Minneburg

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Minneburg
Palas of the Minneburg

Palas of the Minneburg

Creation time : around 1250
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Ministeriale
Place: Neunkirchen - Neckarkatzenbach
Geographical location 49 ° 23 '48 "  N , 9 ° 3' 53"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 23 '48 "  N , 9 ° 3' 53"  E
Minneburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Minneburg

The Minneburg is the ruin of a hilltop castle in the Neckar Valley on the district of the Neckarkatzenbacher community forest in the Neckar-Odenwald district in Baden-Württemberg . The castle towers above the directly located on the opposite side of the Neckar Neckargerach and historically closely with its at the foot of Castle Hill was lock back lying district Guttenbach connected.

history

View into the hall
Minneburg, 1939

The origins of the Minneburg are in the dark. Presumably it was built by Staufer servants and its origin is connected with the Staufer Palatinate in Bad Wimpfen and other related castles in the Neckar Valley. Their first historically secured mention dates back to 1339, when Eberhardt Rüdt von Collenberg acquired the castle and the associated lands, including the towns of Guttenbach and Neckarkatzenbach, through marriage. Already in 1349 he sold it to Ruprecht I of the Palatinate. The Electoral Palatinate pledged the castle to the regional lower nobility, including the lords of Gemmingen . The Leidenharterhof , located northwest of the castle, was also part of the castle loan .

In 1518 (or 1521) the Minneburg was inherited from the Heidelberg Vogt Wilhelm von Habern, who was responsible for the conversion to the current shape of the core castle with its representative palace and the expansion of the mighty fortifications with defensive towers and the outer bailey. About a year after the transfer of ownership, at least parts of the fortifications are said to have already been completed. The master builder was Hans Steinmüller from Wertheim , who at that time was in great demand as a specialist for fortifications in southern Germany.

The construction of the water supply also falls at this time at the latest. The water was led from a spring above the castle via a wooden pipe, via the neck ditch , where a supporting pillar can still be seen today, into the castle interior. A niche in the old shield wall served as a water reservoir.

With the sons of Wilhelm, the Habern line died out around 1600 and the castle became the Electoral Palatinate winery . During the Thirty Years' War the castle was besieged by Tilly's troops. They finally shot a breach in the fortification and on March 22, 1622 the partially destroyed castle was handed over. After that it was used as a quarry by the local population. 1648 Johann Sigmund Seyfried was in charge of the winery and also the first known official in the capacity of Zentgrafen for Unteramt Schwarzach-Minne stronghold of Stüber centering . The winery moved to the neighboring Schwarzach Castle in 1663 and retained its subordinate role until most of the Palatinate was added to the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1803.

In the early 19th century, the castle ruins were inhabited by the hermit Andreas Hilberle († March 7, 1819), who made his living by making wooden clockworks and around whom a legend first published in 1919 is entwined.

At the end of the 19th century, the first renovation measures were carried out on the ruins, but they fell into disrepair again in the following period. The ruins have been secured since around 1970.

investment

and display information about the image
View from the outer bailey to the inner bailey of the Minneburg
Foundation plan of the Minneburg

The Minneburg lies on a foothill of the castle ridge about 50 meters above the Neckar valley. Guttenbach is located southeast below the castle on the banks of the Neckar . Directly across from the castle on the other side of the Neckar is Neckargerach in the northeast . The complex is separated from the castle ridge, which continues to rise to the northwest, by a ditch.

The oldest part of the plant is an irregular pentagon forming core Burg consisting Palas , so-called Kitchen, shield wall and keep consists, being developed under the keep this probably the earliest. The shield wall is separated from the keep by a construction joint, so that the wall was either built after the keep or replaced an older wall that was built at the same time as the keep. The originally Gothic hall was supplemented by the stair tower during the Renaissance under Wilhelm von Habern and provided with bay windows and ornamental gables.

Around the main castle, also under von Habern, the massive fortification ( Zwinger ) was built at the beginning of the 16th century , the wall of which was made particularly high and thick on the mountain side and which has massive gun towers in the north, south and west. On the valley side, the spacious outer bailey with farm buildings resting on massive stone foundations was also built. Access to the castle was through the castle gate to the southeast with a drawbridge , through which you first reach the inner courtyard of the outer castle, from which a steep path leads to the main castle . Although the significant extensions and renovations did not take place until the 16th century, the Minneburg still offered the image of a medieval castle and not - as in many other places - that of a Renaissance castle due to the defiant new walls and towers.

While today the outer bailey is almost completely demolished apart from a few remains of the wall and foundations, the buildings of the inner bailey and the surrounding walls and turrets have been secured and partially restored. The complex is open to the public and can normally be visited in full at any time, but the core castle is closed until further notice due to security work.

  • gallery

  • Remnants of the foundation of the outer bailey

  • Neck ditch with kennel wall and gun turret

  • Stair tower of the Palas

  • Keep

  • View from the bay window of the Palas over the Neckar valley

legend

View from Neckargerach over the Neckar valley to the Minneburg on the other side of the river

According to a legend, the castle is named after Minna von Horneck . She was supposed to be married to Count von Schwarzenberg , but before that she took refuge in a cave near what is now Minneburg, because she loved the poor knight Edelmut von Ehrenberg and was waiting for him to return from a crusade . When he actually returned, however, Minna was already dying. He is said to have promised to build a castle on his deathbed and to have given it the name Minneburg in memory of the great love (Middle High German: Minne) of the two .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Winkler: The hermit on the Minneburg in Unser Land, home calendar for Neckartal, Odenwald, building land and Kraichgau (1995)

literature

  • Fritz Arens : The building history of the castles Stolzeneck, Minneburg and Zwingenberg. In: Yearbook for Swabian-Franconian History. Volume 26 (1969).
  • Jochen Goetze, Werner Richner: Burgen im Neckartal , Braus, Heidelberg 1989, ISBN 3-925835-52-0 , page 39ff.
  • Rüdiger Lenz: History of the Minneburg , in: Der Odenwald 46 (1999), pp. 101–111.
  • Rüdiger Lenz: Siege of castles - noble behavioral norms, forms and processes of feuds , in: Der Odenwald 50 (2003), pp. 83–94, here pp. 87–91.

Web links

Commons : Minneburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files