Sterneck ruins

Sterneck ruins
Sterneck castle ruins
Alternative name (s):	Star corner
Creation time :	1230 to 1250
Castle type :	Höhenburg, spur location
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Lossburg - Sterneck
Geographical location	48 ° 23 '17.3 "  N , 8 ° 29' 37.8"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 23 '17.3 "  N , 8 ° 29' 37.8"  E
Height:	551.2  m above sea level NN

The ruin Sterneck , also called Sterneneck , is the ruin of a Spornburg in the Sterneck district of the municipality of Loßburg in the Freudenstadt district in Baden-Württemberg .

Geographical location

The ruin stands on the western edge of the Gäus to the eastern Black Forest on a spur above the Glatt tributary Heimbach running eastwards . It lies at 551.2  m above sea level. NN and thus about 40 meters above the river, which draws a south loop a little over 200 meters long and slightly less wide around the spur. To the north of this, on the plateau above the valley, the houses of the scattered hamlet of Sterneck begin; in the south, at the foot of the spur on this side of the river, lies the Schlossmühle residential area. Down the river, the Heimbach is dammed up today by the Heimbach dam, the backwater of which extends almost to the mill.

History and description

The builder of Sterneck Castle, Vollmar von Brandeck, (between 1230 and 1250), as Vogt von Dornhan, got into a dispute with the Alpirsbach monastery because of the jurisdiction. He avenged himself by robbery and pillage in the monastery area. With the large new castle complex he probably took over; because after his death the widow and children had to sell Breitenwies near Aischfeld and Oberehlenbogen in 1276. Alpirsbach Monastery was the only potential buyer. And this first asserted the damage suffered by the testator. Almost half the purchase price was charged for the damage caused by the testator Volmar.

In the Middle Ages, the Sterneck dominion included four villages ( Fürnsal , Wilder , Breitenau and Busenweiler ), the Unterbrändi parish with the interesting landmarks still preserved, courtyards in Geroldsweiler and Dottenweiler and the noble Trollenberg. Originally the Breitenwies, the upper Ehlenbogental, the Trollenberg, the Grabenhof, the Stuhlhof with a former court seat and the Vogelsberg, where a castle once stood, according to Sattler. The Brandeckers had other possessions in surrounding areas, including Dornhan.

From the time of the last fire Ecker, another Vollmar († 1549), the top surviving comes Renaissance - Fries at the keep . The wealthy son-in-law Georg von Ow was certainly involved here.

According to two drawings from around 1600, the castle stood on the eastern side of the castle and palace area. The sketch from the description of the keep can be seen on one of the panels attached to the ruin. Another drawing comes from Johannes Öttinger [map: Alpirsbacher Forst]. Two local homeland researchers therefore visited the smaller cellar under the house on the east side and viewed it as the older one. So they asked Dr. Wein asked the former Freudenstadt district archivist for a statement. He examined the walls and confirmed the assumption. He also came to the conclusion that, according to the two drawings, the castle must have been on the eastern side. This fact has not yet been pointed out in the literature. The small cellar must have belonged to the castle and was probably directly under the castle. It must be over 750 years old.

From the east side, the Brandeckers were able to control the important road below and collect tolls. The road led from Dornstetten via Wittendorf, Oberbrändi, Sterneck, Gundelshausen, Dornhan to the intersection at the Roman fort in Waldmössingen. Roman sites are along this road, but there is no evidence of a Roman road. The route is described in the Wittendorfer Heimatbuch with the corresponding documents.

Road duties improved the coffers of the Brandecker. The income from the small domain was meager due to the division of the inheritance to the various descendants. The four cousins ​​Kuno, Hans der Lamparter, Klein-Hans and Vollmar attacked the Württemberg territory. They probably believed that the Württemberg people were far away. But even Count Eberhardt III, the Mild, no longer wanted to watch the goings-on and, with the help of the Rottweiler, the notorious castle breakers, besieged Sterneck Castle. The result was burned down farms around Sterneck and the handover of the castle to the Württemberg people. The Brandecker got it back as a fief.

For decades, over two or three generations, the livestock had not yet recovered. The Vogelsberg in 24-Höfe finally had to be sold to the Alpirsbach monastery . The loss of personal property, the so-called allods , had administrative and, above all, confessional consequences up to modern times; because the Württemberg people, as feudal lords , determined their religious affiliation after the death of the last woman from Brandeck, Katharina von Ow. In 1718 the castle burned down. Then the building was built by Countess Maria Augusta von Attems, the last from Ow zu Sterneck, to be much more spacious than a castle with a much larger cellar. Castles had already become obsolete with the development of firearms.

The upper nobility now had greater obligations. You wanted to be able to keep up with others. The nobility often lived beyond their means and the Attems in Hirrlingen became impoverished. The count often had to borrow money from his employees.

Although the castle was built in the Baroque period, the new building still had the Gothic stepped gable. A display board on the castle grounds shows a comparison of the old castle with the new one. The truce map shows the condition of the old castle. The southern corner tower is particularly striking. Here the upper corner room was known as the abbot, the lower one as the summer room. One floor below was the castle chapel and below it the general prison. The castle dungeon was housed in the tower that was still preserved as a ruin. A lot of rubbish has accumulated here over time. Detailed descriptions of the castle and the palace are also available in No. 5 of the Loßburger Hefte: There is a comparison with the source. At the beginning of the 20th century, the castle researcher Koch accurately measured the castle area. But the large cellar was not accessible to him because it was still buried.

The large cellar that is now open does not come from the castle, but from Schloss Sterneck. Some interesting features indicate this:

• In the mortar of the vault there are impressions of narrow sawn boards, which cannot date from the time of the castle building.
• On the north side the ceiling is attached to the shield wall of the former fortification, while in the south the vault is placed on a newly erected wall with polygonal stones.
• The old interlocking of an original east wall is clearly visible on the north side.

The basement therefore points to a kennel , which was then built over by the castle. In order to preserve the character of the cellar as much as possible, only floor lighting was installed for viewing the cellar.

From 1749, when Sterneck came to Württemberg, the buildings were given to leaseholders. The system fell apart more and more; the maintenance became too costly for the tenants and later owners. They built smaller apartments next door. At that time there was no state interest in maintaining the castle. So the palace complex took the usual course at that time, the hewn stones served as welcome building material. In the 20th century, however, efforts were made to preserve the last remains of the historical monument. The ruins were renovated many times: in 1914, 1934, 1963, 1971 and 1994/95. They testify to the historical awareness of the community.

literature

• Dieter Buck: Castles and ruins in the northern Black Forest - 33 excursions in the footsteps of knights . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1601-0 , p. 119.
• Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: Castles of the German Middle Ages - floor plan lexicon . Special edition. Flechsig Verlag, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3-88189-360-1 , p. 585.
• Various, editors: Karl Seith, Max Miller : Historic sites VI - Baden-Württemberg - 6th volume . Alfred Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1965.

Web links

• Sterneck Castle at burgenarchiv.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ HStAS: A 470 U 302
2. ^ Sattler, Christian Fridrich, Historical Description of the Duchy of Württemberg, Stuttgart 1784, p. 180.
3. ↑ HStAS: A 160 Bü 13 / o from 1591
4. ↑ Saile, Hans, Loßburger Hefte No. 5, Historical Outline of Loßburg and its suburbs, pp. 90–92