Werth Castle
| Werth Castle | ||
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 Werth Castle 1740 |
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| Castle type : | Niederungsburg, location | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall, castle hill | |
| Place: | Werth | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 49 '8.4 " N , 6 ° 30' 42.6" E | |
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The castle Werth is an Outbound Wasserburg in Werth , a district of the North Rhine-Westphalian town Isselburg , close to the border with the Netherlands .
The castle hill has been preserved and can be easily recognized in the cityscape, but there are no visible remains of the wall. Only the gatehouse belonging to the Werther city fortifications , which was in front of the castle and was used for its preliminary defense, still stands and was used as the town hall for a long time. Today it is privately owned and serves as a cultural center. The Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul now stands on the foundation walls of the former main building of the castle. It is therefore not oriented in an east-west but in a north-south direction. On today's church square, the former inner courtyard of the main castle , the walls of the castle are highlighted by the paving , a fountain is bricked up again.
history
Werth Castle probably emerged from an early medieval hilltop castle . There was an important Issel crossing from the Münsterland to the Lower Rhine . At the same time, the Issel forms a natural border in the region. Already the Romans erected border walls here to secure the foreland of the Rhine, which may correspond to the Klever Landwehr , after which the Issel marked the border of Christianization between Christian Franks west and pagan Saxons east of the river. Later the Issel formed the western border of the diocese of Münster , on the other side was the archbishopric of Cologne . The castle was on the right of the Issel in the Münster area.
In 1260 a Gerhard de Werthe was mentioned who owned a tithe from estates near Vreden , Winterswijk and Dinxperlo as an episcopal fief . The existence of a knight dynasty in Werth makes the simultaneous existence of a castle probable.
Werth Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1296. In a document dated April 3, 1296, the Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried von Westerburg, enfeoffed Heinrich von der Lecke with a "part of the quarry that lies in front of his castle at Werth and belongs to us". In 1311 Heinrich's son, Peter von der Lecke, received the Werth house, which he had bought from a Gerhard von Werth from Ludwig II , Bishop of Münster, as a fief. The fact that Peter von der Lecke first bought the Werth house does not rule out the fact that his father Heinrich owned the castle in 1296. This would be possible through pledging or leasing. The Bruchland mentioned in 1296, today's Wertherbruch , lies to the left of the Issel and thus belonged to the Archdiocese of Cologne.
In 1318 the castle is mentioned as "castrum Werde". In 1341 it came by inheritance to the Lords of Culemborg . Besieged in 1436 in the Klev feud, the castle was occupied by Klev troops from 1437-1438 and 1446 . In 1475 it was described as strongly fortified . As a feudal lord, the Bishop of Münster promoted the expansion against the competing dukes of Kleve on the other side of the Issel.
The castle changed hands several times. In 1509 it was inherited by the Counts of Palland . After Werth had converted to the Reformed faith together with the counts , Spanish troops occupied the castle for 15 years. The occupation did not end until 1596. In 1639 the complex came to the Counts of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and later to the Duke of Saxony-Hildburghausen . In 1688 it was partially renewed. In 1709 Bishop Franz Arnold von Wolff-Metternich bought the castle and Herrschaft Werth for the bishopric of Münster , in 1719 the Werther Catholics were given a part of the castle to hold church services. After the buildings had been abandoned in 1780 with the exception of small remains, the castle was demolished in 1886 except for the gatehouse in front of it, which had been used as the town hall since the 16th century, and the Catholic Peter and Paul Church was built on the foundation walls.
The gatehouse was badly damaged in the final weeks of World War II . Later expanded and rebuilt, it served as the town hall until Werth was incorporated into the city of Isselburg in 1975. The building then fell into disrepair before being privately owned in 2011 and restored along with a number of neighboring medieval structures. The Rathauscarré has served as a cultural center since then.
The attachment
During the first phase of expansion in Stein, only the keep was initially built. Its massive walls - made of natural stone in the lower area - rose on a surface area of 9 × 9 meters. According to reports, he was of "guther defension" and had a wall thickness of six feet , or 1.9 meters , on the top floor . With four storeys, one can assume a wall thickness of more than three meters on the ground floor. The tower was equipped with so-called machicolation , the dungeon was in the basement .
The outbuildings and the outer bailey were initially built in half-timbered houses. Only the foundations of the buildings were made of stone. Under Johann von Culemborg, the core castle was provided with a mantle wall from 1410 . The stone buildings of the main castle followed step by step. Until it was demolished, the outer bailey consisted of half-timbered houses - as the tradesmen's accounts show. The castle hill was extended to the west in the 16th century, probably to make room for the progressive development of the inner courtyard.
literature
- Wilhelm Kohl (edit.): The diocese of Münster. Part 7: The Diocese 2 . De Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-11-017514-2 , p. 295 ( Germania sacra . NF, volume 37).
- Franz-Josef Lensing: The history of the Werther castle . In: Heimatverein Werth 1986 (ed.): Festschrift for the 575th anniversary of the city of Werth . Heimatverein Werth 1986, Isselburg-Werth 2001, pp. 31–53 ( Heimat-Echo . No. 32).
- Heimatverein Werth 1986 (Ed.): Festschrift for the 575th anniversary of the city of Werth . Heimatverein Werth 1986, Isselburg-Werth 2001, p. 17.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz-Josef Lensing: The history of the Werther castle . In: Heimatverein Werth 1986 (ed.): Festschrift for the 575th anniversary of the city of Werth . Heimatverein Werth 1986, Isselburg-Werth 2001, p. 35 ( Heimat-Echo . No. 32).
- ↑ Historical working group Wertherbruch (Ed.): Alte Herrlichkeit Wertherbruch. 1996 p. 10. ISBN 3-9804979-1-7
- ↑ a b Heimatverein Werth 1986 (Ed.): Festschrift for the 575th anniversary of the city of Werth . Heimatverein Werth 1986, Isselburg-Werth 2001, p. 17.
- ↑ Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Werth 1985 (Hrsg.): Festbuch for the anniversary year 1985 of the Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Werth 1435 - 1735 - 1985. P. 138.
- ^ Franz-Josef Lensing: The history of the Werther castle . In: Heimatverein Werth 1986 (ed.): Festschrift for the 575th anniversary of the city of Werth . Heimatverein Werth 1986, Isselburg-Werth 2001, p. 47 ( Heimat-Echo . No. 32).
- ^ Franz-Josef Lensing: The history of the Werther castle . In: Heimatverein Werth 1986 (ed.): Festschrift for the 575th anniversary of the city of Werth . Heimatverein Werth 1986, Isselburg-Werth 2001, p. 38 ( Heimat-Echo . No. 32).