Scheverlingenburg

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Plan of Walle with the wall (colored brown) of the Scheverlingenburg (1829), the Schunter (colored blue)

The Scheverlingenburg in Walle in the Gifhorn district is a fortification that was built as a hill fort in the pre-Roman Iron Age . The facility, which is strategically located between the rivers Oker and Schunter , consisted in prehistoric times of a 400 meter long wall, of which only a 50 meter long and up to 10 meter high section is left today. During the Middle Ages , the wall belonged to the Scheverlingenburg, first mentioned in a document in 1091, of which no buildings have survived.

Location and description

View from the Oker lowland to the remains of the Scheverlingenburg wall behind residential buildings
Wall crown of the Scheverlingenburg

The remainder of the wall of the Scheverlingenburg lies in today's Altdorf von Walle. The place has an elevated, island-like position in the mouth angle between the rivers Oker and Schunter with their floodplains. This plateau was suitable for the construction of a fortification. According to excavation results, it was created during the pre-Roman Iron Age between the 7th and 5th centuries BC. BC as a semicircular wall about 400 meters long. He cordoned off an area that lay in a loop of the river Schunter. A 50 meter long and up to 10 meter high section of trees has been preserved from the wall. Today it is located on private property in the middle of a residential area and is not accessible.

excavation

In 2001, the district archeology department of Gifhorn carried out an emergency excavation at the foot of the wall when the construction of residential houses was imminent. A trench was discovered in front of the wall outside. It was a former three meters deep and ten meters wide pointed ditch . Rows of posts were found in the ground behind the trench in the interior of the facility, which were part of the wall construction. Other finds from the excavation were parts of pottery. This can be found in the pre-Roman Iron Age from 5th to 7th century BC. And assign to the Nienburg group .

history

Wall remains of the Scheverlingenburg around 1800, probably the Oker in the foreground

The Scheverlingenburg was first mentioned in a document in 1091, when the Margravine Gertrud the Younger of Braunschweig moved into it. She sought refuge there, as Dankwarderode Castle in Braunschweig was temporarily lost to Emperor Heinrich IV . From 1212 there is a document issued by Otto IV in the Keverlingenburg (Scheverlingenburg), in which the emperor stayed with his court. According to a report, the construction of a church on the castle grounds began in 1213, which, according to a document from Otto IV., Had been furnished with abundant church property (villages, forests, bodies of water, mills and serfs ). In 1249 a church lord is named for the church. In 1218 Otto IV bequeathed the castle and the church with its associated church property to the Braunschweig monastery of St. Blasius in his will . When Pope Gregory IX took office. In 1227 St. Blasien had his property ownership confirmed. In 1323 the castle is named in a comparison to the water and fish use of the Scheverlingenburg, which the Blasiusstift closed with Balduin von Wenden. Further documented mentions of the facilities are from the years 1406, 1412 and 1422. Later the name got lost. Instead of the castle name Scheverlingenburg, a term established itself for the settlement formed there, according to which the population lived "in the Walle" or "on the Walle".

Spellings

Information board near the wall

In earlier documents there were a number of different spellings of the castle:

  • Ceverlingeborch 1213 in a document from Otto IV.
  • Scheverlingburch 1213 in a document from Count Palatine Heinrich V.
  • Sceverlingeborch 1218 in a deed of gift from Otto IV to the St. Blasien Abbey
  • Keuerlingenburg 1218 in Otto IV's will.
  • Scheverlingeborg 1218 in a document from the Bishop of Hildesheim
  • Sceverlingeborg 1227 in a certificate of Otto the child
  • Jevelingeborg 1227 in a document from Pope Gregory IX.
  • Severlingeborch 1380 in the festival book of the St. Blasien Abbey
  • Severlinborch 1492 in the Cronecken der Sassen , which is attributed to Cord Bote or Hermann Bote .

Dedekind and Rund name (starting with Ce-, Je-, Ke-, Sce-, Sche-, Schi-, Se-, Sze-, Tse-, Tze-, Ze-) 45 different spellings.

rating

The fortifications, which were built in the pre-Roman Iron Age as a section wall, protected an elevated area in the lowland between two rivers in the manner of a refuge . Similar structures from this period are the Reitling fortifications in the Elm , with the Scheverlingenburg being the northernmost representative. As in the Elm, the fortifications continued to be used in the Middle Ages. Since there is a rich documentary tradition about the Scheverlingenburg, it can be assumed that the castle complex is larger. Buildings can no longer be localized today. It can be assumed that the castle lost its importance over time and fell into disrepair, so that the population used the building materials for their own purposes.

literature

  • Oskar Kiecker and Hans Lütgens (arrangement): The Art Monuments of the Province of Hanover, Vol. III, 4. Hanover, 1931.
  • Otto Hahne : The medieval castles and earth walls on the Okerlauf. Braunschweig, 1965.
  • Hans Adolf Schultz : The Scheverlingenburg - Walle. In: Braunschweigische Heimat. 1972 (4), pp. 97-102.
  • Hans Adolf Schultz: Castles, palaces and mansions in the Gifhorn-Wolfsburg area. Gifhorn 1985.
  • Sigrun Ahlers: Topographical and archaeological studies of prehistoric and early historical fortifications in the districts of Gifhorn, Helmstedt and Wolfenbüttel as well as in the urban district of Wolfsburg. (Dissertation), Hamburg, 1988.
  • Lars Kretzschmar: The Schunterburgen, a contribution from interdisciplinary research on form, function and timing. Wolfenbüttel, 1997.
  • Andreas Wallbrecht: Northernmost castle of the pre-Roman Iron Age: The Scheverlingenburg von Walle, Ldkr. Gifhorn. In: Die Kunde, magazine for Lower Saxony archeology. New episode 54, part 2, Hanover, 2003, pp. 45–53.
  • Andreas Wallbrecht: Northernmost castle of the pre-Roman Iron Age. The Scheverlingenburg von Walle, Ldkr.Gifhorn In: Mamoun Fansa , Frank Both, Henning Haßmann (editor): Archeology | Land | Lower Saxony. 400,000 years of history. State Museum for Nature and People, Oldenburg 2004. Pages 318–320.
  • Rolf Ahlers : The Scheverlingenburg was not a moated castle. In: Braunschweigische Heimat . 2016 (1), pp. 21–28.
  • Jürgen Gartung: The moat in front of the wall of the Scheverlingenburg, today's village of Walle. In: Gifhorner Kreiskalender 2017. Pages 107–114.

Web links

Commons : Scheverlingenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julius Levin Ulrich Dedekind: Scheverlingenburg or Walle, a contribution to the history of Welfischer allodies and foundations. Braunschweig, 1856.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Rund: Historical place of the Gifhorn district. Hanover, 1996.

Coordinates: 52 ° 20 '25.4 "  N , 10 ° 26' 46.1"  E