Burgstall Romatsried

Burgstall Romatsried
The Burgstall from the southwest
Creation time :	900 to 1000
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	Castle stable, wall and moat remains
Construction:	Quarry stone, tuff stone, Nagelfluh
Place:	Eggenthal -Romatsried
Geographical location	47 ° 53 '38 "  N , 10 ° 31' 42"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 53 '38 "  N , 10 ° 31' 42"  E
Height:	780  m above sea level NN

The Postal Romatsried is an Outbound hilltop castle on a hill east of the southern spur local part of Romatsried (municipality Eggenthal ) in the district of Ostallgäu in Swabia . The Burgplatz, which was probably already inhabited during the Bronze Age , was heavily fortified in the early Middle Ages and violently destroyed in the 12th century.

history

In 1935/37 the castle plateau was partially archaeologically researched (Ludwig Ohlenroth). The rich finds from the excavations carried out at the suggestion of District Council President Otto Merkt include Bronze Age shards and a bracelet at the same time, which indicate a settlement from the older Bronze Age burial mounds. The other artifacts almost entirely date from the 11th and 12th centuries.

The very well preserved staggered rampart system on the west side corresponds to comparable ramparts from the early Middle Ages, especially from the Hungarian period. The excavated front wall on the castle plateau with its deep ditch also points to a presumed Hungarian fortress from the first half of the 10th century. Such protective castles are particularly numerous in the area around the episcopal city of Augsburg . They often arose from the expansion of older settlement areas or fortifications.

The excavations of 1935/37 prove the continued use of the facility after the Hungarian threat was eliminated ( battle on the Lechfeld , 955) until the 11th or 12th century. The investigations extended largely to the southern front, which was completely exposed. An almost square, probably Salierzeit cellar house or an earlier stone residential tower could be documented here.

The building consisted of mortar-bonded quarry stone blocks on pebbles and pebbles backfilling. In addition to further paving and post positions of other buildings, the remains of fireplaces and smelting furnaces for iron extraction were also found. To the northwest of the main building was a small rectangular church with a retracted apse . A position of the rising masonry made of relatively large, carefully hewn tufa blocks could still be documented over a foundation made of coarse, unhewn chunks of Nagelfluh . The church was about 14 meters long, the nave was about 10.7 meters.

The brief inventory of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments reports on four tuff stone buildings on Nagelfluh foundations and two long buildings in North Germanic construction. In the center of the settlement there was a "Sala", a two-aisled building with central supports. The outbuildings were block - or combined block buildings or pure post houses .

The whole plateau seems to have been densely populated. Numerous keys found indicate different owners of the castle buildings. In addition to numerous other metal objects, arrow and lance heads were recovered, which appear a bit more ancient than the other artifacts.

Layers of fire suggest the violent demise of the settlement, which was only fortified by wattle palisades , in the 11th or 12th century. The facility seems to have been used up to the time of the Hohenstaufen as documented by the key and spore forms of the rich finds. The numerous recovered horseshoes , saddle buckles, spurs and even horse sticks attest to the presence of mounted warriors.

The simple walling around the early high medieval settlement made of wooden posts and wickerwork appears particularly unusual. No evidence of a stone curtain wall could be found. The final destruction of the complex can be dated to the middle of the 12th century.

Despite the importance of the site, no further major archaeological investigations have been carried out on the area to date. Due to the time, the results of the 1935/37 excavation could not be published conclusively. The excavation documentation preserved in the local files of the State Office for Monument Preservation only gives a rough overview of the findings at that time.

description

The staggered wall system on the west side. Facing south

Looking back to the north

The two trenches in the south-west of the castle complex

To the east of Romatsried, a small side valley cuts the Burgplatz from the high valley wall. Over a high tertiary pedestal lies a strong old Ice Age ceiling made of conglomerate rock (Nagelfluh), some of which emerge in mighty banks from the steep slopes.

In the east of the hilltop, the rock was partially quarried in small quarries and the medieval wall system was largely destroyed. The earthworks that have been preserved start in the southeast of the facility. From here, about two and a half to three meters below the edge of the slope, a ditch that is only about half a meter deep runs around the southern front of the castle.

The entire west side of the complex is reinforced by an impressive staggered wall system. The slope slope falls very steeply up to seven meters to the bottom of the trench. In front of the upper ditch there is an edge wall made of Nagelfluhbrocken, which is still around one meter high. In the northwest, the edge wall rises to over two meters. Possibly there was a small part of the tower here.

The lower slope ditch in the middle of the west side has partially slipped or flattened into a berm , but otherwise still clearly visible. The edges of the ditch are artificially divided.

The northern front of the fortification was greatly changed by the agricultural use (pasture). According to Eberl, a mighty section wall with a deep outer moat originally protected the Burgplatz. This finding would be typical for a larger Hungarian fortification. In addition to the distinctive staggered system of walls to ward off riders, many researchers consider such "Hungarian walls" to be a clear characteristic of such protective castles. However, the classification of these fortifications is usually only based on external appearances, which can sometimes be deceptive.

What is unusual in Romatsried is the relatively small inner area (approx. 120 × 90 m, according to a plan sketch at Eberl) of the Burgplatz, which does not necessarily speak against a Hungarian dating. Similar protective castles are often much more extensive, smaller alleged Hungarian walls more volatile.

The deep outer trench in front of the outer wall seems to have been filled in later with the material of the wall. Then a moderately deep section trench was created, which could perhaps only be the continuation of a subsequent modern access ramp for the quarry.

In the west of the former main wall, the filling of a tower or a high medieval tower hill can still be seen .

The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation lists the ground monument as a medieval castle stable with prehistoric settlement finds under the monument number D-7-8129-0001.

literature

• Guido M. Berndt : The Romatsried castle stable - a fortification from the Salier period . In: Canossa 1077 - Shock of the World , Volume 2, pp. 188–190.
• Tilman Breuer: City and district of Kaufbeuren . (Bavarian art monuments, IX, brief inventory). Munich 1960.
• Hermann Dannheimer: The church on the "Burgstall" near Romatsried . In: Archaeological correspondence sheet . 2, 1972, pp. 337-340.
• Barthel Eberl: The castle stable near Romatsried in Eggenthal (Kaufbeuren). In: Schwabenland , 3rd year, 1936, pp. 73–81.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ^ Location of the Burgstall in the Bavaria Atlas
2. ↑ http://www.all-in.de/nachrichten/lokales/Vor-75-Jahren-wurde-der-Burgstall-in-Romatsried-erforscht;art26090,961530
3. ↑ Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation: Entry ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.