Castle ruin Ödenburg (Hainsberg)

Castle ruin Ödenburg
Burgstall Ödenburg - View of the Burgstall from the west
Alternative name (s):	Probably Hainsberg Castle
Creation time :	Early romance
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	Section trenches, remains of walls, rubble cones
Standing position :	Knighthood
Place:	Dietfurt an der Altmühl - Hainsberg
Geographical location	49 ° 3 '8.2 "  N , 11 ° 35' 56"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 3 '8.2 "  N , 11 ° 35' 56"  E
Height:	481  m above sea level NN

Opus Spicatum masonry in the area of ​​the ruin

The castle ruin Ödenburg was a small tower castle , presumably from the Middle Ages , which is located in the southern Franconian Jura north of Dietfurt an der Altmühl in the Upper Palatinate district of Neumarkt in Bavaria .

The castle ruins are freely accessible at all times.

Geographical location

The ruins of the Spornburg are located in the Altmühltal Nature Park on a triangular mountain spur that protrudes into the valley of the Weißen Laber , 900 meters north-northeast of the village of Hainsberg or about two kilometers north of Dietfurt an der Altmühl.

It was located in the area of ​​a prehistoric hilltop settlement, of which a fortification wall about 100 meters west of the spur tip can still be seen.

There were other castles in the vicinity, to the southeast the Wildenstein Castle and the Kopffelsen Castle Stable above Mühlbach, to the northwest the Altenburg Castle near Oberbürg and southwest the Mallerstetten Castle Stables .

history

The castle was probably the seat of the local nobility of Hainsberg, which is mentioned in a document around 1150. In 1166 a "Chonrad von Oedenburc" was mentioned, later the castle was no longer mentioned, so that it was already in ruins in the early Middle Ages and was consequently referred to as a "desolate" castle. Remnants of a stone association in Opus spicatum construction (herringbone technique) suggest that the complex was built in the early Romanesque period . The castle could have served to secure the Franconian royal route from Lauterhofen to Lenting , which led through this area. The neck ditch , sparse wall remains and rubble cones that mark the earlier castle buildings are still present.

From the beginning of the 14th century, the people of Ödenberg moved to Ödenberg Castle in the town of the same name near Lauf an der Pegnitz in Middle Franconia. Later they were partially absorbed by the Nuremberg bourgeoisie, in 1398 the citizens were named Eberhard and Werner Ödenberger.

Today the castle site is listed as a monument number D-3-73-121-52: "Burgruine Ödenburg, remains of the hilltop castle of the Hainsberger in a spur position with neck ditch and wall remains, quarry stone with herringbone technique , early Romanesque" and as a ground monument number D-3-6935- 0024: "Medieval castle stables" Ödenburg ", prehistoric hilltop settlement" protected.

description

The triangular castle site at the top of the mountain spur was well protected, except on the west side, by the steep slope to the Laaber valley, which sometimes fell over rocks. The attack side in the west, which merges flatly with the adjoining Jura plateau , was cordoned off 60 meters in front of the spur tip by a neck ditch up to 14 meters wide . The ditch ends on both sides at the respective slope edge and is now crossed by an earth dam at the entrance. To the south of this earth dam, the neck ditch is designed as a pointed ditch , to the north of it as a sole ditch . Only the lowest stone layers of the castle buildings have survived.

100 meters before the Spornspitze, the Sporn also crosses a moat, but it is probably not part of the medieval castle complex, but a section fortification of a prehistoric hilltop settlement. The slightly arched wall is around 100 meters long, 13 meters wide and two meters high from the inside. A heavily flattened trench is in front of it, it only reaches a depth of 0.3 meters. This moat runs from the southern edge of the slope up to five meters from the northern edge, and here bends inward over a length of 12 meters to form a gate lane, the earlier access to the prehistoric settlement. A breakthrough through the wall in its southern half has recently occurred .

Say

There are several legends with different variants about the ruins. A legend knows of a secret passage between the Ödenburg and Wildenstein Castle , which the knight of Wildenstein used to get to his beloved in the Ödenburg. The parents had forbidden this relationship; the girl was killed by her parents and is said to be haunted in the underground passage, of whose entrance nobody knows. In the second legend, the knight of Wildenstein writes his soul to the devil on the condition that the devil harms his enemy on the Ödenburg. When the devil tries to throw a boulder at the Ödenburg while flying over the valley floor, bells begin to ring and the stone slips away from him. The “Teufelstein” with the handprint of the devil should still be visible on the banks of the Laaber. A third legend tells of three virgins who were held captive in the castle dungeon and who wash their linen towels in the laaber on the eve of the three church celebrations. If you meet them and help them, they will give you a linen cloth that can cure diseases.

literature

• Franz Kerschensteiner: Dietfurt ad Altmühl . Verlag Walter E. Keller, Treuchtlingen 1999, ISBN 3-924828-98-9 , p. 48.
• Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Hikes, Volume 1: Lower Altmühltal . Walter E. Keller Verlag, Treuchtlingen 1993, ISBN 3-924828-42-3 , pp. 86-87.
• Herbert Rädle: Castles and fortress stables in the Neumarkt district . Published by the district of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Neumarkt o. J., ISBN 3-920142-14-4 , pp. 78–79.
• Armin Stroh : The prehistoric and early historical monuments of the Upper Palatinate . (Material booklets on Bavarian prehistory, series B, volume 3). Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz 1975, ISBN 3-7847-5030-3 , p. 174.

Web links

Commons : Burg Ödenburg (Hainsberg)  - Collection of images

• Castle stables Ödenburg and Oberbürg on burgseite.de
• Description of the ruins and legends
• Two sagas from Sopron (PDF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Location of the castle ruins in the Bavarian Monument Atlas
2. ↑ Ingrid Burger-Segl: Archaeological Hikes, Volume 1: lower Altmühltal , p. 87
3. ^ Herbert Rädle: Castles and fortress stables in the Neumarkt district , p. 79
4. ↑ List of monuments for Dietfurt an der Altmühl (PDF) at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (PDF; 163 kB)
5. ↑ Source description: Armin Stroh: The prehistoric and prehistoric terrain monuments of the Upper Palatinate , p. 174