Homburg (Stadtoldendorf)
| Homburg | ||
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 View of the castle tower and the ruins of Homburg (2016) |
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| Creation time : | around 1050 to 1140 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Ruin, keep | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Stadtoldendorf | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 54 '7 " N , 9 ° 38' 33" E | |
| Height: | 406 m above sea level NN | |
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The Homburg is the ruin of a hilltop castle in Stadtoldendorf in the district of Holzminden , Lower Saxony ( Germany ).
location
The castle stands above or north of Stadtoldendorf in the Homburg Forest, up to 406 m high, on the Great Homburg .
history
The castle was a mighty complex with a bailey and a small main castle , with both parts having their own keep . The entire system was 100 m long with an average width of 30 m. The castellum Wikanafeldisten , which is mentioned in a border description of the Hildesheim diocese at the end of the 10th century and was named after an identical Saxon Untergau , probably stood at the castle site .
Siegfried IV von Boyneburg from the Northeim family had the castle built to protect the Amelungsborn monastery . Its layout stood in obvious opposition to the castle of the Count of Everstein in Polle . After Siegfried's childless death, the castle and its accessories, which already comprised around 200 hooves, were bought in 1145 by Count Hermann II von Winzenburg , who, however , was forced to give Homburg a fief to the diocese of Hildesheim as early as 1150 as atonement for a murder committed by his father . In 1150, the associated place Oldendorp, which later became Stadtoldendorf, is also mentioned in a document. In 1152, after Count Hermann II was murdered, the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Heinrich the Lion , took possession of the Northeim inheritance claims inherited from his mother Gertrud von Süpplingenburg . After Henry the Lion was ostracized in 1180, Homburg again fell to the Hildesheim Monastery .
In 1183, the Hildesheim bishop Adelog von Hildesheim enfeoffed Bodo von Homburg (Bodo the Elder) with half of the castle. The counts of Dassel received the second half as a fief. The dichotomy also manifested itself structurally, as airborne laser scanning studies make clear. In each half there was a round castle tower . Since around 1247 the castle was in the hands of the noble lords of Homburg as pledge , who had been associated with it as a kind of fortress commanders since the time of Siegfried IV . Fiefdoms of the bishops had begun in the late 13th century, in alliance with the regaining principality of the Guelphs, to expand their influence against the bishops and against the Counts of Everstein in all directions. The castle was the ancestral seat of the noblemen of Homburg until they died out in 1409. The noblemen gave the Oldendorf city rights as rulers in 1255, which led to the renaming in today's Stadtoldendorf .
From 1409 onwards, the noblemen of Homburg left the Guelphs a wealthy and vigorous territory, which included 6 castles, 3 cities and around 200 villages, following inheritance and the marriage of the widow of the last Homburger to Duke Otto von Grubenhagen (1415). Since the division in 1428, the Homburg has remained permanently in the possession of Brunswick-Lüneburg and served as the royal official residence, primarily for administrative and residential purposes. The last bailiff, Wilken Klenke, left Homburg in 1535, and due to its remote and difficult-to-access location, the castle was demolished. From their stone material (curb stones, bricks from the sandstone found on site ), the previous Wickensen farmyard was converted into the official seat.
In 1897 the ruins were largely excavated by members of the Solling branch associations and then developed into a regionally popular excursion destination. Several state funds were raised to expose the foundation walls, which are 103 meters long and 30 meters wide. Remnants of the wall of a gate tower with a diameter of 9.9 meters were also discovered. In 1936 the remains of the castle, especially the round keep , were repaired by the Reich Labor Service . In addition, a 202 meter long conveyor track was built to rebuild the walls of the castle ruins. However, in 2009 the keep had to be closed again due to the risk of collapse. Some of the objects found during the excavation work as well as a historical model of the castle can be viewed in the city museum. The newly founded Homburg-Ruine Association is planning to restore the castle ruins and make them accessible. The Homburg is owned by the Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz Foundation .
The Homburg Castle Family
- until 1158 Berthold was the first tenant of Homburg.
- until 1195 Bodo the Elder, Bodo and his brother Berthold only receive half the castle as a fief.
- until 1228 Bodo the Younger, was murdered by Count Everstein.
- until 1289 Heinrich, awarded Stadtoldendorf city rights in 1255.
- to 1303 Bodo, the name of the city of Bodenwerder refers to this noble lord.
- until 1338 Heinrich
- until 1380 Siegfried, one of his daughters married Count Otto von Everstein in 1339.
- until 1409 Heinrich, died without an heir, thus the Homburg family died out.
Fountain
In the western part of the outer bailey, the presumed fountain with a round wall was found. For the time being, the well has only been cleared to a depth of a few meters. In 1736, the monastery student (and later archaeologist) Johann Christian Dünnhaupt (1716–1786) from the Amelungsborn Monastery claims not to have reached the bottom of the well with a 60 fathom (103 m) long thread weighted with a lead ball.
literature
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The ruins of Homburg p. 100-102, in: If stones could talk , Volume III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1995, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1 .
- Margret Zimmermann, Hans Kensche: Castles and palaces in Hildesheimer Land . Hildesheim, 2001, pp. 157-159
- Uwe Ohainski: The Lehnregister of the Lords Everstein and Homburg , Publishing House for Regional History, Bielefeld 2008
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann zu Homburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Historical reconstruction drawing . Different view .
- History of Homburg on the website of the Förderverein Burgruine Homburg eV
- www.hendrik-lorenz.de - blog entry
supporting documents
- ^ Website Airborne Laserscanning in the Weser Uplands , accessed on June 30, 2011
- ↑ Helmut Walter: The Homburg story at Förderverein Burgruine Homburg