Schiltacher Steige

The Schiltacher Steige is the steepest point of the historical cross connection through the Kinzig valley coming from Offenburg to Rottweil in the Black Forest in what is now Baden-Württemberg . Seen from Schiltach to the east, it had to overcome 400 meters in altitude over a relatively short distance.

History of the road

As early as the Roman times in 73 AD, a road was built under the Roman Emperor Flavius ​​Vespanianus as a connection from the Argentorate camp (today Strasbourg ) to Arae Flaviae (the Roman Rottweil). The road ran from the Kinzig valley behind Schiltach over the Kaibach valley to the Brandsteig , there was a Roman station. It then led on to the Waldmössingen fort .

This road was used for military purposes until the Alemanni stormed the Limes around the year 235 . After the Roman Empire had lost the areas on the right bank of the Rhine, the road was probably more and more forgotten after 260 and fell apart over time.

With the Carolingians , the Kinzig valley regained importance as a traffic route. The medieval settlement of the area around Schiltach was carried out from the east by the Zähringers . They naturally had an interest in connecting their properties east and west of the Black Forest and thereby dominating the Black Forest as much as possible. Possible endpoints in the Zähringer estate were probably the Villa Rotwilo (around 1100) and the castrum offenburc (1148). The Rottweiler Königsgut district was under the authority of Zähringer Vogts. From here the Kinzig valley was finally opened up.

The imperial abbey of St.Gallen also had its possessions on the upper Neckar , it also owned the monk's "Celle" in the Kinzig valley, today's Schenkenzell . In 1128 a Zähringer was first mentioned as the owner of this cell. The Willenburg was built on this medieval Steigenstrasse around or before the 12th century . The Zähringer family was inherited by the dukes of Teck and the ancestors of today's princes of Fürstenberg in this Kinzig valley area. At the latest with the Dukes of Teck, who built Schiltach as a fortified town complex and the Schiltach Castle around 1250 , the ascent of Steigstraße or the medieval street called Rottweiler Straße will be relocated to the town of Schiltach and will run over the Schiltach market square . There you will find all the necessary suppliers by the wayside such as wagons , blacksmiths , butchers , inns and shoemakers .

As early as 1386, the Schiltacher Steige was mentioned as one of the few Black Forest cross-connections and enjoyed supra-regional importance.

As can be seen from the Lehengericht's inventory book from 1591 , the Schiltacher Steige ran continuously along the former territory of the Dukes of Teck, later in Württemberg, and turned south near today's Schwenkenhof, where the first height was reached the Willenburg and led from there on a footpath that still exists today over a place that is still called "Behind the Furnace" today. Another route would not have been conceivable, e.g. B. the current course of the street, because north of the Willenburg the street would have come into the Fürstenberg area (today's district Schenkenzell).

There is no mention of customs being levied anywhere on this path , because that would have been the case. Some of the remains of the old stone slabs with cart tracks can still be found on the medieval street. In 1655 Johann Jakob Mentzger mentions a customs house. This customs house is shown on the map and is the building still known today as the customs house, where today's Steigstrasse joins the road between Aichhalden and Rötenberg. It is not known since when the road continued north of the Willenburg and when the customs house took over its function as such. From August 23, 1700 there is an addendum in the Lehengerichter Lagerbuch from 1591, which describes the street as old street. Accordingly, the street had had its day.

today

The lower part of the old street is still used today as a community road, in the upper part, after the Schwenkenhof, the street becomes a hiking trail. In the area behind the stove , car tracks carved into the rock on the ground can still be seen today. However, forest management in this area continues to destroy these evidence.

source

http://www.geschichte-schiltach.de/themen/aufsaetze/steige/steige.html#x1-50004%29