Hinterburg (Neckarsteinach)

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Hinterburg in Neckarsteinach
Neckarsteinach Hinterburg1.JPG
Alternative name (s): Alt-Schadeck
Creation time : around 1100
Castle type : Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Free nobles
Construction: Humpback cuboid
Place: Neckarsteinach
Geographical location 49 ° 24 '34.6 "  N , 8 ° 49' 38.6"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 24 '34.6 "  N , 8 ° 49' 38.6"  E
Height: 165  m above sea level NN
Hinterburg (Hesse)
Hinterburg
Hinterburg around 1850

The Hinterburg , also called Alt-Schadeck , is the ruin of a spur castle at 165  m above sea level. NN near Neckarsteinach in the Bergstrasse district in Hesse . It is the oldest of the four castles Vorderburg , Mittelburg , Hinterburg and Schwalbennest and the ancestral castle of the noble free of Steinach .

history

The construction of the castle began around 1100, probably in the fief of the diocese of Worms or the diocese of Speyer . 1142–1165 Bligger von Steinach is mentioned in a document as the lord of the castle. His son, the minstrel Bligger II von Steinach , expanded it into an extensive Staufer complex . After the older line of Steinach died out around 1270, the castle was pledged to his creditors by Bishop Heinrich von Speyer in 1272. The castle is said to have been abandoned or fell into disrepair as early as 1344, as Bishop Gerhard von Speyer signed a contract with the Wimpfen provost Peter von Mur on the reconstruction of the castle, who received 20 pounds of Heller and two loads of wine annually. In 1366, Charles IV confirmed ownership of the castle to Bishop Lambert von Speyer . In 1375 Contz Münch von Rosenberg received the castle as a fief. In 1418 Bishop Raban von Speyer left the castle and its part of the city to his cousin Wilhelm von Helmstatt for life, after his death in 1426 in the same way to his nephew Weiprecht III. von Helmstatt , who also had to renovate the castle, which had apparently fallen into disrepair. In 1427, after a dispute between the Helmstatt and the Landschad von Steinach, a common truce was negotiated for the castle and town of Steinach. Major renovations in the castle go back to Weiprecht von Helmstatt. After his death in 1490, the fiefdom passed to his nephew Martin von Helmstatt († 1490) and from this to his daughters Mia, who was married to Blicker XIV. Landschad von Steinach, who lived in the Vorderburg , and Gertrud, who was to Heinrich VI. von Handschuhsheim was married, dividing the castle into two halves. Already in 1497 Heinrich VII. Von Handschuhsheim acquired half of the Landschad with a quarter of the city of Steinach and half of the village of Epfenbach . Heinrich's eldest son Philipp carried out construction work on the castle again in 1529 and died in the same year. During the liquidation of his estate, there were disputes and a process before the Palatinate court, which ruled that the castle was the property of the Speyr cathedral monastery. In 1541 the brothers Hans, Hans Pleikard and Christof Landschad von Steinach were enfeoffed with the castle by Bishop Philipp von Speyer . In 1545, a judgment requested the von Handschuhsheim to vacate the castle, which happened after the judgment was confirmed in 1549. The castle remained in their possession until the Landschad von Steinach died out in 1635.

The castle was destroyed in the Thirty Years War (around 1630).

After the Landschad died out, the Worms and Speyer monasteries withdrew the previous fiefdoms (Hinterburg, Vorderburg and half of the Mittelburg), made them subject to self-administration for a short time and transferred them to Wolf-Heinrich von Metternich zu Burscheid as a fiefdom in 1657. In the same year he acquired the former Landschad allodial property from Dieter VIII. Landschad's daughter Eva Elisabeth and also the remaining half of the central castle from the barons of Venningen , so that from the late middle of the 17th century the four castles were again in one Hand was united. After the Metternich line died out in 1753, the earlier fiefs and even the earlier allodial possessions were withdrawn from the Speyer and Worms monasteries. In 1803, the entire property came to the state of Hesse as part of the mediatization , which concluded a settlement with the heir of the allodial property , Baron von Dorth, and ceded the ruins of the rear castle to this in addition to the central castle used as the official residence. In 1910 the Lords of Dorth waived the ruins of the rear castle, the maintenance of which was too expensive and which then fell back to the Hessian state.

investment

View from the Hinterburg to the Dilsberg and Neckarsteinach (left in the picture)

A pentagonal castle complex on a rock thorn that drops steeply on three sides. Secured against the mountain with an angled shield wall and an approx. 25 m high keep in the corner of the shield wall. Starting at the ends of the shield wall, a 3 m thick circular wall made of humpback blocks surrounds the castle complex. It also has lavish palas with Gothic windows.

There are also remains of a second, newer palace, which was probably built in the middle of the 14th century. According to written sources, this is said to have been underpinned with a vault in the 15th century.

The fully lined fountain in the courtyard, which is at least 23 m deep, has an accessible junction in the direction of the central castle at a depth of 18 m .

The most striking part of the castle complex is the mighty keep made of sandstone blocks, which has an edge length of eight by eight meters with a total height of approx. 25 m. A 49-step staircase leads along the angled shield wall of the former palace to the high entrance at a height of approx. 10 m . Inside the tower there is a left-hand concrete staircase with a total of 63 steps, which leads to the approx. 22 m high roofed viewing platform . This offers a very good view of the Neckar valley, Neckarsteinach and the Dilsberg opposite.

Others

Hinterburg tunnel Neckarsteinach

The Hinterburg is crossed by the Neckar Valley Railway through a 139 meter long tunnel.

literature

  • Walter Hotz : Castles of the Hohenstaufen period in the Odenwald area. In: Winfried Wackerfuß (Ed.): Contributions to the exploration of the Odenwald and its peripheral landscapes II. Festschrift for Hans H. Weber. Breuberg-Bund , Breuberg-Neustadt 1977, pp. 155-168, especially p. 159.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 567-568.
  • Walter Möller and Karl Krauss: Neckarsteinach, his lords, the city and the castles. Mainz 1928
  • Thomas Steinmetz: Castles in the Odenwald. Verlag Ellen Schmid, Brensbach 1998, ISBN 3-931529-02-9 , pp. 85-88.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 262f.

Web links

Commons : Hinterburg  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Castles and palaces - Hinterburg in Neckarsteinach