Hohenhewen ruins

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Hohenhewen ruins
Hohenhewen

Hohenhewen

Alternative name (s): Hewin, Hewen, Hohenhöwen
Creation time : around 1100 to 1170
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Count
Place: Engen - Anselfingen
Geographical location 47 ° 50 '8.9 "  N , 8 ° 44' 49.9"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 50 '8.9 "  N , 8 ° 44' 49.9"  E
Height: 845.3  m above sea level NHN
Hohenhewen ruin (Baden-Württemberg)
Hohenhewen ruins

The Hohenhewen ruin , also Hohenhöwen , is a high medieval castle ruin in the southwest of Anselfingen , a district of Engen in the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg ( Germany ).

location

The ruin of the summit castle stands on the wooded summit of 845.3  m above sea level. NHN high mountain Hohenhewen , a basalt cone that characterizes the landscape of the Hegau . The cone, which towers over the immediate surroundings by 300 meters, is sloping on its sides. A cross on the south side on the steep path to the castle ruins reminds of the fatally injured homeland researcher and pastor Josef Hoh. The ascent from the Anselfingen hiking car park to the ruins takes about 45 minutes.

Today, when the weather is good, a viewing platform on the top of the top of the wall that is accessible via a spiral staircase offers a wonderful panoramic view of the Hegau landscape with its volcanic mountains, Lake Constance , the Black Forest , the Baar , the Vosges and the Swiss Alps .

history

In 1050, the Lords of Engen-Hewen were first mentioned in a document from the Count of Nellenburg .

Probably at the beginning of the 12th century, at the latest in 1170, the castle on the Hewen was built by the lords of Engen , who later called themselves Barons von Hewen. A Walter von Hewen is known from the year 1152 , he was one of the former lords of Engen, who first named himself after his new residence. In 1189 the castle was named Hewin or Hewen.

From the 13th century Engen was the royal seat of the Lords of Hewen, whose territory included Burg Engen , Burg Neuhewen (Stettener Schlössle), Hewenegg (Junghewen), Burg Boll , Tudoburg and Burg Wildenstein in the Danube Valley .

In 1291 the castle was given to the Duchy of Austria as a fief and came in 1398 from the heavily indebted brothers Peter and Wölflin von Hewen as a pledge to Habsburg .

In 1404 the rule came into the possession of the Counts of Lupfen-Stühlingen as pledge from the Habsburgs and became an imperial fiefdom around 1415 . Ultimately, they received it in exchange for the rule of Tyrol. With them, the Hohenhewen became a notorious robber baron's nest. In 1441 the Counts of Lupfen-Stühlingen attacked Ulm merchants. The Swabian League of Cities , a military alliance of several imperial cities , therefore sought revenge and the castle was besieged during the city war; however, the capture of the Hohenhewen failed.

The second siege by the Swiss during the Swiss War in 1499 was also unsuccessful.

During the German Peasants' War in 1524/25, the castle was also not conquered. In 1570 the family from Hewen died out. Today the name is still sporadic in Thurgau .

In 1582, with the end of the von Engen-Lupfen family, the castle fell as pledge to Count Conrad von Pappenheim , one of the Hereditary Marshals of Pappenheim .

In 1639 Bavarian mercenaries besieged the castle during the Thirty Years War and destroyed it. In the same year it passed into the possession of the Lords of Fürstenberg through marriage . A reconstruction was out of the question for them and so the ruins were left to decay.

On May 3, 1800, Austrians entrenched on the ruins were driven out by French troops.

In 1937 the ruin was taken over by the Black Forest Association Engen e. V. exposed and sold by the Fürstenbergers to the state of Baden-Württemberg between 1957 and 1959. In 1963 a TV converter was built in the northern part of the main castle .

The Hohenhewen working group has been looking after and preserving the ruin since 1999.

investment

Remnants of the wall with viewing platform

It is difficult to reconstruct what the once mighty Hohenhewen Castle complex with its size of 250 × 60 meters looked like in its entirety, as only the remains of the wall remain.

The main castle , which has an elongated, polygonal to oval floor plan, probably consisted of a large residential building on the north side and a tower on the south side. The south and west sides were bordered by a late medieval castle wall, on the east side the steep slope offered sufficient protection. Parts of the castle gate , the kennel , the foundation walls of the servants' houses and a wall of the residential tower , which today serves as a viewing platform, have been preserved. Only small remains of the chapel are visible.

The so-called Hewenhof, a free-standing farm about halfway up the Hohenhewen, is part of the complex. It was also owned by the Princes of Fürstenberg until 1959.

Two barbecue areas with seating were set up in the main castle for day trippers.

literature

  • Hans-Wilhelm Heine : Studies on weir systems between the young Danube and western Lake Constance . In: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (Hrsg.): Research and reports on the archeology of the Middle Ages in Baden-Württemberg. Volume 5 . Stuttgart 1978, ISSN  0178-3262 .
  • Thorsten Gut: Hohenhewen. Castle and rule through the ages . University Press Konstanz, ISBN 3-89669-967-9 .
  • Michael Losse, Hans Noll: Castles, palaces and fortresses in Hegau. Defense structures and aristocratic residences in the western Lake Constance area . Michael Greuter, Hilzingen 2006, ISBN 3-938566-05-1 , pp. 89-90.
  • Wolfgang Sandermann: The Engen-Hewen rule from its beginnings to 1399 . In: Herbert Berner (Ed.): Engen im Hegau. Center and official city of the Hewen rule . Sigmaringen 1990.
  • Arthur Hauptmann: Castles then and now. Castles and castle ruins in southern Baden and adjacent areas . 1st edition, Verlag des Südkurier, Konstanz 1984, ISBN 3-87799-040-1 , pp. 29–32.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )