Falkenberg ruins (Wabern)

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Falkenberg ruins
Falkenberg castle ruins

Falkenberg castle ruins

Alternative name (s): Old castle, upper castle
Creation time : around 1250
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Wabern- Falkenberg
Geographical location 51 ° 4 '21.8 "  N , 9 ° 23' 44.6"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 4 '21.8 "  N , 9 ° 23' 44.6"  E
Height: 255  m above sea level NHN
Falkenberg ruins (Hesse)
Falkenberg ruins

The Falkenberg ruins , also known as the Alte Burg and Oberburg , are the ruins of a hilltop castle at 255  m above sea level. NN in the district Falkenberg of the municipality of Wabern in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse . It stands on a basalt knoll and is surrounded by a protected elm forest.

history

Building history

The upper castle was probably built around the middle of the 13th century by Konrad von Hebel at a strategically important point on the road from Hersfeld to Fritzlar , Gudensberg and Kassel . It was first mentioned in 1250 as Valkenberc in a document from Count Gottfried I von Ziegenhain , in which Konrad von Hebel is listed as the first witness. Around 1270, the descendants of Konrad, beginning with his son Otto I, took on the surname " von Falkenberg ", while Konrad's brother Heinrich, who continued to live in Hebel , kept the name "von Hebel". The Falkenberg branch of the family divided in the 14th century with the three sons of Otto I into the three lines of Falkenberg, Densberg and Herzberg .

Hessian-Mainz dispute

In 1309, Johann and Konrad von Falkenberg gave their own castle and the villages of Falkenberg, Uttershausen , Hebel and Mardorf to Landgrave Johann von Niederhessen as a fief and then received these goods back from him as a fief. The Falkenberg family subsequently tried tactical action not to be worn out in the disputes between Kurmainz and the Landgraviate of Hesse . The lower castle was therefore hersfeld's fiefdom of the lords of lever. On the other hand, the scholastic Hermann von Gruna and the Fritzlar canon Hermann von Falkenberg , the knight Johann von Falkenberg, and the noblemen Konrad Hebel and Thilo Hebel became hereditary castle men of the nearby Mainz city ​​of Fritzlar in 1321 . For this purpose, the Falkenberg and Hebel families made their Falkenberg Castle available to the Archbishop of Mainz as an open house . In 1322 the Lords of Falkenberg renewed their agreement with Archbishop Matthias . The Mainz official and Burgmann Johann Gruszing von Falkenberg reopened Falkenberg Castle to the Mainz archbishopric administrator Balduin of Luxembourg in 1336 . Likewise, the noblemen Tile (Thilo) and Hermann von Falkenberg renewed this opening obligation in 1338. In the same year, however, the Falkenbergers were enfeoffed by the Landgrave of Hesse with the villages of Rockshausen , Wolfershausen , Beisheim and Kleinbeisheim ; in return they had to undertake to open their castle to the landgrave against all enemies, with the exception of Mainz.

In 1347 the Hessian Landgrave Heinrich II insisted on feudal lordship over the castle and finally managed to get Archbishop Gerlach of Mainz to undertake not to use the castle militarily against the Landgraviate of Hesse. In 1354 Archbishop Gerlach formally ceded the castle to Hesse.

In 1354 Johann Gruszing von Falkenberg pledged half of the Jesberg Castle further south-west , which he himself held as a pledge for the Mainz archbishopric to his relative, the knight Thile von Falkenberg. Archbishop Gerlach then called Johann Gruszing to Densberg , where he partially rebuilt Densberg Castle in 1355 , albeit against the will of Landgrave Heinrich. In 1356 Archbishop Gerlach showed understanding that Thile and Hermann von Falkenberg could no longer support him with their castle, as they had lost it to the landgrave while serving the archbishopric.

In 1358 Archbishop Gerlach resolved a dispute between the brothers Otto and Johann Gruszing von Falkenberg on the one hand and Thile von Falkenberg on the other. This family dispute escalated, however, and in 1358 acts of war are documented in the area of ​​Falkenberg Castle.

In 1359 Johann Gruszing von Falkenberg was commissioned to finally build a castle for Archbishop Gerlach in Densberg.

In 1362, numerous lawsuits were filed with the Archbishop and the Landgrave by Burg Löwenstein , Burg Falkenberg and Burg Kogelberg . In June 1364 Archbishop Gerlach's constant attempts were finally successful. Heinrich von Hanstein occupied Falkenberg Castle in the service of the Archbishop. However, he behaved selfishly and drove out the Mainz castle man Konrad IV von Falkenberg and his servants. Thus the castle was again not in the possession of the archbishop.

The dispute between the landgrave and the archbishop over Falkenberg Castle was negotiated again in August 1364 with no result. In May 1365 Archbishop Gerlach demanded from Landgrave Heinrich that Johann Gruszing von Falkenberg should help him get his castle back, because this agreement had been reached in 1354.

In the Sternerbund in 1372/74, the Falkenbergers again joined an alliance directed against Landgrave Heinrich, and their influence was considerably strengthened during this time through further appointments and leanings from Mainz. In 1374 Werner II. Von Falkenberg was made Oberamtmann in Mainz for Hesse, Thuringia and the Eichsfeld . On September 29, 1391 four Falkenberger founding members of the Benglerbund .

Konrad von Falkenberg , Werner's son, who was also called "Kunzmann", was involved on June 5, 1400 in the assassination of Duke Friedrich von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, who was proposed as a candidate for king at the Frankfurt Fürstentag . Friedrich was on his way home from Frankfurt to Braunschweig when Count Heinrich VII von Waldeck , Konrad ("Kunzmann") von Falkenberg, Friedrich III. von Hertingshausen and a knight von Löwenstein ambushed him and killed him in a scuffle near what is now the village of Kleinenglis .

The castle, in which the Falkenberg, Hebel, Holzsadel , Riedesel and Urff families had a share in ownership, suffered considerable damage during this period of feuds and wars and was repaired and reinforced between 1437 and 1454. It fell into disrepair after the Falkenbergs inherited the Falkenberg Castle , which was built by the von Hebel family around 1510 about 500 m further south in Falkenberg in 1521, when the von Hebel family died out , and moved there. After 1621 the castle was demolished.

Current condition

Of the castle, which was built on a steep mountain cone, only the square substructure of the residential tower-like keep and the overgrown surrounding walls of the core castle on the northeast side are preserved. The ruin cannot be entered.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The village of Falkenberg was built below the castle during this time.

literature

  • Eduard Brauns: hiking guide through Upper Hesse and Waldeck. A. Bernecker-Verlag, Melsungen 1971, pp. 112-113
  • Eduard Brauns: “Falkenberg castle ruins near Wabern. The history of the old upper castle and the new lower castle. ”In: Neue Hessische Zeitung 86. 44 /? / 1976
  • Werner Ide: From Adorf to Zwesten. Local history pocket book for the Fritzlar-Homberg district . A. Bernecker-Verlag, Melsungen 1972.
  • Reinh. Hootz: Falkenberg Castle and Castle. Supplement to Dehio-Gall, Handbook of German Art Monuments. ZHG 67 from 1956
  • Philipp Losch : Falkenberg, Hessenland 39 from 1927
  • Grieben Volume 230. Karl Thiemig Verlag AG, Munich 1981, p. 218
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 352f.

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