Ödenburg ruins

Ödenburg ruins
	Entrance gate of the Ödenburg
Alternative name (s):	Old lock
Creation time :	Late 10th century
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Wenslingen
Geographical location	47 ° 26 '30.6 " N , 7 ° 53' 40.4" E Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '30.6 " N , 7 ° 53' 40.4" E ; CH1903: six hundred thirty-four thousand three hundred and ninety / 254660
Height:	566 m above sea level M.

The Ödenburg (also called Heltburg ( Aegidius Tschudi , 1535), Oltenburg ( Wurstisen , 1580), Ödenburg or Altschloss) is the ruin of a hilltop castle from the 10th century, halfway between the towns of Wenslingen and Tecknau in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft .

location

To the west of the village of Wenslingen and high above the village of Tecknau, the Ödenburg lies at 566 m above sea level. M. on a prominent rock spur. The ruins can be easily reached from both villages on hiking trails after a short walk (signpost).

investment

Due to its spur location, the Ödenburg had a roughly triangular floor plan and was naturally protected on the north and south-west side by rock walls and steep terrain. Only the southeast side had to be artificially protected by a neck ditch as an approach obstacle. Behind the neck ditch rose a two-meter-thick shield wall . The castle was accessed on the north side through an ascending, arched passage in the gate tower (see picture). On the basis of the goal wall pans that are still visible today in the door system, a double-leaf goal can be assumed. The gate was about two meters above the walking level at the time. The former way to the gate is no longer verifiable: Meyer assumes that a slipped ramp made the way to the gate possible (on the picture from the left), while Strübin believes a steep wooden structure (drawbridge?), That of steps below the Gate entrance could have led to the gate.

Traces of several houses have been found inside the castle. Their construction technology was very different, in addition to stone houses, wooden houses and a pit house were found.

The clear traces of quarry activity in the neck ditch are interesting . As with many medieval castles, the building material was obtained as close as possible to the building site. An artificial deepening of the neck ditch served a double purpose: Not only was the protective function enabled, but building material for the fortress was also obtained.

history

The sources for this old ruin are very poor, not even the original name is known. The castle was abandoned around 1150, at a time when written documents were still very rarely produced. Nevertheless, Strübin and Pümpin assume that the name Heltburg (from Held ) comes close to the original name. When the ruin was overgrown by the forest and the original name was forgotten, the castle site was popularly referred to as a desolate castle , which led to the current name.

Based on the archaeological finds, it can be assumed that the facility was used between the end of the 10th century and the end of the 12th century. During his excavation, Pümpin found undated traces of fire from a conflagration in part of the complex.

The ruin is owned by the House of Habsburg-Laufenburg in 1320 . Presumably, the castle was founded by the Counts of Homberg , whose fiefdom fell back to Habsburg-Laufenburg when the Hombergs died out in 1223.

Due to the situation (incomplete curtain wall, free space in the castle courtyard, quarry in "full operation" etc.) it is assumed that the castle was abandoned in the middle of an expansion phase, and this by no means because of fighting, but because of financial problems or shifts in politics and areas of power of the noble families .

The excavation and restoration work was carried out in 1941/42 (Fritz Pümpin), 1968 (Karl Heid and Theodor Strübin) and 1976 to 1979 (Jürg Tauber).

literature

Jürg Tauber: The Ödenburg near Wenslingen - a count's castle of the 11th and 12th centuries . Report on the excavations 1976–1979. With an archaeozoological contribution by Bruno Kaufmann, Schwabe, Basel 1991.
Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, pp. 112–113.
Karl Heid, Fritz Pümpin, Theodor Strübin: The Ödenburg . Baselbieter Heimatbuch, Liestal 1969, pp. 111–126.
Carl Roth: The castles and palaces of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft . Birkhäuser, Basel 1932.

Web links

Burgenwelt: Ödenburg