Burgstall Leupoldstein

Burgstall Leupoldstein
Burgstall Leupoldstein - View of the castle rock from the southeast
Creation time :	Probably before 1100
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	Burgstall
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Place:	Betzenstein- Leupoldstein
Geographical location	49 ° 41 '39 "  N , 11 ° 23' 14.1"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 41 '39 "  N , 11 ° 23' 14.1"  E
Height:	556  m above sea level NN

The Postal Leupold stone is the residue of a dialed High Middle Spur castle , once on a steep Dolomitfelsriff raised. The Burgstall is located immediately southwest of the village of Leupoldstein in the municipality of Betzenstein in the Upper Franconian district of Bayreuth in Bavaria , Germany . The castle, which was probably founded very early, around the year 1100, was at least partially destroyed by King Wenceslaus around 1397 due to robber baronism; the final end came around 30 years later in the Hussite War . Only a few overgrown remains of the foundation wall are left of the castle .

Geographical location

View of the castle stables from the southwest

The site of the former castle is at 556  m above sea level. NN in southern Franconian Switzerland , part of the Franconian Jura , right next to the southwestern exit of the B 2 village in the direction of Hiltpoltstein on a rocky reef. It is located about 300 meters west-southwest of the center of Leupoldstein or 2570 meters northwest of the Evangelical-Lutheran parish church of St. Mary's Birth in Betzenstein .

There are other former medieval castles in the vicinity, in a north-westerly direction the Leienfels castle ruins are located , the Leuenstein castle stable is located above the village of Greisch and the Bärnfels castle ruins above the village of the same name. Another castle stable is also suspected in Obertrubach , just 2.7 kilometers to the west . The ruins of Stierberg and Betzenstein Castle are also just a few kilometers south and south-east . 4000 meters to the northeast there was another defunct castle on the 484 meter high castle stables.

History of the castle

Coat of arms of the von Wiesenthau family according to Siebmacher's book of arms

View of the castle rock from the west

Nothing is known about the early history of Leupoldstein Castle, but according to the Nuremberg castle researcher Hellmut Kunstmann , it could have been founded before the year 1100. According to Kunstmann, castles with the name composition of a personal name and the word stone were often founded in the East Franconian region at this early time, even if Leupoldstein Castle was not mentioned in a document from this time .

Examples of this are Gößweinstein Castle , which was first mentioned in 1076, Hiltpoltstein Castle , first mentioned in 1109, the former Gernotenstein Castle near Michelfeld, which is mentioned in the Michelfeld Monastery deed of foundation in 1119, and Pottenstein Castle , which was probably founded between 1057 and 1070 has been.

According to the vita of Bishop Otto I of Bamberg , who died in 1139, Leupoldstein Castle was one of the six castles he had acquired during his lifetime. He handed the castle over to Michelfeld Monastery, which he founded in 1119.

In 1194, two ministerials of the Bamberg monastery named themselves for the first time , "Ebermarus uet Egilolfus de Luipoltstein" after Leupoldstein Castle. An entry in the Episcopal Urbar A from 1323/27 shows that the castle was still in the hands of the Bamberg bishops . There it says: "Leupoltzstein castrum est epi [scopi] et villa ibidem adiacens" (Leupoldstein Castle and the adjacent village belong to the bishop). A few years after the mention in Urbar A the Ministerialengeschlecht was of Wiesenthau with the castle invested . In 1370 the brothers Eyring, Cunrad, Heinrich and Sybrecht von Wiesenthau had to commit themselves to the Bamberg monastery with a right of opening and a right of first refusal for Bamberg vassals.

In 1375 there was a dispute between the Eberhard brothers on the one hand and Volland and Eyring von Wiesenthau on the other, during which parts of the family were expelled from the castle. As a result, troops under Bishop Lamprecht had to move in front of the castle and lay siege to it in order to help the displaced to their rights. There was probably no fight, since the besieged surrendered to the bishop at the mercy or disgrace and undertook to keep their previous agreements with the diocese again.

On August 17, 1386, the "half fortress to the Leupoldstein" was sold to the Egloffsteiner Hartung VII. For 1,050 pounds Haller .

The castle was destroyed for the first time in 1397 after Dietrich von Wiesenthau had acted as a robber baron . At the urging of the imperial city of Nuremberg , among other things, King Wenzel moved in front of the Raubburgen Reicheneck near Happurg , Spies , Leuenstein and Leupoldstein Castle, which was captured and destroyed with the prohibition of reconstruction. On October 21, 1397, Dietrich had to vow not to avenge himself for the destruction of the castle. On January 6, 1401, King Ruprecht , successor of King Wenceslas, granted the imperial city of Nuremberg the right to prevent the reconstruction of the four robbery castles, even by force, in order to be protected from the many robberies in the future. The imperial city had this promise again expressly confirmed on February 2, 1401 when King Ruprecht moved into the city, probably a sign of the severe damage that the imperial city's trade had suffered from the four castles. However, it is not known whether the entire castle was destroyed in the punitive action or just Dietrich's share of the property. Since members of the von Wiesenthau until 1422 and the von Egloffstein until 1423 were enfeoffed with parts of the castle, Kunstmann suspects only a partial destruction of Leupoldstein Castle.

Kunstmann suspects the final destruction of the castle in the Hussite War around 1430, as it is no longer mentioned in the episcopal fief books from 1423 onwards.

From 1514 and several times in the 16th century, Leupoldstein Castle reappeared, but as a castle stables, i.e. a destroyed castle, in the fief of the Egloffsteiner. The last entry in the fief book dates from 1673. On a map from 1607 the castle is still referred to as a ruin, in 1728 the castle site was largely cleared. In 1842 Josef Heller described small remains of the wall, but these were removed during the construction of the Leupoldstein waterworks in the area of ​​the castle.

Today the site of the former castle is densely overgrown with forest. On a lower ledge on the castle plateau there are still traces of mortar and hollow brick remains and in the eastern area completely overgrown remains of the foundation wall, presumably a tower. The freely accessible Burgstall serves as a lookout point and resting place; several benches have been set up there.

The ground monument registered by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments as "Medieval Castle Stables" bears the monument number D-4-6334-0015.

literature

• Rüdiger Bauriedel, Ruprecht Konrad-Röder: Medieval fortifications and low-nobility mansions in the Bayreuth district . Ellwanger Druck und Verlag, Bayreuth 2007 ISBN 978-3-925361-63-0 , p. 137.
• Robert Giersch, Andreas Schlunk, Berthold Frhr. von Haller: Castles and mansions in the Nuremberg countryside . 1st edition. Published by the Altnürnberger Landschaft eV, Lauf an der Pegnitz 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-020677-1 , pp. 249-250.
• Hellmut Kunstmann : The castles of eastern Franconian Switzerland . Commission publisher Ferdinand Schöningh, Würzburg 1965, pp. 428–433.

Web links

Commons : Burgstall Leupoldstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Burgstall Leupoldstein on the page "Castles and manors in the Nuremberg countryside"
• Burgstall Leupoldstein on burgenwelt.de

References and comments

1. ^ Topographic map 1: 25000, sheet 6334 Betzenstein
2. ^ The presumed Burgstall on the side of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation
3. ↑ The late medieval castle stable on the side of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation
4. ↑ About castle names, see: Hellmut Kunstmann: Mensch und Burg - Castle and Castle observations on East Franconian fortifications, p. 18ff.
5. ↑ Further examples are Egloffstein Castle, Betzenstein Castle, Dietrichstein Castle, Rudolfstein Castle in the Fichtel Mountains , Rupprechtstein Castle and Wichsenstein Castle
6. ↑ The other five castles were: Albuinestein, presumed to be near Betzenstein , Geilenreuth , Henfenfeld near the city of Hersbruck , Ebersberg near Zell am Ebersberg and Eschenfelden Castle in the Upper Palatinate municipality of Hirschbach
7. ^ With Robert Giersch, Andreas Schlunk, Berthold Frhr. von Haller: Castles and mansions in the Nuremberg countryside, p. 250 as early as 1498
8. ^ Source history, with a few exceptions: Hellmut Kunstmann: The castles of eastern Franconian Switzerland, p. 428ff.
9. ^ The Burgstall Leupoldstein on the website of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation