Waldau Castle Stables

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Waldau Castle Stables
Site plan and location of the castle parts of the moated castle based on the excavations

Site plan and location of the castle parts of the moated castle based on the excavations

Creation time : 12th to 13th century, first mentioned in 1255
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Burgstall
Place: Grasellenbach - Elections
Geographical location 49 ° 36 '33.9 "  N , 8 ° 51' 11.9"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 36 '33.9 "  N , 8 ° 51' 11.9"  E
Height: 350  m above sea level NN
Burgstall Waldau (Hesse)
Waldau Castle Stables
Information board and view of the built-up area of ​​the Burgstall

The Burgstall Waldau is a lost moated castle on the Ulfenbach south of the district Wahlen of the community Grasellenbach in the Odenwald in today's Bergstrasse district in Hesse .

history

The castle was first mentioned in 1255 with Berthold von Waldau .

Continue to follow different sequences suspected possession: Knappe sees the (probably by the end of the 13th century extinct) noble family of Waldau as a fief owner of Lorsch , whose Waldauische fief to the after dissolution of the monastery property in 1232 Palatine had come. In 1359 the sale of Waldau by Hartmut von Cronberg ( Mainz burgrave on the Starkenburg ) to Rudolf von Beckingen the young , approved by Count Palatine Ruprecht , was recorded. The castle was mentioned for the last time in 1423.

Steinmetz, on the other hand, suspects the castle will later be owned by the Erbach taverns , which, however , could not be held in the dispute over the legacy of the Lorsch monastery and was forcibly destroyed. The Güttersbach Castle in neighboring Güttersbach is to be regarded as his direct successor .

description

Panorama of the Burgstall area; a moat can still be seen to some extent in the grass

After excavations in 1890 on the castle stables under Heinrich Giess , a circular moated castle with over 50 meters in diameter and with two surrounding moats , these with a total diameter of about 100 meters, emerged. Inside the castle complex, a free-standing chapel (7.50 × 6.30 m with a 2.50 m deep apse ; wall thickness between 85 and 95 cm) as well as remains of walls in the moat, which indicate a circular wall , were excavated as the only building . The rectangular part of the chapel can also be interpreted as a donjon .

With the exception of the chapel , no building foundations were found within the area which is surrounded by the inner ditch . This supports the assumption that the buildings were probably mainly made of wood. Access was probably via a trestle bridge built from oak logs in a north-easterly direction. The finds from the years 1890 and 1893 were fragments of earthen vessels, horseshoes , iron nails, numerous wooden objects and 16 balls made of sandstone with a diameter of 12 to 16 cm.

In the second half of the 13th century, the castle was probably systematically destroyed. The wooden finds showed traces of fire, so that the castle can be assumed to have been destroyed by fire.

In 1937 unpublished excavations were carried out by Karl Nahrgang and in 1993 an unpublished search cut by the Hessian State Office for Monument Preservation. Stones identified by squires as the castle's humpback blocks are said to be found in old farmhouses in the village.

Todays use

Today only an information board from the Geo-Naturpark Bergstrasse-Odenwald points to the castle site. The castle site itself is no longer recognizable today due to an industrial settlement.

literature

  • Heinrich Giess: Excavations on the site of the former Waldau Castle near Wahlen in the Odenwald. In: Quarterly sheets of the historical association for the Grand Duchy of Hesse. NF Vol. 1, 1891/1895, ZDB -ID 517940-3 , pp. 427-433.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 2nd Edition. Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1995, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 575.
  • Thomas Steinmetz: Waldau Castle - outpost of the Waldau dominion in the Ulfenbachtal. In: Gelurt. Odenwälder yearbook for culture and history. 2010, ISSN  0947-4870 , pp. 78-84.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heidelberg historical holdings - digital Koch, Adolf; Winkelmann, Eduard (ed.) Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein 1214–1508 , Volume 1: 1214–1400, Innsbruck, 1894, p. 187
  2. ↑ See the photos in the Lagis web link