Scheidegg castle ruins

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Scheidegg ruins
Entrance gate to Scheidegg (2001)

Entrance gate to Scheidegg (2001)

Alternative name (s): Scheideck, Heideck
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Gelterkinden
Geographical location 47 ° 26 '51.6 "  N , 7 ° 52' 40.4"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '51.6 "  N , 7 ° 52' 40.4"  E ; CH1903:  633130  /  255300
Height: 560  m above sea level M.
Scheidegg castle ruins (Canton Basel-Country)
Scheidegg castle ruins

The Scheidegg , also Scheideck or (of Christian Wurstisen ) Heideck called, which is ruin a hilltop castle of the village 400 meters southwest Tecknau in the Swiss canton of Basel-Land . It is located in the municipality of Gelterkinden and is listed as a B object under cantonal monument protection on the list of cultural assets in Gelterkinden .

location

The ruin is located southwest of the village of Tecknau and north of the village of Rünenberg at 560  m above sea level. M. on a rock ridge. From Tecknau train station, the ruins can be reached after a short walk on the hiking trail. The location of the castle 'separates' the communities of Gelterkinden , Rünenberg and Tecknau and led to the castle's current name.

investment

Due to its location on the rocky ridge, the Scheidegg had an elongated, rectangular floor plan and was naturally protected on the northeast and southwest side by rock walls and steep terrain. The protection of the north-west and south-east sides was artificially improved by means of deep neck ditches as approach obstacles: At the same time, the neck ditches were also used to procure building material, traces of which can still be seen in the northern neck ditch.

On the basis of the excavation results and excavations it can be said that the facility was built in two construction phases:

  • between 1220 and 1230 the south-eastern part with the residential tower , still without subdivision into two rooms (the separating wall visible today in the residential tower comes from the second construction phase). The design of the corners of the wall with corner projections is unusual for this region .
  • a generation later (after 1250), the north-western Bering with a courtyard and filter cistern , as well as an additional building with ground-level horse stables and living rooms above. At the same time, the dividing wall was drawn into the residential tower.

The facility is a new establishment, there are no traces of a previous building. Also, no Roman or prehistoric finds have been discovered.

Scheidegg Castle, older part (2001)

In residential tower three windows were ( doppelspitzbogig ) and an archway in the northern and western side of the robe in red colored sandstone executed. This indicates that the builder was able to enjoy a certain wealth.

The riding spurs, the remains of a chain mail, crossbow tips (hunting), an aquamanile , stove tiles and the skeletons of seven horses that perished in the fire also point to a modest prosperity . These horse skeletons have heights at the withers between 119 cm and 145 cm, which allows conclusions to be drawn about the small size of the horses of that time compared to today.

The filter cistern was partly carved into the rock (southeast corner) but mostly with walls (especially north and west walls). The inside was sealed with a clay packing and about in the middle is still the scoop with almost a meter of clear width. Coarse stones were filled in between the clay seal and the scoop so that there was enough space for the water between the stones. The roofs of the buildings in the newer, northwestern part were in all likelihood designed as pent roofs and inclined towards the filter cistern to feed it with meteor water .

In addition to the open fireplaces and smoke outlets, a tiled stove was in operation for heating, first in the residential tower and then - after its abandonment - in the northern wing.

Scheidegg Castle, younger part (2001)

As is still the case today, access to the castle was in the middle of the southwest side and was protected by a small tower.

history

The sources for this old ruin are very poor. It is not even certain whether the current name Scheideck corresponds to the original name. The life cycle of the complex was at a time when written documents were only minimally and practically only in the monastic area.

The motivation for building the castle is unknown, but cannot lie in the so often cited “mastery” of an important road or a pass, since such a situation did not exist here. A settlement policy motivation is much more likely, because the rear Ergolztal with its side valleys is proven to be well populated at the beginning of the 2nd millennium. This is also a good starting point for smaller, local nobility in order to be able to develop their own sphere of influence.

The castle was founded by the Lords of Gelterkinden on cleared land : In the feudal system of that time, nobles were able to build up property that they could manage independently from the current rulers by clearing the land themselves. The finds show that the residents were practically self-sufficient economically and did not live on the taxes of farmers in the area. This self-sufficiency even extended into the manual field of metal and woodworking.

The decline began around 1300, the use of the residential tower was already reduced. The castle was then abandoned around 1320 after a violent fire (which happened again and again at that time because of the open fire places and the many wooden structures). Based on the remains that were found, it seems that by that time the residential tower was no longer intensively inhabited and life had already shifted to the newer northwestern part. The death of castles was already in full swing in this region - (power) political life was shifting to the cities - and so the castle was no longer built.

In the middle of the 14th century, the already disintegrated complex was integrated into the Thierstein rule of Farnsburg and was then mentioned for the first time in their land register in 1372.

Like so many others, the castle also served as a quarry. It can be seen as a fortunate circumstance that the red sandstone was considered worthless and thus the garments of the windows and gate were broken off, but remained lying.

Excavation and restoration work on the ruins was carried out from 1970 to 1974 (Jürg Ewald, Jürg Tauber). The finds are kept in the Baselland archeology depot in Liestal.

See also

literature

  • Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, p. 127.
  • Carl Roth: The castles and palaces of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft . Birkhäuser, Basel 1932.
  • Jürg Ewald, Jürg Tauber: The Scheidegg castle ruins near Gelterkinden (with contributions by Bruno Kaufmann, Werner Meyer and Rolf Schelker): reports on research from 1970–74, Swiss contributions to the cultural history and archeology of the Middle Ages; Vol. 2, Verlag Walter, Olten
  • Finds in the Baselland archeology depot in Liestal , file number 25.14

Web links

Commons : Burgruine Scheidegg (Gelterkinden)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Schlunk / Robert Giersch, "Die Ritter", ISBN 3-8062-1791-2 , Konrad Theiss Verlag, page 52
  2. ^ Archeology Baselland