of Sigmaringen .

Weckenstein Castle and the pilgrimage

The discovery of a pilgrimage sign from Cologne dated to the middle of the 12th to the end of the 13th century with a depiction of the Three Kings near Weckenstein Castle allows the conclusion that it was used in the medieval pilgrimages in the 12th to the middle of the 14th century. Century played a role.

The rectangular flat cast with four eyelets on the side, which is kept in the archives of the Archaeological State Museum Baden-Württemberg in Konstanz, shows the Three Wise Men in a rite of homage on the left . They each hold a stick that stands up on the floor. The other arm is bent and is holding an offering. Opposite is the crowned Mother of God with the child. The winged bust of the star angel appears in the central gable .

This is remarkable because only 27 such finds are known from this period in all of Baden-Württemberg.

investment

The layout of the castle, the ramparts and the position of the tower are clearly visible. The walls have completely broken away in some places, in others it is still complete. Where only the wall lining is preserved, the mortar is very strong.

The castle complex on the ridge-shaped rock is freely accessible. It is separated in the south (on the mountain side) by the narrow neck ditch , a natural rock slab in front of a ridge. The access is to be found on the southern mountain flank through the moat via an enlarged forecourt.

A forest path leads to the forecourt with a cellar pit. The cellar pit is the possible location of the former farm building. The forecourt merges into an outer courtyard, which is in front of the actual core castle .

The main castle is surrounded by a polygonal curtain wall that is still quite high . This sits on the outside of the rock, but is dilapidated and no longer closed in various places, the stones are partly loose.

The center of the main castle is a courtyard measuring around 30 × 40 meters. Remains of the quarry stone masonry have been preserved on the left. In its extension on the right-hand side, the remains of the core masonry lie as debris cones. The location of the former gate is assumed to be adjacent here. In the inner courtyard on the left (north side), hollows and rubble indicate the location of the outbuilding. In the east (on the valley side) is the possible location of the main building ( Palas ) at an exposed point .

Redevelopment

Over the centuries the once stately complex fell into disrepair and became a ruin. The plant is now owned by the municipality of Stetten. In February 2009 the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Baden-Württemberg announced that the castle ruins had been classified as a cultural monument in accordance with Section 2 of the Monument Protection Act for Baden-Württemberg , and that there is a public interest in preserving it, primarily for reasons of local history. An on-site meeting took place in summer 2008.

In March 2009, all the documents were submitted to the preservation of monuments in Tübingen so that the scope of the renovation can be determined there and the necessary financial resources can be made available. The initiator of the renovation measures is the Stetten resident Günter Gratius. A survey and an examination of the building history as well as the removal of the heavy tree vegetation were ordered. The State Office bears the costs for the measurement. The " Aktion Ruinenschutz Oberes Donautal eV " supports the renovation .

In order to preserve the ruins, it made sense to remove the tall trees and bushes that were growing wild in April 2009. The topographical survey of the castle complex was also completed in April 2009. While the old walls have completely broken away in some places, they are still almost completely in other places. The entire floor plan of the castle, the former protective walls and the position of the tower are clearly visible to the observer. The wall shell is missing from the originally unusually strong shield wall, the wall core is open and unprotected. After that, a wide ramp was laid to the castle forecourt in order to logistically enable the upcoming renovation work on the loose walls.

Funding is still pending from the State Office, further information should be available at the beginning of July 2009, but the Schwörerstiftung, among others, has promised a donation.

annotation

  1. ↑ a b c Dating problem: There is a difference between the ceramic dating according to Christoph Bizer and the dating according to medieval sources
  2. ↑ Vera Romeu: At a glance. Weckenstein is the seat of the nobility . In: Schwäbische Zeitung of February 26, 2009
  3. ↑ See Günter Schmitt (1990) p. 87
  4. ↑ Original: General State Archives Karlsruhe; Replica: document no. 1249, REC Volume I, Regesta of the Bishops of Constance, in the Archbishopric Archive Freiburg .
  5. ↑ Andreas Haasis-Berner: Chapter 7. The dissemination of pilgrim signs within small spaces in: Pilgrim sign research State of research and perspectives on the certified document server of the Humboldt University in Berlin. September 30, 2002 ( Memento of February 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ After pilgrimage and pilgrimage signs ( Memento from September 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ a b Gerd Feuerstein: First work at the Weckenstein castle ruins - the forest team fell trees and clears bushes. Walls woke up from their slumber . In: Südkurier of April 21, 2009
  8. ^ A b Vera Romeu: Annual Meeting. Protection from ruins requires action . In: Schwäbische Zeitung from April 14, 2009
  9. ↑ a b Vera Romeu: Restoration. The State Monuments Office is active on the ruins . In: Schwäbische Zeitung of February 26, 2009
  10. ↑ Ruin protection wants to build ramp . In: Schwäbische Zeitung from April 14, 2009
  11. ↑ a b Vera Romeu: Restoration. Mountaineer exposes castle ruins . In: Schwäbische Zeitung of June 27, 2009

literature

  • Christoph Bizer: Dating castles through ceramics . In: City advertising in the district of Sigmaringen-Veringen . 1985
  • Andreas Haasis-Berner: Pilgrim signs between the Main and the Alps . In: Hartmut Kühne and Danial Dolezal (eds.): Pilgrimages in European Culture / Pilgrimage in European Culture . Proceedings Pribram 26. – 29. May 2004 = European Pilgrimage Studies 1. Frankfurt, 2006. pp. 237–252; there: pp. 238 and 248 and Fig. 2 on p. 240
  • Andreas Haasis-Berner, Jörg Poettgen: The Medieval Pilgrim Signs of the Three Kings a contribution from archeology and campanology to the research of the pilgrimage to Cologne . In: Journal of Archeology of the Middle Ages . Vol. 30. Bonn, 2002. pp. 173-202; there: p. 182
  • Homeland book . Stetten am kalten Markt. P. 61
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: Castles of the German Middle Ages. Floor plan lexicon . Bechtermünz publishing house. Weltbild Verlag GmbH. Augsburg, licensed edition 1996. p. 645. ISBN 3-86047-219-4
  • Johann Adam Kraus: Castle stables and palaces in and around Hohenzollern . In: Hohenzollerische Heimat . No. 19, 1969
  • Max Miller (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 6: Baden-Württemberg (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 276). Kröner, Stuttgart 1965, DNB 456882928 .
  • Günter Schmitt : Weckenstein . In: Ders .: Burgenführer Schwäbische Alb. Volume 3: Danube Valley. Hiking and discovering between Sigmaringen and Tuttlingen . Pp. 85-88. Biberach publishing house printing. Biberach 1990. ISBN 3-924489-50-5
  • Eduard Schuster: The castles and palaces of Baden . Verlag der Hofbuchhandlung Friedrich Gutsch, Karlsruhe 1908
  • Stefan Uhl: The Weckenstein castle ruins and the Storzinger Schlössle . In: Leaves of the Swabian Alb Association . 1989
  • Karl Theodor Zingler, Georg Buck: Zolleric palaces, castles and castle ruins in Swabia . 1906

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