Koenigstein Castle

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Königstein Castle in the 16th century

The Koenigstein Castle is a former castle in the Upper Palatinate market Koenigstein in the district of Amberg-Sulzbach of Bavaria . It is located to the west above the Evangelical Church of St. George .

history

Around 1130 a Gebhard de Chungestein is mentioned, who is regarded as the Sulzbacher Ministeriale . An Ulricus de Chungenstein is listed in 1170 as a witness for the Kastl monastery among the Sulzbach ministers. After the counts of Sulzbach died out, the Königsteiners passed over to the Staufers with the Bamberg fiefs under Emperor Friedrich I. An ulricus dapifer regis , which was present on King Philip's court day in Nuremberg in 1205, can also be assigned to this Königstein family . This Ulricus or his son Ulricus II is considered to be the founder of Engelthal Monastery . The Königstein inheritance goes to Walter Schenk von Klingenberg - Reicheneck on the marriage route . The daughter of the presenter Walter von Reicheneck married Hermann the Younger von Breitenstein . The Imperial Fief of Breitenstein was an independent rule until the middle of the 14th century, in 1356 the people of Breitenstein submit to the Emperor Charles IV. The Veste Breitenstein is declared an open house to the Bohemian King and in 1373 half of Breitenstein, which also includes the possessions of Königstein, is declared an open house belonged to the Wittelsbach family from Charles IV . Since that time there have been disputes about the sovereign affiliation of Breitenstein and Königstein, whereby the Breitensteiner insist that Breitenstein and Königstein are an imperial fiefdom, on the other hand both possessions are recorded in the Sulzbacher Landtafeln as country estate . In 1571, Emperor Maximilian II decided in favor of the sovereign, only the blood court was recognized by the empire. Ultimately, Ulrich, Hans and Balthasar von Breitenstein reached an agreement with Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig in 1574 that they would be Landsassen of Neuburg-Sulzbach with the two estates . Due to increasing debts, Königstein was sold to Count Palatine August von Sulzbach in 1623 . In 1627 he also acquired the other components of the Breitenstein rule (Halsgericht, Wildbann, Veste Breitenstein), about which he received a fiefdom from Emperor Ferdinand II in 1630 . When the last Breitensteiner died in 1666, the rest of the property also fell to the Duchy of Sulzbach .

The castle must have been a very well-fortified complex, because in 1504 it was besieged in the Landshut War of Succession without success by the troops of the Nuremberg field captain Endres Tucher . From 1756 the castle was considered uninhabitable and in 1787 parts of it were sold to private individuals. A fire in 1800 destroyed most of the castle. The south-west wing also burned down in 1895 and was rebuilt in a simple form. Today the buildings are used for residential purposes.

Construction

Epitaph of the Breitensteiners in the Protestant parish church of St. Georg

The inner castle was laid out in a horseshoe shape around a rectangular courtyard. The wing on the upper entrance and the high house once formed the Palas the castle. The north-east wing was built in the late Gothic style in the 15th century. The south-west wing with the tower contained a knights' room, the "Gypsy vault", and the writing room; the tower no longer has a helmet, just a flat hipped roof , this was once the castle baker's oven. A wall adjoins the tower. In the basement of the south-west wing, the loopholes for defense are still there; these were necessary because there was no protective wall in front of it. The mulz or malt threshing floor lay above it . There is a defensive wall between the Mulz and the Rundell. The semicircular on the second castle rock comes from the late Gothic period. On the western rock there used to be a tower, from which a footbridge led to the master gallery of the former castle church and today's parish church of St. George. What is striking about the Protestant St. George's Church is the massive tower from the 15th century, the foundations of which come from the medieval castle chapel. Between the two 12 m high rocks a gap leads to the lower arched gate. In October 2009 the path leading to the castle was paved and the supply lines running in the depths of the path were renovated. Historical findings found were filled in again.

literature

  • Stefan Helml: Castles and palaces in the Amberg-Sulzbach district . Druckhaus Oberpfalz, Amberg 1991, pp. 133-137.
  • Karl Wächter, Günter Moser: In the footsteps of knights and nobles in the district of Amberg-Sulzbach. Druckhaus Oberpfalz, Amberg 1992, p. 84.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Piendl : Duchy of Sulzbach, District Judge Office Sulzbach . Ed .: Commission for Bavarian State History (=  Historical Atlas of Bavaria . Old Bavaria Series I, Issue 10). Munich 1957, p. 52 f ., above ([ https://geschichte.digitale-sammlungen.de//hab/gehezuseite/bsb00007647?page=52=2Digitalisat ] [accessed on July 9, 2020]).

Coordinates: 49 ° 36 '25.9 "  N , 11 ° 37' 55.3"  E