Katzenelnbogen Castle
| Katzenelnbogen Castle | ||
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 Katzenelnbogen Castle |
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| Creation time : | before 1095 | |
| Standing position : | Count | |
| Place: | Katzenelnbogen | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 16 '5.1 " N , 7 ° 58' 35.4" E | |
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The Burg Katzenelnbogen is a castle in the town of Katzenelnbogen in Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate . When the County of Katzenelnbogen was first established, the castle was the center and namesake of the counts.
history
The castle was built from 1094 on the bailiff of the Bleidenstadt monastery by Vogt Diether I, monastery bailiff of Prüm in the Eifel, and his son Heinrich I. Heinrich II grew up here and at Stahleck Castle together with his stepbrother Hermann von Stahleck and was in 1138 by King Konrad III. raised to count. Hermann von Stahleck married King Konrad III's only sister, Gertrud von Schwaben, and in 1142 became Count Palatine of the Rhineland .
With the partition contract of 1260, the Katzenelnbogen house divided into an older line (represented by Diether V. ) and a younger line (represented by Eberhard I ), with the older line increasing holdings in the Lower Counties and the younger line increasing holdings in the Upper County received.
The design of the first castle complex can no longer be determined today, as it was completely rebuilt in 1371 under Wilhelm II (older line). Even before they died out in 1479 under Philip I , the Katzenelnbog counts gave up their ancestral castle as a residence. The landgraves of Hesse with Heinrich III. the new lords of Castle Katzenelnbogen. In 1540 the facility burned out. In 1584 (by the von der Leyen ) and 1613 new buildings were built, which give the old castle the appearance of a palace today.
After the Second World War , Katzenelnbogen Castle temporarily served as a children's home. It was later converted into a restaurant and hotel, which was run by the Lemke family for eight years until they left the facility in 2008.
Origin of the name
There are two versions of the name Katzenelnbogen.
- The name Katzenelnbogen comes from the Latin Cattimelibocus. The Chatten were the tribe of today's Hessen. In ancient times (e.g. with Ptolemy ), melibocus was originally a mountain such as Melibokus or Brocken . The word therefore means something like "Hessenberg".
- The Chazo settlement at the bend (elbow) of the Dörsbach (stream through the town of Katzenelnbogen).
investment
The castle grounds with a dimension of about 50 by 100 meters are located on a rock plateau surrounded by a ring wall above Katzenelnbogen.
Only remains of the medieval spur castle from the 11th century have been preserved. The formerly built-up interior is now vacant, as the buildings from the Middle Ages were largely destroyed by the fire in 1540. The well on the east side of the site in the area of the former core castle has been preserved. The late Gothic gate tower on the west side of the complex and large parts of the castle wall have also been preserved.
Today's main building of the castle, often referred to as the "castle", was built in 1584 on the southeast side of the site by Enders von der Leyen . It is a simple rectangular building with three floors. The upper floor was constructed in half-timbering and provided with an octagonal bay window on the southeast corner . The building was redesigned again in 1779 and got its current appearance.
The "von Mosbach'sche Haus", also built in 1584, and the "Landgraf Moritz'sche Haus", built in 1613, have not been preserved. The castle chapel on the south side of the site was demolished in 1794.
The moat on the east side is mostly filled, here is now the car park.
See also
literature
- Rainer Kunze: Castle policy and castle construction of the Counts von Katzenelnbogen up to the end of the 14th century, (publications of the German Castle Association, issue 3), Verlag der Deutschen Burgenvereinigung, Braubach 1969
- Karl E. Demandt: History of the State of Hesse, 2nd edition, Kassel, 1980
- Karl Wilfried Hamel: Auerbach Castle - Urberg Fortress - the most important castle complex in the Upper County of Katzenelnbogen. AAA-Verlag, Bensheim-Auerbach 1997, ISBN 3-9803139-0-5
