Emmerberg castle ruins
| Emmerberg castle ruins | ||
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 State around 1680 |
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| Alternative name (s): | Emerberg | |
| Creation time : | 1160-1170 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Winzendorf-Muthmannsdorf | |
| Geographical location | 47 ° 49 '7.2 " N , 16 ° 6' 5" E | |
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The castle ruin Emmerberg ( Emerberg ) is a medieval hilltop castle in the already well advanced stage of decay on a ridge above the Prosset Gorge in the southeast of Lower Austria in the market town of Winzendorf-Muthmannsdorf .
Location and topography
The castle is located on the south-western spur of the 583 meter high and densely wooded Schlossberg, on the northern edge of the so-called Steinfeld - approx. 10 km west of Wiener Neustadt . The spur of the Schlossberg has steeply sloping rocks on three sides, so that only the south-east side, on which there is an elevation due to the neighboring mountain slope, had to be strongly fortified. The castle's strategic location was ideal. From their location you can see the entire New World, a fertile valley between the Hoher Wand and Fischau foothills and also part of the stone field.
function
The task of the crew was to guard the entrance to the New World plain through the Prosset Gorge and, if necessary, to block it, to offer protection to the population in the surrounding villages in case of danger and as a signal station (an optical early warning system from around 1200) in the chain of defense structures on Border section of the Karantanische Mark, today the southeastern Lower Austria, to serve. From the Emmerberg, however, the Wiener Neustädter Pforte could not be seen, it was the potential gateway for invaders - especially Hungarians - from the east. The line of sight from Burgstall Muthmannsdorf to the east, however, extends over the Steinfeld to the Wiener Neustädter Pforte. Starhemberg Castle and the churches of Muthmannsdorf and Maiersdorf can be seen in the opposite direction. However, there is no line of sight to the castles of Emmerberg and Tachenstein from the Burgstall. Intermediate stations were therefore required to transmit light or smoke signals. One of them was the Maiersdorf parish church. From there you could see the castles Emmerberg and Tachenstein . In the event of attacks, the castle crews were alerted by warning lights from the observation posts on the Burgstall (small castle ) and Maiersdorf (parish church).
development
The main thrust of Bavarian colonization began in 1042 after the final victory over the Magyar cavalry near Pitten . The settlement was largely complete after about 200 years. The landlords cleared the then still extensive forests to create more arable land. The colonists then received the newly created properties as fiefs and thereby became subservient farmers. These clearing masters were mostly not documented in writing. In conclusion, from the numerous different ownership structures of the farms, the lords of Stixenstein , Emmerberg, Vöstenhof (Neydegghof) and Schrattenstein were almost certainly involved.
The castle was first mentioned in a document around 1170. Like the neighboring fortress Starhemberg , Emmerberg was an important link in the chain of fortifications on the northern border of the Carantanian march . It was probably made around the middle of the 12th century, between 1160 and 1170. Lord of the castle was then Durinch de Emberberch . At the time of the Babenbergs , the Emmerbergers were among the most distinguished families in the Duchy of Styria . You were also entrusted with the important office of dinner for several generations . Their coat of arms shows a bucket of water on a blue field, which gave rise to a number of sagas and legends. The exact meaning of this symbolism could never be fully scientifically clarified. Two branches of the family were resident in Styria , where they also owned several castles.
In 1249 the Emmerberg fortress is called castrum . In the Styrian rhyming chronicle it is reported that one of the Emmerbergers, Berthold IV, stabbed the Bohemian king Ottokar II Přemysl off his horse in the battle of Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen in 1278 , because he was said to have previously executed his uncle Seyfried von Merenberg in a cruel manner. Historians doubt this account, however, and suspect that Ottokar actually fell in the fray. In 1289 Berthold, as military leader Duke Albrechts of Austria , stormed Güssing Castle and received it as a fiefdom for some time. Friedrich IV. Truchsess von Emmerberg held the office of Archbishop of Salzburg from 1441 until his death in 1452 . The Emmerberg family died out in the male line in 1455.
But already in 1384 Ludwig von Eckartsau was given by Duke Albrecht III. enfeoffed with the castle. After that it changed hands several times. Among other things, the families seem
- Wolfenreut (around 1430),
- Devil,
- Brassican,
- Spaur (around 1500),
- Heussenstein (from 1706) and
- Vincenz von Suttner (1805)
as lords of the castle. It was rebuilt several times from the 14th to the 17th century, but never had to prove itself in a siege during this time. In the 17th century, when the castles of the Archduchy of Austria were checked for their defensive capabilities because of the threat of Turkish invasions, Emmerberg was - unlike Starhemberg - not intended as a place of refuge for the surrounding population.
The destruction of the castle was initiated in 1760 by Count Heinrich von Heussenstein, who for tax reasons ( roof tax ) had the oak roof truss covered and the material sold. One of the subsequent owners, Alexander Wilhelm Graf Wartensleben, used the walls as a quarry in 1821 to build an estate at the foot of the castle hill. From then on the castle was abandoned by its last inhabitants. The surrounding farmers also mostly got the building material for new houses from the castle ruins. Graf Wartensleben finally had to file for bankruptcy for his goods. Archduke Rainer , Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia , finally acquired the Emmerberg rule from the bankruptcy estate in 1833 . The area of the ruins, which is heavily overgrown by vegetation, and the surrounding forests are still in the possession of his heirs and descendants, the Salvator Habsburg-Lothringen family.
Castle complex
It is an extensive fortress with an irregular floor plan, with an outer ring and a late Romanesque core castle (“classic” aristocratic castle with the elements tower, hall and chapel). During the late Gothic period , the stronghold and shield wall were redesigned. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the fortress was reinforced by additional external works, walls and bastions. Emmerberg was otherwise a functional building without any architectural adornment, but the sometimes idiosyncratic shaped corbels and beautifully crafted window and door reveals testify to a high construction quality.
Vorwerk and a neck ditch secured the endangered east side of the castle. A simple round gate (Gate I) leads into Zwinger I , which is getting narrower and narrower on its southwest side and reaches its narrowest point at the second gate tower. On the north side of Zwinger II are the remains of the single-nave, rectangular Michael's Chapel . The entrance to the east choir is a simple Romanesque archway from the 12th century which is still very well preserved. Until a few decades ago, traces of frescoes were supposedly still visible on the walls. The altar stone is still standing in the choir itself and some of the red floor tiles can still be seen. It was illuminated through a narrow arched window in the east wall. The surrounding wall of the outer courtyard is believed to have been built between the 15th and 16th centuries.
South of the chapel rises the oldest part of the fortress, the stronghold from the 12th and 13th centuries with its massive, three-story high and on its polygonal SE front almost six meters thick shield wall . You enter the inner courtyard through a ten-meter-long and very low passage (Gate II), where on the right-hand side the opening of a round walled well or storage shaft opens up (today it is filled with rubble). The tracks that have been engraved into the natural rock over the years by the cart wheels are still clearly visible in the passage. Once the three-storey Palas was by a staircase tower with screw stairs (backyard collapsed since the late 1990s) separated into two wings. The northern one is the older in terms of architectural history, the false ceilings consisted almost entirely of stone vaults. In the upper shield wall, however, the stump of an extremely massive ceiling beam can also be seen. The south wing only had wooden false ceilings. Because of the higher position of the hilltop of the Schlossberg in the east, it was also possible to fire with heavy catapults , so the south-east outer wall of the palace had to be particularly strong. It is more than 3 meters wide. Their large arched window niches with their stone benches therefore look like small extra chambers. At the southeast end of the palace (gate III) was the castle dungeon and the exit to the massive round bastion on the western corner of the outer curtain wall .
Note
Just south of the road coming from Gaaden and the road leading to Muthmannsdorf , a road lined with chestnut trees branches off to the east. Parking is also available here. The private road and subsequently a forest road are part of circular hiking trails 6 and 7 and lead directly past the ruin at the apex. A quick ascent to the ruins is also possible from the Prosset Gorge, at House Emmerberg No. 12, via the so-called Eselsteig, always following the red markings (walking time approx. 15 minutes). The landowners blocked the entrances and forbade them to protect the ruins out of fear of accidents (permanent danger of falling rocks and collapses) and any resulting claims for damages, but also to protect the ruins.
literature
- Joseph Bergmann: The Truchesse von Emersberg. In: Mittheilungen der Kaiserl. royal Central Commission for Research and Conservation of Architectural Monuments , Volume 2, 1857, pp. 39–41 ( Online PDF, 183Kb ).
- Heinz Gerstinger: Excursion destinations for castles, 1998.
- Felix Halmer: Castles and palaces between Baden, Gutenstein and Wiener Neustadt, 1968.
- Felix Halmer: Lower Austria's Castles, 1956.
- Gerhard Stenzel: Austria's Castles, 1989.
- Rüdiger Rohde: Palaces - Castles - Ruins - The Lower Austrian Industrial District - District Wiener Neustadt, Rüdiger Rohde (Ed.), Weitra 2018.
- Carl Calliano: Niederösterreichischer Sagenschatz, Vienna 1924, Volume II, p. 72.
- Georg Clam Martinic: Austrian Burgenlexikon: Castles and ruins, mansions, castles and palaces , Landesverlag, Linz 1992, ISBN 3-85214-559-7 .
- Gerhard Stenzel: From castle to castle in Austria , Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1973, ISBN 3-218-00229-X .
- Erwin Reidinger: Early warning system of the castles Starhemberg, Emmerberg and Tachenstein. Our home - magazine for regional studies of Lower Austria, 2014.
- Hans Fraungruber: Austrian saga wreath, Vienna, Stuttgart, Leipzig 1911.
Remarks
- ↑ Where you can see the ruins of Emmerberg today, there was once only a chapel. It was entrusted to the care of an old man who owned a hut next door and who, with his son Ludolf, had laid out a garden around the little church. Every day the boy went down into the ravine with a bucket to fetch water from the clear brook for his flowers. One day he met a hunter who asked him for a refreshment drink. Ludolf gave him a drink and told him about the chapel and his father while he was resting. The hunter listened pleasantly to the boy and finally asked him to take him up to the chapel. When he got there, he suggested to the old father: “If it's okay with you, I'll take your son with me to the Herzogshof in Vienna and want to look after him there.” The old man asked in astonishment: “Who are you?” But hardly had when he asked the question, horns rang out from all sides; Knights and servants poured in and bowed in reverence to the strange hunter. He turned to the old father kindly and said: “I am Duke Leopold. What do you intend to do now? ”“ Sir, accept the boy, ”said the old man with thanks,“ I don't want to stand in the way of his happiness. ”Ludolf went to Vienna with his master, delighted. The boy later became a brave knight who built a stately castle on the rock in place of his native hut. As a reminder that, as a poor boy, he carried the "Emmer" to the hut every day, he named the castle, Emmerberg. (Hans Fraungruber)
- ↑ There is also a legend - in connection with buckets - about the origins of the castle: The mortar of the castle, which always suffered from a lack of water, was allegedly also mixed with wine, which the fron farmers had to carry up the mountain individually in buckets in order to finish it to be able to (Carl Calliano).
Web links
- Entry via Emmerberg to Burgen-Austria
- Pictures from Emmerberg
- Pictures and entry on defense structures in Austria
- Drone flight over Emmerberg on YOU TUBE