Beilstein castle ruins (Spessart)

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Beilstein castle ruins
Wall remains of the ring of the hilltop castle Beilstein

Wall remains of the ring of the hilltop castle Beilstein

Creation time : End of 13th / beginning of 14th century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Castle ruins
Construction: Sandstone
Place: Jossgrund - Lettgenbrunn
Geographical location 50 ° 10 '12 "  N , 9 ° 24' 10.8"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 10 '12 "  N , 9 ° 24' 10.8"  E
Height: 485  m above sea level NN
Beilstein castle ruins (Hesse)
Beilstein castle ruins
Situation map

The castle ruin Beilstein is the ruin of a hilltop castle on the Beilstein between the hamlet of Villbach and the district of Lettgenbrunn in the area of ​​the municipality of Jossgrund in the Main-Kinzig district in the Hessian Spessart .

location

The ruin is 485  m above sea level. NN on the mountain of the same name southeast of Bad Orb and Gelnhausen in the Hessian part of the Spessart. The castle ruins and the mountain lie in the center of a protrusion of the Hessian state border that pushes south-east into the Bavarian Lower Franconia . The castle ruins are located north of the district road K891, which leads near Villbach from the Hessian state road L2905 via Lettgenbrunn to the villages of the municipality of Jossgrund. The basalt cone and castle are part of the Beilstein nature reserve that was first created in 1930 in the Main-Kinzig district . The Villbach flows around the NSG in the south and west .

history

Basalt formation on the Beilstein

The remains of the small, high medieval Beilstein Castle are located on the mountain, which was first mentioned in a document in 1059 . It was probably built to protect the Kurmainz possessions around Aschaffenburg and Spessart in the north and to control an old road. Presumably, it was also intended to protect and control the glassworks that were built in the northern Spessart.

In 1313 Kurmainz acquired the important Orb from the Büdinger heirs, the lords of Trimberg and the von Hohenlohe - Brauneck . 1343 the castle is in a document of the Archbishop of Mainz Heinrich III. first mentioned by Virneburg . Edelknecht Fritz Forstmeister von Gelnhausen is listed as an hereditary castle man. Mainz does not own the entire castle, but it was a Ganerbeburg . Other heirs are not recorded by name. In 1346 the castle was pledged to the forest masters von Gelnhausen, von Thüngen and Hoelin .

In 1359, the Archbishop of Mainz, Gerlach von Nassau, came to an agreement with the knights Diez von Tüngeda (Thüngen) and Friedrich Forstmeister von Gelnhausen and their families over what was given to them by his predecessor Heinrich III. moved part of Beilstein Castle and had this certified.

When rule in this region passed to the Counts of Hanau , the castle lost its importance and fell into disrepair. In 1427 it is mentioned as derelict.

The establishment of the hamlet of Villbach is associated with Beilstein Castle. The first court of justice in the Jossa valley was located here. It was not until 1571 that the court was moved to Burgjoss and in 1616 to Orb.

On the Spessart map by Paul Pfinzing from 1562/94 Villbach ( Fulbach ), the Beilstein and Lettgenbrunn ( Lettigborn ) are drawn. The castle is still shown here as a ruin with several buildings.

investment

Due to the poor sources, little is known about the castle. The rather smaller castle complex on the northern edge of the Beilstein probably still had a bailey . Today the complex consists only of a remnant of a former rectangular wall ring with a side length of about 12 meters, which is still preserved in L-shape on a sharply sloping edge of the Beilstein. On the inside up to 1.8 m high, the outer wall of the Bering sometimes has heights of over 3 m.

Others

Mountain and castle ruins with near-natural mixed forests are considered to be wintering quarters for bat species that are protected throughout Europe and so the mountain has now been designated as a fauna and flora habitat (FFH area) by the State of Hesse .

The approximately 25 km long cultural cycle path " Perlen der Jossa " as part of the Hessian apple wine and orchard route (symbol: red apple on a white background) passes below the castle. Information boards 1 ( start in Villbach ) and 2 ( Beilstein: basalt cone-castle ruins-nature reserve ) of the Spessart project's cultural trail contain information about the castle and mountain Beilstein.

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 380.
  • Gustav Freiherr Schenk zu Schweinsberg: The Beilstein Castle near Orb , In: Hessenland 11, 1897.
  • Curt Tillmann: Lexicon of German castles and palaces , Stuttgart 1958–59. P. 70

Web links

Commons : Beilstein (Spessart)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Beilstein near Lettgenbrunn: The oldest nature reserve in the Main-Kinzig district , leaflet of the Hessian Society for Ornithology and Nature Conservation
  2. ↑ a b Beilstein Castle (Jossgrund), Main-Kinzig district. Historical local lexicon for Hesse (as of February 17, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on December 27, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Fritz Vigener ( arrangement ): Regesten der Archbischöfe von Mainz von 1289-1396, second section (1354-1396), first volume (1354-1371) , reprint of the edition Leipzig 1913: Berlin 1970, regest 1168
  4. ↑ a b Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen , p. 380.
  5. ↑ a b Kulturwege im Jossgrund , Kulturwege im Spessart, (PDF document; 3.75 MB), accessed on December 27, 2016
  6. ^ A fabulous basalt by Jörg Andersson , in Frankfurter Rundschau , Rhein-Main, Bad Orb from April 28, 2010
  7. ↑ Kulturweg: Perlen der Jossa on www.spessartprojekt.de , accessed on December 29, 2016