Merlinsburg
| Merlinsburg | ||
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 The Merlinsburg (1659) |
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| Alternative name (s): | Merlinse, also Kaltennordheim Castle | |
| Creation time : | after 1300 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | Castle stables, wall and cellar remains preserved | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Kaltennordheim | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 37 '38 " N , 10 ° 9' 41" E | |
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The castle Merlin Castle is an Outbound in the Middle Ages , built lowland castle in the city Kaltennordheim in Schmalkalden-Meiningen in Thuringia .
location
The structural remains of the Merlinsburg are in the east of the old town in the area of the castle . The original facility is located in a protected location in the floodplain of the Felda , which was included in the castle and city fortifications in the Middle Ages by weirs.
history
The upper Feldatal was ruled in the High Middle Ages by the Counts of Neidhartshausen , who were close relatives of the Henneberg Counts and had their ancestral seat in the neighboring village of Neidhartshausen . After the counts of Neidhardshausen died out, the fortifications located on the Höhn near Klings and Fischbach were used as the official seat of the region. At this time a castle complex was built in Kaltennordheim, probably as the residence of a ministerial in the service of the Hennebergers.
The castle was first mentioned in a document on August 8, 1350. In this contract, the castle in Kaltennordheim was sold by Count Johann I to the abbot of the Fulda monastery . But as early as 1366, another document reports the purchase of the castle by a knight Henze von Allendorf - probably a former Frankenstein castle man in Bad Salzungen . The documents of the following decades report on numerous renovations and extensions. The old Henneberg Castle, including the village of Kaltennordheim, was owned for a time by the von Buchenau family , from whom Count Wilhelm II (III) von Henneberg-Schleusingen († 1444) redeemed it in 1438. After his death in 1444, the castle was the residence of his militant, younger brother Count Heinrich XI from 1445 to 1475 . (VIII.) Von Henneberg-Schleusingen ("the restless"; † 1475), who made claims on the county of Henneberg . These were legally rejected and Heinrich XI. Resigned for life to the special rule of Kaltennordheim.
The castle complex and the small amount of occupation in 1525 were unable to cope with a siege by the rebellious farmers of the Feldatal during the Peasants' War . The bailiff and castle captain Tham von Herda therefore left the castle to its fate and took refuge in the Marsfeld fortress near Meiningen. The castle was taken and plundered without a fight. In 1562 the town charter was given to Kaltennordheim. The Feldatal was crossed several times during the Thirty Years' War by roaming armies and the town of Kaltennordheim was taken. The city fire of 1634 destroyed large parts of the city and the castle was also badly damaged. After the war, the ruins of the castle complex were leveled, at that time it was hardly of any military importance. A pen drawing in a report issued in 1659 is the oldest known representation of the Merlinsburg. In 1752–54 the official building - also known as the castle - was rebuilt on the Merlinsburg square. For this purpose, the existing wall sections of the surrounding wall were used again. The striking courtyard gate with clockwork was created as a representative entrance to the city.
investment
The castle complex consisted of several stone buildings with a basement, a massive round tower in the courtyard and a stone wall with a gate tower . A wide moat or pond surrounded the castle complex, and there were weirs on the course of the Goldbach and the Felda river.
Current situation and usage
The castle complex is a designated architectural and ground monument of the city of Kaltennordheim. In the castle grounds an office building was built in the 18th century, which under the name Castle is known. In the peripheral area, further buildings were built on the filled trenches. The site is open to the public.
Name interpretation
The derivation of the name Merlinse was passed down in the vernacular: according to this, the floodplain was as wide as a sea, the remote castle then looked over from the distance like a lens (flat disk) from the masses of water.
literature
- Hermann Helmbold Kaltennordheim In: Lehfeldt, Paul / Voss, Georg (Hrsg.): Building and art monuments of Thuringia. Booklet XXXVII. Jena 1911, pp. 179-184
- Gerda Hesselmann History of Kaltennordheim Castle In: 1200 years Kaltennordheim. Meiningen 1995 pp. 16-22
- Thomas Bienert Kaltennordheim, Burg Merlinse In: Medieval castles in Thuringia, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, p. 326, ISBN 3-86134-631-1
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Bienert notes that the Merlinsburg could have been built as a replacement for the Hutsberg Castle in Henneberg, which had been destroyed shortly before .
- ^ [* Kronfeld, Constantin: Thuringian-Saxon-Weimar history. - Weimar: Böhlau, 1878. - (Regional studies of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach; T. 1) / [reviewed by:] Ulrich Stechele]
- ↑ Gerda Hesselmann History of Kaltennordheim Castle In: 1200 years Kaltennordheim. Meiningen 1995 pp. 16-22
