Velburg castle ruins

Velburg castle ruins
Velburg castle ruins - view of the southeast corner of the keep
Alternative name (s):	Velberg
Creation time :	First mentioned in 1129
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Parts of the keep, remains of the wall
Standing position :	Noble counts
Place:	Velburg
Geographical location	49 ° 14 '3.4 "  N , 11 ° 40' 39.7"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 14 '3.4 "  N , 11 ° 40' 39.7"  E
Height:	621.8  m above sea level NN

The castle ruin Velburg , also called Velberg , is the ruin of a high medieval to early modern hill castle , which once rose on the rocky top of the castle hill at 621.8 meters above the valley of the Frauenbach. The ruin is located immediately east of the city of Velburg in the municipality of the same name in the Neumarkt district in Upper Palatinate in Bavaria , Germany .

The castle is likely to have been built around 1100 on the edge of a zone of the Reichsgut an der Schwarzen Laaber (Oberweiling, Dürn and Mantlach), which came into the hands of the bailiffs of the Bamberg diocese after 1009. The first lord of the castle was the noble free Kuno, who made a donation to the Regensburg monastery Obermünster around 1110/17 at the time of the abbess Hadamut. The far-reaching theories about the descent of the Counts of Velburg, who appeared from 1156 onwards, from the Counts of Sulzbach recently presented in detail B. Schneider. Hermann married the Austrian noblewoman Adelheid von Klamm and directed the activities of his family there, while they can hardly be traced in the Upper Palatinate. The family died out with Count Ulrich in 1217 and the inheritance fell to the Duke of Bavaria. The castle became the official seat and came to the newly founded Principality of Pfalz-Neuburg in 1505, but was soon abandoned and fell into disrepair. It is used today, thanks to the 12 meter high made available to the keep as a lookout .

View from Schlossberg to Velburg and the Frankenalb (2017)

The best way to get to the ruins from Velburg is on the König-Otto-Schlaufe hiking trail on the Jurasteig. An old avenue of lime trees leads up the Schlossberg via serpentines through the rocky Jura landscape with dry grass and beech forests.

history

The castle, the exact origin of which is in the dark, was first mentioned in 1129 and was owned by the Lords of Velburg until 1217, who were first mentioned in 1156 with Counts Gerhard and Hermann von Velburg. In 1188 the Austrian count family von Clamm inherited the castle and in 1190 Otto von Velburg accompanied the Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa on the Third Crusade . A comes de Velburch (Count of Velburg) from the same family is proven up to 1231 .

View of the Schlossberg from the south

After the Velburg counts died out, the castle went to the Wittelsbach family and was occupied alternately by Upper Bavarian and Palatinate keepers . Around 1450 the castle burned down almost completely, was rebuilt and came to the newly founded Duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg in 1505 after the Landshut War of Succession .

During the Thirty Years' War the castle was destroyed by Swedish troops and in 1790 it was used as a stone quarry to build the Velburg parish church. In the 1980s the remains of the castle were secured.

description

Interior view of the castle gate

From the former castle complex with a triangular floor plan, parts of the reconstructed keep on an area of ​​8 × 8 meters and remains of walls have been preserved.

Protected areas

• Landscape protection area near Velburg: The 350 hectare landscape protection area includes the ruins of Velburg and its surroundings, the so-called "Three Stone Virgins", the Hohllochberg, the Osterberg and the Bockenberg with the König Otto stalactite cave . The clear expression of the Jura landscape with numerous limestone rock formations characterizes the beautiful landscape.
• FFH area Schloßberg, Wolfgangshöhle and Hohllochberggruppe near Velburg : The 160 hectare European protected area contains two hills of the Dolomitkuppenalb with a high habitat diversity and high species density, e.g. T. on dry and warm locations.

literature

• Herbert Rädle: Castles and fortress stables in the Neumarkt district . Published by the district of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Neumarkt o. J., ISBN 3-920142-14-4 , pp. 124–126.
• Ursula Pfistermeister : Castles of the Upper Palatinate , Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1974, ISBN 3-7917-0394-3 , p. 97.
• Franz X. Bogner: The black talk from the air. Schwarze Laber Foundation, Parsberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-047433-0 . P. 36

Web links

Commons : Burgruine Velburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Castle ruins Velburg at burgseite.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ M. Jehle, Historischer Atlas von Bayern: Parsberg, Munich 1981, pp. 23-25.
2. ^ B. Schneider, The Counts of Velburg and their relatives, Neumarkter historical contributions 16, Neumarkt / Opf. 2019, p. 5 f.
3. ↑ B. Schneider, Die Grafen von Velburg, Genealogical Research, here especially pp. 7–50.
4. ↑ B. Schneider, Die Grafen von Velburg, pp. 55–93
5. ^ B. Schneider, The Counts of Velburg, p. 91 f.
6. ^ M. Jehle, Velburg, Handbook of Historic Places, Bavaria I: Altbayern und Schwaben, p. 845 f: Velburg.
7. ↑ Burg Velburg - history on the website of the city of Velburg
8. ↑ BayernAtlas - the map viewer of the Free State of Bavaria with maps, aerial photos and a variety of themed maps. Bavarian Surveying Administration (Free State of Bavaria), accessed on August 13, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Landscape protection areas. Neumarkt district, accessed on August 13, 2017 . 
10. ↑ 6736-301 Schloßberg, Wolfgangshöhle and Hohllochberggruppe near Velburg (FFH area). Published by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation . Retrieved February 5, 2019.