Birkenstein castle ruins (Eichsfeld)
| Birkenstein castle ruins | ||
|---|---|---|
.JPG) The castle is overgrown with high forest |
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| Alternative name (s): | basement, cellar | |
| Creation time : | around 1250 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, hillside location | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall, ditches, leveled terrain | |
| Standing position : | Local nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone masonry | |
| Place: | Effects | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 21 '15.7 " N , 10 ° 20' 9.5" E | |
| Height: | 400 m above sea level NN | |
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The remains of hilltop castles on the Dün ridge in the Thuringian Eichsfeldkreis are referred to as the Birkenstein castle ruins . The castle, first mentioned in a document in 1256, was sold to the Electorate of Mainz in the 13th century . As a result of the field research, a castle site known as "Birkenstein II", barely 300 meters from the main castle, was examined by the Weimar Museum of Prehistory and Early History.
location
The two Birkenstein castle sites are located on the western flank on the northern part of the mountain range called Wingert, about one kilometer south of the village of Bektiven in the district of Eichsfeld . The castles were part of a system of high medieval fortifications that dominated the area around Dingelstädt, to which the later Reifenstein monastery also belongs.
Findings
Birkenstein I
The main castle Birkenstein I is located on a hillside , a quarry has already changed the castle grounds significantly in the 19th century. A measurement of the building remnants resulted in a square with an edge length of 70 × 50 meters with rounded corners. The walls and ditches are only more clearly visible on the mountain side. Remains of the wall above ground were probably removed by the quarry workers. The scientific excavation found building structures and ceramic remains in the southeastern part of the castle area. Hollow bricks and fire rubble cover the slope below the castle site.
Birkenstein II
The previously unknown complex was reported by archaeologists in the 1980s and is located 300 m northeast of the Birkenstein I complex. The trenches form a square with rounded corners, the size is 19 × 17 meters. The trench, which has already partially slipped, has a remaining width of 3 m in the bottom area. In the northeast there is an upstream wall towards the mountainside. The adjacent leveled area could have been built on with buildings.
history
In 1035, Emperor Konrad II sold a property to the Fulda monastery in " loco Birkene in germara marca in comitatu Lutgeri comitis ", but whether this meant the local effect has not been proven. The first mention of the place Bektiven took place in 1191 through a deed of donation to the Cistercian monastery Reifenstein , at which citizens of the place “Bircunchen” were present as witnesses. A Reinher von Birkenstein is mentioned as early as 1206, and Birkenstein Castle itself was not mentioned until 1256 when it was donated to the Reifenstein Monastery by Ernst von Birkenstein. The size of 50 × 70 meters speaks for a higher age of the facility up to the 9th / 10th. Century. In the 13th century, Birkenstein Castle was owned by the Counts of Gleichenstein . These were in the service of the Archbishops of Mainz. As a result, they had large areas of Thuringia, especially in the area around Erfurt and in Eichsfeld. In 1287 the castles of Birkenstein, Gleichenstein and Scharfenstein were leased to Mainz and finally sold in 1294 to the elector Gerhard II of Eppstein due to the high indebtedness of the Counts of Gleichen . This was accompanied by the sale of the Eichsfeld to the Electorate of Mainz, which remained a Mainz exclave until the secularization in 1802 . In 1323 the castle is said to have been in good condition. The legend below tells of the time of the Peasant War , but one can assume that the knight of Birkenstein no longer played a role in this and the castle was abandoned. Today one can only guess at the former castle. Only the moat and a wall overgrown with high forest are recognizable.
Office Birkenstein
A precise indication of the extent of the castle district and the later office of Birkenstein cannot be given. The associated villages came to the neighboring office of Scharfenstein very early on. The following castle men or bailiffs are known as feudal takers:
- 1242 Ernst von Birkenstein
- 1258 Christian (Christianus advocatus in Birkenstein)
- 1290 Alexander von Berlingerode
Noble family von Birkenstein
The lords of Birkenstein were presumably appointed as lords of the castle by the owners of Birkenstein Castle in the 13th century, after whom they named themselves. According to Siebmacher's coat of arms, they are said to have been wealthy in Eichsfeld in the 15th and 16th centuries and then became extinct. The coat of arms shows a turned tip and a shamrock in each field. The following representatives are proven:
- 1209 Reinher von Birkenstein or Birkenstein
- 1242 Ernst von Birkenstein
- 1256 Adelheid von Birkenstein, daughter of Ernst (and niece of Hugo von Salza), donated 1½ Hufen and a yard in Breitenholz to the Reifenstein monastery as compensation for the damage that her ancestors had inflicted on this monastery
- 1266 Burchard von Birkenstein
legend
To this day, the legend of the Birkenstein cellar maiden plays a major role in the town of Birkenstein: One day, Birkenstein Castle is said to have been attacked by angry local residents. All residents of the castle except for one maiden were able to escape. This hid in the storage cellar of the castle and waited until the farmers had disappeared. But then a storm came up that devastated the castle. Only when the storm was over did the cellar maiden manage to get outside. She ran into the village to look for the count's family. With a brush in hand, she questioned the residents, but they informed her that the knight of Birkenstein had perished in the battle of Frankenhausen . It was never told that the cellar maiden had died - the opposite is the case: even younger generations tell that they wanted to have seen the maiden with the brush.
literature
- Rolf Aulepp: The castles and old streets of the Dün . In: Eichsfelder Heimathefte . No. 1/1985 . Heiligenstadt 1985, p. 65-74 .
- Karl Wüstenfeld: Birkenstein Castle. In: Heimatborn. Supplement to the Eichsfelder Volksblatt 3 No. 4.
- Richard Linke: Excursion to the hidden Birkenstein. In: Eichsfelder Heimatzeitschrift Verlag Mecke Duderstadt 1995, issue 10, pp. 303-304
Web links
- Stefan Grathoff: Birkenstein June 18, 2005, in: Burgenlexikon , accessed on May 6, 2012
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces, 2nd exp. and revised Ed., Jena 2003. p. 67
- ↑ Levin von Wintzingeroda-Knorr : Die Wüstungen des Eichsfeldes: Directory of the desert areas, prehistoric ramparts, mines, courts of law and waiting areas within the districts of Duderstadt, Heiligenstadt, Mühlhausen and Worbis. Göttingen (O. Hendel) 1903, page 110
- ^ Online brochure of the City of Leinefelde-Worbis p. 22, accessed on May 4, 2012
- ↑ Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces, p. 67
- ^ Paul Grimm and Wolfgang Timpel: The prehistoric and early historical fortifications of the Worbis district. In: Eichsfelder Heimathefte special edition, Worbis 1966, page 43
- ^ Hermann Förstemann (ed.): New communications from the field of historical-antiquarian research, Vol. 2, Issue 1, Halle / Nordhausen, 1835, p. 280
- ^ Johann Wolf: Eichsfeldisches Urkundenbuch together with the treatise of the Eichsfeldischen nobility. Göttingen 1819 ( Treatise on the Eichsfeld nobility, as a contribution to its history. Pages 37-45)
- ^ Johann Wolf: Political History of the Eichsfeldes. Göttingen 1792, Volume 1, p. 134
- ↑ Siebmacher's large and general Wappenbuch, vol. 7 (additions), 3rd section, d: Dead Prussian nobility, Province of Saxony, excluding the Altmark. Supplement, Nuremberg 1900, page 4
- ^ Johann Wolf: Eichsfeldisches Urkundenbuch together with the treatise of the Eichsfeldischen nobility. Göttingen 1819 ( Treatise on the Eichsfeld nobility, as a contribution to their history. )
- ↑ [1] on the german digital library
- ↑ Levin von Wintzingeroda-Knorr : Die Wüstungen des Eichsfeldes: Directory of the desert areas, prehistoric ramparts, mines, courts of law and waiting areas within the districts of Duderstadt, Heiligenstadt, Mühlhausen and Worbis. Göttingen (O. Hendel) 1903, page 111
- ↑ ZukunftsWerkStadt ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.7 MB) Issue 9, November 2007, p. 11 f., Accessed on May 20, 2012
