Werrach ruins

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Werrach ruins
Tower of the Werrach castle ruins.JPG
Alternative name (s): Weir
Creation time : 1000 to 1100
Castle type : Höhenburg, location
Conservation status: Wall remains
Standing position : Herren von Wehr - Bishop of Basel
Place: Weir
Geographical location 47 ° 37 '40.3 "  N , 7 ° 54' 39.5"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 37 '40.3 "  N , 7 ° 54' 39.5"  E
Werrach ruins (Baden-Württemberg)
Werrach ruins

The ruin Werrach , also called Wehr , is the ruin of a hilltop castle about 50 meters above the bottom of the Wehra at the exit of the Wehra valley above the town of Wehr in the Waldshut district in Baden-Württemberg .

description

The main castle has a rectangular shape measuring about fifty by twenty-five meters. The corners in the south of the complex were provided with round towers , of which the remains of the round tower on the south-west corner have been preserved. The Palas was following the round tower in the south-east. The walls of the main castle are up to six meters high in places and have a wall thickness of up to 2.5 meters. A second wall belt, with the exception of the southern part, surrounded the main castle, whose original access from the south-east was secured with an outer gate. The access to the main castle, which was also provided with an inner gate, was in the east.

Upstream defense

The hill on which the castle was built and which slopes steeply on three sides provided natural protection from attackers. In addition, the castle was reinforced with a neck ditch in the north and south.

Today, impressive remains of the outer walls of the courtyard are still preserved from the former castle complex.

history

The gentlemen from Wehr / Werrach

Walther von Klingen in the Manessische Liederhandschrift

Rudolf Metz assumed that the builders of the castle, which was probably founded in the 12th century, were the Lords of Wehr. Between 1092 and 1132 an Adalgoz von Wehr and members of the high nobility testified to various transfers of goods. Before 1100 the bishop of Basel, Burkhard von Fenis , had transferred the bailiwick of the St. Blasien monastery to Adalgoz. His administration gave rise to the abolition of the Basel bailiwick rights over the monastery in 1125. Instead, St. Blasien chose Duke Konrad from Zähringen as castvogt .

The Lords of Blades

Thereafter, the complex was in the possession of Ulrich II von Klingen (documented 1227–1248), to whom it was presumably acquired with the inheritance of his wife Ita von Tegerfelden . Heir became in 1250 the son, the well-known minstrel Walther von Klingen . In the feud between Rudolf von Habsburg and the Basel bishop, in whose hands the castle was, the complex was besieged in 1256 and then destroyed. The Basel bishop Heinrich von Neuenburg (1263–1274) had the castle rebuilt, but shortly after completion it was taken again by Rudolf von Habsburg in 1272, but this time it was not destroyed again. Thus the castle, lordship and village of Wehr came to the House of Habsburg.

The House of Habsburg

From the conquest in 1272 until the transition to the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1805, sovereignty over Wehr remained with the Habsburgs , who, however, passed Wehr on as a fief. Pledged several times in the 13th and 14th centuries, the up-and-coming patrician family Vasolt appeared as governors of the Wehr domain at the beginning of the 14th century. In 1346 knight Johannes von Staufen received the castle Wehr as a fiefdom for life. The Margraves of Rötteln obtained the lien over the castle in 1363.

The gentlemen of Schönau

In 1365 Rudolf von Schönau , known as Hürus, who fell in the battle of Sempach in 1386, bought the castle and the weir from Flanders for 1800, which remained in their hands until 1805.

The lords of Schönau , who were raised to the baron status in 1668 , later built a castle, the old Wehr castle , below the castle. From the 16th century the castle fell into disrepair and was used as a quarry.

literature

  • 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. 36–37.
  • Rudolf Metz: Geological regional studies of the Hotzenwald - with excursions, especially in its old mining areas . Publishing house Moritz Schauenburg , Lahr / Schwarzwald 1980, ISBN 3-7946-0174-2 .
  • Max Miller (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 6: Baden-Württemberg (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 276). Kröner, Stuttgart 1965, DNB 456882928 .
  • Franz Xaver Kraus : The art monuments of the Grand Duchy of Baden. Volume 5: The art monuments of the Lörrach district . Tübingen and Leipzig 1901, pp. 197-198. on-line
  • Erik Beck: Walther von Klingen, Wehr and the relocation of the Klingental monastery. In: Walther von Klingen and Klingental zu Wehr monastery, ed. from the city of Wehr, Ostfildern 2010, pp. 47–76.

Web links

Commons : Ruine Werrach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual references / comments

  1. ^ Rudolf Metz: Geologische Landeskunde des Hotzenwald , p. 715
  2. ^ A follower of Emperor Heinrich IV.
  3. ↑ s. Kreuter: History of the West Austrian States, St. Blasien 1790, vol. 1, p. 525; the Zähringer were loyal to the Pope throughout the investiture controversy.
  4. ↑ Erich Beck, The Burgen Klingnau and Wehr as Seats of the Noble Sex of the von Klingen - Reflections on their role in the exercise of power. In: Burgen und Schlösser , magazine for castle research and monument preservation, ed. from the European Castle Institute of the German Castle Association , 4/2015, pp. 249–258