Saga of the Leather Bridge
A legend of the Leather Bridge is told in several regions of Germany and Switzerland. In some of the legends , a leather bridge could also mean a ladder or lantern bridge .
Palatinate
legend
In the Rhineland-Palatinate region of the Palatinate , the following legend is told, which takes place in the Palatinate Forest during the Middle Ages :
At one time should be between the castle Erfenstein ( ⊙ , 255 m above sea level. NHN ) above the left bank of the Speyerbach which in Elmsteiner valley to 185 m flows height, and the right directly opposite Burg Spangenberg ( ⊙ , 250 m ) is a leather bridge the valley have overstretched. It was two brothers, or at least two close friends, who decided to build the bridge in order not to have to take the arduous path through the swampy valley between the two castles and across the then untamed Speyerbach on their regular visits .
The friendship lasted for many years. But one day the two lords of the castle got into a heated argument after drinking together again on the Spangenberg. The wine consumed in excess certainly made its contribution to this. One word led to the other, and finally the Erfensteiner, beside himself with anger, made his way back over the bridge. He didn't do this without loudly announcing beforehand: “I'll never come back!” Just as furiously, the Spangenberger shouted after him: “You don't need that either, I'll take care of that!” And as the Erfensteiner the middle of the bridge reached, the Spangenberger cut the leather strap with his sword . The bridge collapsed and tore the adversary to his death.
Since this murder there has been bitter enmity between the respective castle owners, and they harmed each other wherever they could.
background
The historical background of the legend is that the two castles always belonged to different lords - at first Spangenberg to the Speyer prince-bishop and Erfenstein to the Counts of Leiningen - and were in corresponding competition with each other. When the owners later changed, the two castles, first from Erfenstein, then from Spangenberg , were destroyed in 1470 in the course of the Weißenburg feud between Elector Friedrich I of the Palatinate and his cousin, Duke Ludwig I of Palatinate-Zweibrücken .
Technically, a bridge made of a soft, sagging material such as leather would not have been feasible because the height of the castles above the valley floor (height difference 65–70 m) is too low for the distance of 300 m.
Eifel
A leather bridge is said to have connected the Stolzenburg and Pielstein Castle across the Urft . The knights lived in high spirits, demanded compulsory fees from the peasants and let their children bowle loaves of bread over the bridge while the subjects perished of hunger. God himself is said to have destroyed both castles in a natural disaster.
Sauerland
Near Arnsberg the devil is said to have stretched a leather bridge between the Rüdenburg and Arnsberg Castle to enable the beleaguered Rüdenburger and his men to escape. This was done as a thank you for the hospitality that the Rüdenburger had unwittingly granted the devil.
Nördlinger Ries
In the Kartäusertal , on the southern edge of the Nördlinger Ries , there is said to have been a leather bridge between the three sibling castles Rauhaus, Hochhaus and Niederhaus . In the legend it is said that whoever “interrupts the leather bridge”, his castle will be swallowed by the ground.
It is assumed that the "leather bridge" actually means a "lantern bridge", that is, that there was a communication chain between the castles that was maintained by light signals. One day when Rauhaus Castle was no longer inhabited, the light bridge was interrupted. The castle was plundered and razed by the population, so it was "swallowed" by the ground.
Thuringia
In Mellingen an der Ilm, southeast of Weimar , there were once two castles, the castle on the Kapellenberg and the Heinrichsburg, which were probably destroyed in the Saxon Brotherly War. Both castles, about 1.5 km apart, are said to have been connected by a leather bridge, according to a legend. Especially in the older literature (around 1900) a mythological reference to the Edda is established on the basis of this legend .
Vogtland
In Elsterberg at the White Elster are the ruins of the castle Elsterberg . A leather bridge is said to have connected the old castle to the new building over a distance of several hundred meters.
Lower Lusatia
An evil Wenden prince, according to other Sorbian legends, a Wendish king named Prebislaw in the 10th century, is said to have owned a castle near Teufelslauch northeast of Friedland in the direction of the Reudnitz district . To pursue his crimes as a robber baron , he left the castle over a leather bridge that rolled apart in front of him and rolled back up behind him. When he robbed a man who was in league with the devil, the devil sent a violent thunderstorm . The prince was struck by lightning, and the water drowned the castle; All that remained was the “devil's leek” filled with water, the “devil's hole”.
Switzerland
In Wileroltigen the legend tells of tunnels, a leather bridge and a stone grave. The castle of Oltigen and the castle of Wileroltigen were first mentioned in 1006. With Hugo von Mümpelgard (Montbéliard), Count of Oltigen , it took as Conrad Justinger reported in May 1410 to a bad end.
Saxony
Alfred Meiche collected and published various legends about the castle rocks of Neurathen around 1900 . According to a legend, the gorge called Marterdelle is said to have been spanned by a leather bridge in the 11th century.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
- ↑ Castles and palaces. Verbandsgemeinde Lambrecht , accessed on March 25, 2015 .
- ↑ Say. (No longer available online.) Burg Spangenberg Association, archived from the original on March 15, 2015 ; Retrieved March 25, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
