Altenstein Castle Ruins (Eichsfeld)
| Altenstein castle ruins | ||
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 Partial view |
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| Creation time : | around 1264 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | Remains of the keep and wall | |
| Standing position : | Nobles, counts | |
| Place: | Asbach-Sickenberg | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 17 '7.8 " N , 10 ° 3' 24.2" E | |
| Height: | 350 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Altenstein castle ruin is a medieval castle ruin in the Asbach-Sickenberg district in the Eichsfeld district in Thuringia .
Geographical location
The ruin of the Spornburg lies on a small, south-west facing 350 m above sea level. NHN high mountain spur above the upper valley of the Old Hainsbach , a barely eight kilometers long right tributary of the Werra .
history
The castle goes back with high probability to the Thuringian landgraves , who were able to complete the expansion of their dominion into the lower Werra valley in the late 12th century. In connection with the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession , the chronicler Johannes Rothe mentions "eight permanent places on the lower Werra", but does not name them, which the Wettins allocated as inheritance in a contract to Sophie von Brabant . Altenstein Castle was first mentioned in 1329, when the Hessian Landgrave Heinrich II gave the knight Berthold Eselskopf and his squire Hugo from the Mark half of Altenstein and the villages of Asbach-Sickenberg and Weidenbach as pledge.
In 1346, Bruno and Hertwig von Weberstedt, as Burgmannen, had to pledge to the Hessian Landgrave that they would not involve him in an unjust war, do any other injustice or engage in robbery, as they were known for such crimes. In 1347 the sons of Berthold Eselkopf gave the rights to their brother-in-law Urban von Weberstedt . In 1375 Lippold von Hanstein came into the possession of the Altenstein by pledging. On July 7, 1379, the Hessian Landgrave Hermann II became the owner of Altenstein Castle again and transferred it to the von Mänz family . From 1438 to 1643 the Hessian noble family von Bischhausen owned Altenstein Castle; the castle was badly devastated during the Thirty Years War . In 1643 the von Bischoffshausen brothers sell the fiefdom for 18,600 Reichstaler to the princess. At that time Altenstein was the court and seat of an office to which the villages of Asbach , Hennigerode , Sickenberg and Weidenbach belonged.
Later the castle was rebuilt as a Vorwerk and then used as a forester's house. Until 1945, the area belonged to the Hessian state forest Allendorf and then came to the Thuringian district of Eichsfeld through the exchange of territory as a result of the Wanfrieder Agreement . The castle was still used as a forester's apartment until 1954, after which it was used as a children's holiday camp for a few years. In 1973 the castle complex was blown up as part of the border security measures on the inner German border . The area near the border was no longer accessible to the population at the end of 1989.
description
The former castle complex lies on a mountain spur that slopes steeply on three sides; it was secured on the fourth side by a wall and ditch fortification . The castle has a rectangular floor plan. Still recognizable which is core Burg with Palas , House and a square keep the (only about 1.10 meters) strikes with an unusually low wall thickness.
Todays situation
The castle site is a protected ground monument . The area in question is used for forestry. The castle is accessed by hiking trails.
literature
- York-Egbert König , Karl Kollmann , Erna Ursel Lange: The Altenstein. 1329-2004. 675 years in the Hessian-Eichsfeld border region . Historical Society of Werraland et al., Eschwege et al. 2004, ISBN 3-929413-84-1 , p. 93 .
- Thomas Bienert: Medieval castles in Thuringia. 430 castles, castle ruins and fortifications . Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-631-1 , p. 26: Altenstein castle ruins .
- Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces. 2nd expanded and revised edition. Jenzig-Verlag Köhler, Jena 2003, ISBN 3-910141-56-0 , p. 56.
- Hans Maresch, Doris Maresch: Castles and palaces (= Thuringia worth seeing ). VHT - Publishing House Thuringia, Erfurt 1997, ISBN 3-89683-105-4 .
- Thomas Wölker: Insights into the recent development of Altenstein, Greifenstein, Hessel and Keudelstein in the area of the former inner-German border. In: Das Werraland 1992, Issue 4, pp. 81–86
Web links
- Altenstein castle ruins at dickemauern.de
- Entry on Altenstein castle ruins in the private database "Alle Burgen".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Volker Große, Gunter Römer: Lost cultural sites in Eichsfeld 1945 to 1989 A documentation . Eichsfeld Verlag, Heilbad Heiligenstadt, 2006, page 13