Junker Castle

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Junker Castle
Remains of the Junker Castle today

Remains of the Junker Castle today

Alternative name (s): Outer castle, Junkernschloss, Unterburg (Driedorf)
Creation time : around 1200 to 1300
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Wall remains, remains of the surrounding wall
Standing position : Free nobles
Place: Driedorf
Geographical location 50 ° 37 '56.3 "  N , 8 ° 11' 7.4"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '56.3 "  N , 8 ° 11' 7.4"  E
Height: 490  m above sea level NHN
Junkern Castle (Hesse)
Junker Castle

The Junker Castle (also Lower Castle in distinction to the upper castle is called), the castle ruin of a former water castle in the municipality Driedorf in Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse Westerwald .

location

The castle ruins are located near the Rehbach . A park was created around the castle ruins. The castle ruins are freely accessible.

history

Ruin from the east
View into the remains of the palace

Before 1280 there was a seat of the Lords of Greifenstein here in the Rehbach-Mühlbach valley . In a dispute this fell to Otto I (Nassau) , who between 1280 and 1290 had the square moated castle with courtyard and palace built on the remains of the old castle complex.

Originally the castle was only of strategic importance. From 1303, however, it served Count Emich I of Nassau-Hadamar as a residence . He obtained city ​​rights for the settlement in front of the castle in 1305 . The castle was sold to Otto II von Nassau-Dillenburg , who gave it to the Junkers Johann and Wiegand von Mudersbach in 1347 as a fief . Since then the castle has been referred to as the Junkers Castle .

In 1348 the castle came to the Landgraviate of Hesse , which gave it to the County of Katzenelnbogen as a fief in 1398 . In 1408 the castle and town are said to be fully owned by the Katzenelnbogen family. In 1437 Daniel II of Mudersbach became a Hessian castle man and received the moated castle, the moat and the land towards the town as a fief . The von Mudersbach family then placed the castle men under the changing rulers. In 1557 the castle and settlement came back to Wilhelm von Nassau-Dillenburg after long disputes over inheritance rights . With the death of Daniel III. von Mudersbach in 1600 the male line died out. Daniel's only daughter and her husband Hardmut von Cronberg used the castle as an apartment after they were left by Wilhelm's son Johann VI. Count of Nassau-Dillenburg , called the Elder , were enfeoffed with the castle. The fiefdom of Nassau-Dillenburg ended with his death in 1606 at the latest. In 1610 the castle was sold to the Nassau-Beilstein family .

After that, the castle was no longer important and fell into ruin . In 1780 the main tower was demolished and the moat was filled with it.

investment

The moated castle, fed by the moat from the nearby Rehbach, was a simple, right-angled, almost square complex that is oriented northeast-southwest. In the southern part, the castle was divided in the ratio one quarter to three quarters by an inner wall, so that the smaller part in the south probably the Palas was. Arched window openings are preserved on the ruins. Nor are from 1990 restored corbels of the bar stock, fireplaces with Monolith covers the entrance gate, the courtyard and on the north corner of the foundations of the "Hohewarte" called the keep to see. In 2004, the redesign of the site around the ruins was completed. The ruins and the surrounding landscaped area are now used for events.

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hesse: 800 castles, castle ruins and castle sites. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 419.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 85f.

Web links

Commons : Junkernschloss  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry on Lower Castle, Junkern Castle, Outer Castle in the private database "All Castles". Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ Junkernschloss castle ruins | Driedorf , accessed December 9, 2016.