Milnrode castle ruins

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Milnrode castle ruins
Remains of the upper castle wall of the Milnrode ruins (view to the north, along the western curtain wall)

Remains of the upper castle wall of the Milnrode ruins (view to the north, along the western curtain wall)

Creation time : before 1184
Castle type : Spornburg, Höhenburg
Conservation status: Trenches, walls, remnants of walls in newer parts
Standing position : Ministeriale
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Asbach
Geographical location 50 ° 50 '33.3 "  N , 9 ° 37' 57.2"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 50 '33.3 "  N , 9 ° 37' 57.2"  E
Height: 270  m above sea level NHN
Milnrode castle ruins (Hesse)
Milnrode castle ruins

The castle ruins Milnrode is an Outbound Spur castle above the Bad Hersfeld neighborhood Asbach in the district of Rotenburg , on a low mountain spur in Asbachtal, at 270 m above sea level. NN in the Knüllgebirge .

The Burgstall is now in the middle of the forest, without any settlement in the immediate vicinity, on the slope of the Eschenskuppe (397 m above sea level ). The federal autobahn 4 now runs in the immediate vicinity, over the Asbachtal bridge , past the castle ruins.

Castle name

The castle name was not mentioned in any medieval documents. The first evidence of the former name and ownership of the castle date from the 16th century. Here, in a document from 1578, fields and meadows are called "occasionally böber (above) the village of Aspach zue Milnrode, which is what they were called by Milnrode". Furthermore, the place names "Mylenrode", "zu Milnrode" or "in Milnröder Grund" were named, which can be assigned to today's Asbachtal. The names "Milleroder Ruck" and "Milleroder Grunt" appear on the map by JG Schleenstein (1704 to 1710).

In the Asbach cadastre from 1765 the names "Land an der Burg", the "uppermost castle meadow" and the "lowest castle meadow" were mentioned. Even today the meadow area below the castle ruins is called “In der Burg” and the forest on the terrain spur north of the neck ditch is called “Burg”.

Thus one can infer with some certainty on the castle name Milnrode and the noblemen of Milnrode as owners. The von Milnrode family were influential ministerials of Hersfeld Abbey from the 12th to the 14th centuries.

The lords of Milnrode were wealthy between 1430 and 1455 in Friedewald (see Wasserburg Friedewald ), Motzfeld (today part of Friedewald) and Ausbach (today part of Hohenroda ). The lords of Milnrode received the castle above Alsbach from the abbot to the fiefdom about three centuries earlier, the name of which was then transferred to the castle. So they were wealthy in this environment too. The places Kircheim , Gittersdorf (today part of Neuenstein ), Asbach and Beiershausen are notarized . At Motzfeld there is also a desert called Milnrode. Therefore, the family originally came from this place and the place name was transferred to the name of the family.

Surroundings

The area around the castle used to be densely populated. Since this castle was built in the valley ( Niederungsburg ), close to agricultural land and rural settlements, it is a typical ministerial castle. This shows the proximity of this new class of ministerials to the rural population from which the new class was recruited.

There were at least three villages nearby. The closest place was Walgemach (this is probably the place that is officially known as Wallingebach) in a small side valley of the Asbach. Further up the valley, above today's Asbachtal bridge, there were two other places: one was called Emkerode, the name of the other place is not known. In between lies the Illersrück (a ridge that slopes down into the Asbach valley), which suggests that there was once a pottery at its foot (Iller, Euler, Ulner = pottery). All these settlements were at least since the late Middle Ages to deserted villages become. Their location was determined by finding fragments. Furthermore, an estate named Schuchhof is notarized; exactly where it was is not known. Remnants of these settlements are no longer visible today.

description

The moat of the castle

The castle complex was about 55 meters long and 23 meters wide. The terrain spur , only 15 meters above the valley level, was separated from the rest of the mountain on the northern side of the castle by a neck ditch . The trench is still about five meters deep, 19 meters wide at the top and about 80 meters long. The rectangular upper bow connects to the south of the trench. On the southern flank of the upper castle, about three meters lower at the tip of the terrain spur, was the lower castle.

Between 1957 and 1967 excavations took place at the castle. They were under the direction of Studienrat i. R. Heinrich Falk (1882–1966) and the art historian Otto Bramm (1897–1986). No previous buildings were found during these excavations. It can therefore be assumed that the Lords of Milnrode rebuilt this Niederungsburg on behalf of the abbot and that it was named after the family name.

The foundation walls of the upper castle were excavated, which made it possible to reconstruct the complex. Independent of the few written references, the finds also allowed dating. In 1988 the area was backfilled. The foundation walls were made recognizable by building them up a little above today's ground level. Essentially, the remains of the wall that can be seen today come from this masonry from the 1980s.

Oberburg

Floor plan of the upper castle

The upper castle was a rectangular building that was about 22 meters long and 15 meters wide. The neck ditch is on the northern side. The castle gate with a drawbridge or bascule bridge that spanned the neck ditch was probably located there . The north side of the castle facing the slope was the main attack side, and therefore the square foundation walls in the northwest corner are considered to be those of the keep . It was adjoined to the western, around 1.8 meters thick circular wall , a building with walls only around 80 cm thick. Since charred wooden beams were found in this area, it is assumed that this building was constructed as a timber construction on the brick base.

In the southern, slightly lower part of the upper castle, a 1.38 meter thick wall across the entire width of the castle separates another seven meter wide and 15 meter long building. There were three passages in this building towards the courtyard. According to the excavation results, this wall was built after the curtain wall. It can be assumed that this was the Palas .

Numerous stove tiles were found between the wooden structure and the hall. It is therefore assumed that there was also a building here (possibly an older, smaller hall), of which no foundation walls could be determined.

Second curtain wall and lower castle

Another remnant of the wall was found outside the upper castle, on the southwest side of the complex. The 19 meters long and 1.38 meters thick wall, which is no longer visible today, lies halfway up the spur of the terrain. It is assumed that this is the remainder of a second curtain wall, which originally ran around the castle or the mountain spur and separated the triangular lower castle, on the southern side of the upper castle, in front of the palace, from the surroundings. The lower castle was about 18 meters long and 20 meters wide. It cannot be determined when this additional curtain wall was built. It is also not known whether there were any other buildings in the lower castle, as no excavations were carried out here.

Forest trails that were laid out around 1900 lead around the terrain spur. Parts of this wall and possibly also the remains of a ditch that existed at the time in front of this circular wall were destroyed.

history

In 1184 a member of the Milnrode family was mentioned for the first time. It was Folpertus de Milnrode, a ministerial from Hersfeld Abbey . Most of the extensive finds from the excavations came from the 12th and 13th centuries. It is therefore assumed that the castle was built before 1184.

In 1455 the lords of Milnrode died out of the male line. The castle was probably abandoned at this time and fell into disrepair. There are no known acts of war in connection with the castle.

Since many of the properties of the von Milenrode family were mentioned as being owned by the von Buchenau family in the 15th and 16th centuries , they probably became the inheritance of the ministerial family.

According to a document from 1578, the Hersfeld Abbey acquired land and goods "zu Mühlenrode". At that time there was an estate here that was managed by a Hofmann Schuch. This farm, known as Schuchhof in 1610, was given up in that year. All other settlements in the vicinity of the castle were abandoned by the Thirty Years' War at the latest .

literature

  • Barbara Händler-Lachmann (Ed.): Culture, history, historical sites, monuments, forgotten places and museums in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district , pp. 63–64, Hessian Institute for Teacher Training, Bad Hersfeld 1995, ISBN 3-9804841-0- 6th
  • 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. 185.
  • Klaus Sippel: Milnrode Castle near Asbach , guide to the former castle complex in the Bad Hersfeld district, Archaeological Monuments in Hesse, Volume 102, State Office for Monument Preservation, Wiesbaden 1993
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 25.

Web links

Commons : Burg Milnrode  - Collection of images, videos and audio files