Castel Paterno
Coordinates: 42 ° 16 ′ 6.4 ″ N , 12 ° 25 ′ 7.3 ″ E Castel Paterno is a ruined castle in northern Lazio in the municipality of Faleria in the Italian province of Viterbo . Emperor Otto III died here in January 1002 . at the age of 21.
Castel Paterno lies lonely on the tip of a tuff spur that is only accessible from the south, from Faleria, and which slopes steeply in the north into the Treia valley towards Civita Castellana .
history
The Spornburg received its strategic importance from its easily defensible location, because it was surrounded on three sides by inaccessible steep slopes near the Via Flaminia , which dates back to Roman antiquity and was still of outstanding importance as a travel route in the Middle Ages .
Emperor Otto III, who was looking for close proximity to Rome , a good 50 kilometers away and at the same time had to fear the uprising there in January 1001 , had already taken refuge there in the summer of 1001. At the beginning of January 1002 he moved there again with his entourage and died, weakened by a febrile illness, in the evening hours of January 23 or 24, 1002, probably in the presence of Pope Silvester II.
As early as the 16th century , contemporary sources describe the castle as "destroyed". Parts of the wall ring have been preserved to this day; the masonry visible today probably dates from the post-Ottonian period.
literature
- Arnold Esch: Death Before Rome. Emperor Otto III. in Castel Paterno. In: Ders .: Ways to Rome. Ten century approximations. [First 2003] Munich: Beck, 2004. ISBN 978-3-406-51130-1 , pp. 65–81. ( limited preview in Google Book search)
- Cecilia Mosetti: Castel Paterno. In: Elisabetta De Minicis (ed.): Insediamenti rupestri di età medievali: Abitazioni e strutture produttive. Italia centrale e meridionale. Atti del convegno di studio, Grottaferrata, 27-29 October 2005. Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull'alto Medioevo, 2008 (Incontri di studio, vol. 5). Pp. 563-568.
- Ernst Harnischfeger: "Otto III. Or the legacy of an emperor Anno Domini 1002" (novella) Fouqué Literaturverlag Egelsbach * Frankfurt a. M. * Munich * New York
Web links
- Castel Paterno (with pictures).