Frankenschanze

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The Frankenschanze in the Großgartach district of the city of Leingarten in the Heilbronn district is a ring wall with a ditch in front of it. It lies at a height of 240  m above sea level. NN at the eastern end of the Heuchelberg on a flat ledge on the northern slope in the so-called Baunzelwald. Erected by 1000 AD at the latest, the Frankenschanze was evidently the permanently inhabited, fortified residence of high social circles. According to new knowledge, it was possibly built as the castle of the Count of Gartachgau .

Research history

In 1900 Alfred Schliz called the Frankenschanze “Volksburg” or “Ringwall im Baunzelwald” and considered it to be a fortification from the Bronze or Hallstatt Period . The “test excavation” he carried out had no tangible result. 1910 saw AG piston in the franc ski jump built as a "peasant fortress" medieval Fliehburg . In 1937 it was a Carolingian facility for Günter Beiler . In 1952, Wilhelm Mattes examined the complex with excavation cuts inside and through parts of the fortifications to clarify their use and to date them. At an inner rampart and in the lower area of ​​the embankment he came across fragments of Roman pottery from the 2nd and early 3rd centuries. Obviously, during the construction of the Frankenschanze - probably around the year 1000 AD - a layer of settlement from Roman times was destroyed. Elsewhere, Mattes found ceramic shards from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, a medieval iron key , an iron riding spur , reddened sandstones and charcoal. Wall cuts provided evidence of a kind of wooden parapet or palisade on the wall crown and testify to the fortified character of the complex. Later inspections brought further finds of Roman and medieval ceramics from the early 11th or late 10th century and fragments of several beaker tiles from the late 13th century, which testify that a heatable building stood on the site and consequently here in one Burg high social circles must have lived permanently. Since 2013 there have been new findings from local history castle researchers. Ludwig H. Hildebrandt and Nikolai Knauer believe that here, on the border with Zabergäu , was the castle of the Count of Gartachgau, which at that time also included places in Zabergau (Hausen adZ, Meimsheim, Botenheim, Cleebronn, Eibensbach, Pfaffenhofen). Erected as a wooden moth in the 10th century , it has left no traces that can be traced to date. A comparable system, created around 970, was the Motte Wigoldesberg near Östringen in the Eichelberg district, the seat of the counts for the Elsenz and Kraichgau .

description

At the highest point of the ridge, a leveled oval area of ​​0.43 ha is delimited by a surrounding ditch. The flat wall on the outer edge of the plateau is not completely preserved. The steep inner slope of the trench is up to 6.1 m high in some places. The outer slope after a 1.7 m wide trench floor is significantly lower and lies in the sloping terrain. The access was probably on the northwest side, because here a path on a dam leads straight over the ditch and through a gap with flattened walls into the interior. There is a similar situation with the entrance on the south side.

The external fortification runs around the ring trench at a distance of 15 to 30 m and covers a total of around 1.5 hectares. On the western slope, a fortification consisting of several sections has been preserved, on the northeast slope only a flat embankment interrupted by large gaps. On the south side against the rising Heuchelberg is due to recent changes in the terrain, u. a. due to a reed sand quarry, which has since been abandoned and partially backfilled, the type of external fortification can no longer be clarified.

literature

  • Christoph Morrissey, Dieter Müller: The Frankenschanze near Leingarten-Großgartach . In: Regional Presidium Stuttgart - State Office for Monument Preservation (Ed.): Wall systems in the city and district of Heilbronn (= prehistoric and early historical fortifications . H. 17). Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, pp. 37-53 ISBN 978-3-8062-2087-2

See also

Coordinates: 49 ° 7 ′ 53.1 ″  N , 9 ° 6 ′ 25.1 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Morrissey / Müller: Wallanlagen in Stadt- und Landkreis Heilbronn (see literature) pp. 75–79
  2. ↑ Heimatbuch Leingarten p. 32
  3. ^ Rolf Würz: New findings on Heuchelberg . In: Heimatverein Kraichgau (Ed.) Kompass des Kraichgau . Issue 1/2013 p. 7f.
  4. ↑ Ludwig H. Hildebrandt: The counties of Elsenz and Kraichgau in the high Middle Ages, their counts and their castle seats with special consideration of Bretten . In: Bretten Yearbook for Culture and History . NF 5. Bretten 2008, p. 60-62 .