Rodenberg castle ruins

Rodenberg castle ruins
Rodenberg castle ruins
Alternative name (s):	Rotenburg on the old tower; Rodinburg
Creation time :	after 1122
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Ruins
Standing position :	Nobility, fiefdom
Construction:	Stone blocks
Place:	Rotenburg on the Fulda
Geographical location	51 ° 0 '38.8 "  N , 9 ° 44' 11.2"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 0 '38.8 "  N , 9 ° 44' 11.2"  E
Height:	418.1  m above sea level NN

The Rodenberg castle ruins , also known as Rotenburg on the Old Tower , are the ruins of a hilltop castle on the old tower mountain ( 418.1  m above sea  level ), which is lined with deciduous forest , mostly beeches , about 2 km north-northeast of the old town of Rotenburg an der Fulda in the district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg in northern Hesse . The name of the city is probably derived from the former castle.

history

Rotenburg on an engraving by Matthäus Merian ; far left is the keep of Rodenberg Castle

Remains of the Rodenberg Castle

Remains of the keep

The castle was first mentioned in 1170, and in 1170, 1182 and 1197 the first Rotenburg castle men , the ministerial family "von Rodenberc", were mentioned in connection with the castle. It is believed that the Ludowingians , Landgraves of Thuringia, had the castle built after 1122, when the Bailiwick of the Hersfeld Abbey came into their possession from the Hessian Gisonen . It is possible that the Gisonen erected the first fortified buildings on the mountain, which was built by Matthias Merian the Elder. Ä. Hausberg or Hausberg is called. Hausberg is still the name of the hall today.

After the death of the last Ludowinger, Heinrich Raspe IV , in 1247 and the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession (1247–1264), the Hessian possessions and the Ludowingers' bailiff fell to Heinrich I , the first Landgrave of Hesse . This also affected the Vogteiburg Rodenberg, with which the gradual alienation of the Hersfeld area to the Landgraves of Thuringia and in their successor the Landgraves of Hesse began. The castle was subsequently a Hessian fiefdom of the von Trott , von Baumbach , von Reichenbach , von Berlepsch , Vullekopf and von Hattenbach families , who sat there as castle men or subordinates.

The castle was destroyed in the Star Wars , the armed conflict that broke out in 1372 between the Knights' League of the Stars and Landgrave Hermann II of Hesse. In a deed of atonement from 1389 it was determined that the castle should no longer be fortified. It then fell into disrepair, but was at least partially habitable until the 16th century, when it was owned by Messrs Trott zu Schwarzenhasel .

Current condition

The castle complex was very large with an area of ​​about 110 meters by 40 meters. Today only parts of the ramparts, which are up to 6 m high, the remains of the moats and the rest of a curtain wall are preserved. Little remains of the north-eastern larger tower. The foundation walls of the polygonal keep in the middle of the complex are better preserved .

Access

The castle ruins are located north of the Rotenburg Cardiovascular Center (HKZ). It is freely accessible. To the right of the last public parking lot at the HKZ, the path is well signposted and goes uphill to the northwest. After the ascent, past the White Cross of the Displaced Persons Memorial, a little-used path branches off to the right. This then divides, whereby the right branch leads very steeply to the ruins, while the left as a drivable path leads to the western main entrance of the former castle.

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ Wigandus de Rodenberc is mentioned in 1170. Karl-Heinz Berndt: History and stories from the Richelsdorf mountains: A home book . Ed .: Heimat- und Verkehrsverein Nentershausen e. V. Books on Demand , Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-3266-6 , pp. 24 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 16, 2017]).
2. ↑ After the death of Giso IV on March 12, 1122, the Ludowinger Heinrich Raspe I , who had married Giso's widow Kunigunde von Bilstein , initially administered this bailiwick and the entire property of the Gisonen as a guardian for the still underage actual heir Giso V. Nach After Gisos V's death in 1137, this property finally fell to the Ludowingers.
3. ^ Rotenburg in the Topographia Hassiae ( Wikisource )
4. ↑ Berndt, p. 24
5. ↑ Berndt, p. 24

literature

• Heinrich Nuhn : Rodenberg castle ruins near Rotenburg. In: Barbara Händler-Lachmann (ed.): Kulturgeschichte , Bad Hersfeld, 1995, ISBN 3-9804841-0-6 , pp. 237-238.
• Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , pp. 300–302.
• Rodenberg Castle - Results of the excavations in 1976. In: Rund um den Alheimer , Volume 30, 2008, p. 6 ff.
• The Rodenberg castle - heptagonal wall surrounded the tower - castle and building findings. In: Rund um den Alheimer , Volume 31, 2009, pp. 27 ff.

Web links

• Ruin Burg Rodenberg, on the website of the city of Rotenburg
• "Rodenberg Castle, Hersfeld-Rotenburg district". Historical local dictionary for Hessen. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).