Krottenturm
| Krottenturm | ||
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 Attempt to reconstruct the Krottenturm |
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| Creation time : | around 1050 | |
| Castle type : | moth | |
| Conservation status: | Remains of ramparts and moats have been preserved | |
| Construction: | Earthworks, palisades and a late Roman fan tower | |
| Place: | Zwentendorf | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 20 '33 " N , 15 ° 54' 50" E | |
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The Krottenturm was a medieval fortification near Zwentendorf ( Tulln district / Lower Austria ). It was built over the remains of a Roman Limes fort and was in use from the 11th to the 13th centuries.
The fortification, consisting of earthworks, ditches, palisades and a late Roman fan tower, was located approx. 1 km west of the center of Zwentendorf in a wooded area called "Weingartl" (or Remise), right next to Bundesstraße 226. Today there are only remnants of the heavily overgrown Inner trench that surrounded the flat, only slightly raised core structure. In the south, the system is cut off by the route of the federal road, here - as on the west and east side - the ramparts and ditches have completely disappeared. They are only partially preserved in the north.
history
The area was initially used as a cemetery from the 10th to the 11th century. The fortress that was subsequently built over the burial ground was probably the seat of the Lords of Krottendorf. Decisive for the choice of this place should have been its location near the Danube bank and the largely preserved SE fan tower of the late Roman fort. The earliest documented mention is around 1233 as the provost of St. Georgen-Herzogenburg, Heinrich, who had an exchange of goods with Dietmar von Gutenbrunn. Rudolf von Krottendorf is cited as a witness to this agreement. Another document from the Klosterneuburg monastery dating from 1258 mentions a certain Otto von Chrotendorf, a later one from 1474 from Herzogenburg contains the comment:
- "... housed gueter and Vberlendt zu kchrottendorf."
After evaluating the ceramic finds, the fortification was documented without interruptions or major alterations until the end of the 13th century. The tower itself was badly damaged in a mercenary feud around 1471 and partially collapsed. The village of Krottendorf belonging to the castle existed after Zwentendorf was founded until the end of the 15th century. According to a note in the archive of Herzogenburg Abbey from 1599, it was almost completely removed in the course of the 16th century for the purpose of extracting building material. Strong walls of a former castle were broken out and ruins of 12 houses, probably those of the Krottendorf, were discovered. The earthwork fell into disrepair and degenerated into an epidemic dump or Schindanger.
From 1895, the village teacher Anton Zündel repeatedly drew attention to prehistoric finds near the “ Krothenturm ” or “ Krothenau ”. Also on the “ Schweickhart map ” from 1831 is u. a. A building is drawn west of Zwentendorf which was probably related to this complex. In the " Franziszeischen Cadastre " (1817–1861) on the sheet for Zwentendorf, parcel 729 is given as " Grottenthurm Braiten ". On the Danube map (1816/17) by Christian de Lorenzo a “ruin of Krottenburg” is also shown. Later, the forefather of Austrian mountain and moth research, Hans P. Schad'n, also dealt with this system.
According to Zündel's description, the earth wall at that time was still around 2 m high and 4–5 m wide at the base. In the middle of the 19th century, the estate administration (Count Althan) tried to make the area usable as a vineyard. In the core work, the remains of the Roman fan tower, a round tower protruding over the arable land and straight walls are said to have been visible up to this time. However, these were blown up 12 years before Zündel's report by the administrator of the Zwentendorf estate, after which the foundations were ransacked for treasures supposedly present here. From 1953 to 1962 the Austrian Archaeological Institute undertook scientific excavations for the first time, during which the medieval fortification, a burial ground from the 10th / 11th. Century and the multi-phase Roman fort were uncovered.
Fortifications
When the Weingartl was fortified again in the second half of the 11th century, the then apparently still well-preserved southeast corner of the former Roman camp with its massive fan tower was included in the earth fortification ( Motte ). However, the tower was not in the center of the core plant, but took up a peripheral position. This is a subsequent so-called “mothballing” of a late Roman fortification.
A deep trench was dug around the tower and an outer wall was built up with its excavated material (earth and clay). This was reinforced in some places with wooden inlays and attached to the wall crown with palisades. In the north, the wall lay directly on the then bank break off of an arm of the Danube . The entrance to the castle, which was secured by a guardhouse, was also located in this area. The inner ditch to the castle core could be crossed here on a wooden bridge, which in turn was protected by a palisade ring. The outer earth wall measured approx. 75 m in diameter, the NW-SE oriented core work 50 x 30 m. The inner trench, which was laid out as a shallow bottom ditch, was 8-10 m wide and 2.5 m deep.
See also
literature
- Franz Hampl , Herma Stiglitz : Short guide to the excavations in Zwentendorf, the Roman fort Pirotorto. A grave field from the 10th-11th centuries Century. A medieval Erdwerk , Vienna 1961, cultural department of the Lower Austrian regional government, pp. 3–9.
- Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum , Horst Wolfgang Böhme (Hrsg.): Castles of the Salierzeit, part 2, In the southern landscapes of the empire, monographs, volume 26, Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen, 1991, therein: Erik Szameit: Der Krottenturm bei Zwentendorf, about the further use of two late antique fortifications of the Austrian Danube Limes in the Middle Ages : Zwentendorf and Tulln , pp. 377–387.