Stronghold

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The stronghold of Burg Katz

The term Trutzburg (also Trotsburg ) comes from the Middle Ages . The word Trutz is the Middle High German form of defiance and thus describes an act of resistance.

Meanings

View from Bleidenberg to Thurant Castle on the Moselle

The name is popularly used to underline the defensive character of a castle that "defies" all attacks. As a metaphor , the term is used in this sense for things that prove to be particularly resistant and durable.

In scientific usage, however, Trutzburg refers to a certain type of castle, according to the medieval usage of the word, which was built to secure claims to power or to siege and conquer the properties of rival rulers. In such cases, one speaks of a counter , occupation or siege castle . These terms are preferred by modern castle research today.

However, even specialist authors do not use the terms defensive, opposing and siege castles in a uniform sense. Usually a distinction is made between the siege and the opposing castle. According to this definition, a siege castle was built near the enemy castle within reach of bliden and catapults and served the attackers as a base, road block, refuge in case of counter-attacks, barracks and position for projectiles.

A castle complex is often referred to as an opposing castle, which may well be located further away from the opposing fortifications and castles. It was not used for the immediate siege of a castle, but as a base in the competitor's area, for example to hinder his expansion efforts.

Fortified castles have only been documented since the late Middle Ages . They were mostly built as provisional structures made of wood and earth above the castle to be conquered, within sight and gun range. From there, the target was taken under fire.

Sometimes instead of a brick or wooden siege castle, only a blind position was set up. A favorable point of the terrain within reach of the besieged castle was leveled and, if necessary, lightly fortified. From this position one could shoot the castle relatively safely with a blide (slingshot) and wear down the enemy psychologically. Such a Bleidenberg (Blidenberg) is located about 430 meters northeast above Thurant Castle on the Moselle .

Bliden can be detected during sieges since the early 13th century. Large slingshots had a range of around 400 to 500 meters. However, only wealthy feudal lords could finance the use of such a larger, very expensive siege machine or even the construction of an opposing castle.

Eltz Castle and Trutzeltz Castle

Only in isolated cases did the attackers have the time and financial means to build their stone fortress. Rare examples of this are Ramstein Castle , Rauschenburg near Mermuth in the Hunsrück and Trutzeltz Castle . The latter was built during the Eltz feud to siege Eltz Castle. The Rauschenburg was also created in connection with the Eltz feud as a counter-castle to the castles Ehrenburg , Waldeck and Schöneck .

In the majority of known cases, the fortresses were abandoned after the fighting and fell into disrepair. Sometimes the lord of the castle, which was once besieged, was even given the opposing castle as a fief after a peace treaty , as in the case of Trutzeltz Castle. In exceptional cases, if the conquest was successful, such structures were converted into independent castles. Examples of this are Hohenfels Castle and Schadeck Castle near Runkel an der Lahn .

The few bricked counter or siege castles that have survived mostly show a less careful construction. In order to be able to build up the fortifications quickly, clay was mixed with the lime mortar. The existence of these weir systems is therefore strongly endangered today and can only be secured through extensive renovations.

Academic research has only been concerned with fortresses, counter and siege castles on a larger scale since the end of the 20th century. After more attention was paid to the symbolic content of medieval fortifications in the last two decades of this century ( Joachim Zeune ), research is currently beginning to critically question the theses established at the time. In the course of the new concentration on the functional and military aspects of the defense architecture, the fortress also moved more into the focus of scientific interest.

Early Norman castles of occupation in England

The construction of Hastings Castle (left, Bayeux Tapestry)

The Norman invasion of England was long in preparation and is widely regarded as one of the most notable military strategic achievements of the early High Middle Ages . The Normans attacked the island just as the English were repelling a Norwegian attack. The English army under King Harold had been able to repel the Vikings , but now had to face the approximately 7,000 well-equipped Norman warriors, completely exhausted.

Numerous simple occupation castles were built during the invasion. In addition to numerous moths (hill towers), ring walls with palisade reinforcement were created and older Celtic or Saxon fortifications were reactivated. The wooden components of these wood-earth castles were partially prefabricated on the mainland and only had to be assembled on the spot. This quickly created a dense network of military bases, which were later sometimes expanded into stone castles.

Some of these castles can be seen on the famous Bayeux Tapestry. Occasionally, the barrels in which the invaders transported nails across the English Channel for assembly were even depicted .

The Welsh occupation castles of Edward I of England

Occupation castle Caernarfon Castle .
Occupation castle Harlech Castle .

Already at the beginning of the conquest of the Celtic Wales by the English King Edward I , he ordered the construction of several castles in strategically important places in 1277 . The grounds in Aberystwyth , Builth , Flint and Rhuddlan are among these early English occupation castles .

The outbreak of new unrest in 1282 prompted the ruler to embark on an enormous building program. Allegedly the English army was accompanied by 355 carpenters, 70 bricklayers, 1,000 stone breakers and earthworkers. 1700 loggers are also said to have been brought together from all over England. After a year this line-up was increased by 25 carpenters and 100 bricklayers.

Within a short period of time, a whole network of the most modern fortifications was created, which are still counted among the highlights of medieval secular architecture . With supplies from the sea, the country could be militarily secured from these bases. The Welsh castle building program devoured huge sums of money that had to be raised by Parliament and the Church. The subsequent planned subjugation of Scotland therefore inevitably failed due to the costs of a similar building campaign.

The castles of Caernarfon , Conwy and Harlech , constructed by James of St. George , are counted among the most important English occupation castles .

Siege castles and counter castles in the Holy Land

Montreal Castle (Jordan)

During the siege of larger fortified cities, castles were sometimes built to protect against troops and relief troops.

During the First Crusade , the Christian crusaders built the first siege castles at the gates of the Muslim cities in the Holy Land . 1097 was about before St. Paul's Gate of Antioch the castle Malregard . A little later, the castles la Mahomerie and " Tankreds Burg " were built in front of further gates.

In 1103, Raymond IV of Toulouse ordered the construction of the siege castle of Mons Pelegrinus (Pilgrim Mountain) near Tripoli . Raimund was Count of St. Gilles, which is why the castle, which is now in the city center, is called Qualat Sandjill by the locals .

In addition to siege castles, opposing castles were built at a greater distance from the besieged city complex. In 1117 King Baldwin I had a counter-castle “ad coercendum praedictam urbem” (to conquer the - mentioned - city) Tire built near İskenderun . The besieged Tire did not fall until 1124.

The king also tried to monitor the important caravan route Derb el-Hadj from some new castle buildings. The pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina also ran here . Around Petra the castles Montreal / Shobaq (1115), Li Vaux Moisee and in 1116 fortified bases at Aqaba and on the Isle de Graye / Jazirat Fara'un were founded.

In 1142, the construction of the mighty Kerak Fortress ( Krak de Moab ) in northern Transjordan, which also included a port on the Dead Sea , began. From here, Renaud de Châtillon undertook numerous predatory forays into the surrounding area, so that Sultan Saladin was finally forced to attack the Frankish crusader states.

Around the city of Ashkelon ( Askalon ) - held by Egyptian associations - four strong castles were built between 1136 and 1142.

Occupation castles of the knightly orders

The Krak des Chevaliers of the Order of St. John in present-day Syria
The monastery-like Deutschordensburg Marienburg

For the long-term security and control of the conquered areas in the Middle East, the conquered or newly built defense systems were expanded and expanded from the middle of the 12th century. The religious orders of knights that arose in connection with the crusades gained more and more influence and power.

Some of the mightiest castle complexes in the occidental culture were built especially under the Hospitallers . Big castles like the Krak des Chevaliers could accommodate up to 2000 warriors. Construction projects of this kind required complex logistics that have so far only been inadequately researched.

From around 1250, the political situation forced the clergy and secular lords of the crusader castles to drastically reduce the number of castles. In 1281, for example, Margat Castle in today's Syria was only inhabited by 25 knights of the order. The Muslims had recaptured Belvoir Castle (Israel) as early as 1245 .

The colonization and missionary work of Eastern Europe was also secured by building large fortifications. The largest occupation castle of the Teutonic Order is the Marienburg (today Malbork , Pomeranian Voivodeship ). The complex was largely destroyed in the Second World War, but was completely reconstructed in the post-war period by the Polish preservation authorities.

Other bases of the Teutonic Order and the four bishoprics founded in the order state were Rehden Castle ( Radzyń Chełmiński ) and Heilsberg Castle ( Lidzbark Warmiński ). This knightly order was originally founded in the Holy Land (Montfort Castle). After the failure of the crusade idea in the Holy Land, the order concentrated its activities from around 1230 on the proselytizing of the pagan Prussians and the establishment of an almost independent religious state in the conquered areas east of the Holy Roman Empire . While the Teutonic Order remained largely insignificant in the Middle East, its activities shape the cultural and political conditions in large parts of Poland and the Baltic states to this day.

In Transylvania , the order's policy of expansion failed as early as the early 13th century. An example of an order castle in this area is the ruins of the Marienburg of Feldioara near Brașov .

Ottoman castles around the Byzantine Constantinople

The Ottoman fortresses Anadolu Hisarı ....
Rumeli Hisarı on the Bosphorus

The Ottoman attack on Byzantine Constantinople (now Istanbul ) was prepared from 1390 with the construction of the Anadolu Hisarı ( Anatolian Castle ). The bulwark was a few kilometers north of the city on the Bosporus . A main tower was surrounded by a curtain wall with four round towers. In 1451 the fortifications were reinforced by external works on the occasion of the Ottoman attack on the city.

In addition, the large fortress Rumeli Hisarı ( Rumelian , i.e. European Castle ) was built on the European side of the Bosporus in just four months . The elongated floor plan of this weir system is secured by two corner towers on the land side. In the middle of the east side (water side) a polygonal defense tower with a round structure jumps out of the wall. The massive masonry of this tower was designed to withstand fire from the Byzantine artillery . The structure was armed with small cannons that could block the sea route through the Bosporus.

When Constantinople fell into Ottoman hands in 1453, the victorious Sultan Mehmed II ordered the construction of another fortress in the south of the city fortifications. Yedikule Castle was presented to the Byzantine city ​​wall as a protruding pentagon with two round towers and a central polygon tower. The surprisingly modern fortification concept could have served as a model for the Italian fortress builders of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, as it seems like a preliminary stage of the rondeled fortress manners of the Renaissance . The curtains between the towers are also reinforced by triangular, bastion-like protrusions.

The so-called "butter churn towers" of the fortifications are typical of Ottoman castle building in the 15th century. The mostly round or polygonal defense towers were fitted with slimmer structures as extensions. This type of building was already widespread in Western Europe in the 14th century ( Marksburg Castle above Braubach ). The actual defense plate was therefore lower than the command post and the view. In the Greek Peloponnese , another vivid example of such an occupation castle has been preserved in the Ottoman tower of Methoni Castle (Messenia) .

Siege castles in Germany

Siege castles in France

Siege castles in Austria

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Trutzburg  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations


Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 584
  2. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 153
  3. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 153
  4. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 584
  5. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 585
  6. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 398
  7. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 398
  8. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 403
  9. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 404
  10. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 584
  11. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 584
  12. ↑ Otto Piper : Castle Studies. Construction and history of castles .... 3rd edition 1912 Munich. New edition Weltbild Verlag GmbH, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-554-7 , p. 584