Kronburg Castle

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The Kronburg Castle is located in the Upper Swabian municipality Kronburg in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria . The castle in Kronburg is a listed building.

Kronburg Castle, view from the south

Geographical location

The Kronburg Castle is visible from afar above the town of Kronburg at an altitude of 743.6 m above sea level. NN .

history

Site plan of the castle in Kronburg

The castle was originally built by a family of Staufers in the years after 1200. A Rudolf von Cronburg was named for the first time on May 6, 1227 in a document from King Henry VII . It can be assumed that the Kronburg was built around the time of Rudolf von Cronburg. The ownership of the Kronburg then passed from Rudolf to his son Berthold, who lived with Adelheid. von Fronhofen was married. A Mangold de Cronburch is mentioned in 1283 and 1288. Then his son Hartmann († before 1356). Margaret von Kronburg is named as the last of those from Kronburg in 1396. At this point in time, the von Kronburg no longer lived in their castle. Margaret von Kronburg lived in her own house in Memmingen as early as 1394 . The departure of those from Kronburg took place shortly after the year 1300, they could no longer hold out after the end of the Staufer in 1268. The Kronburg itself was owned by the Habsburgs around 1273 and has since been granted as a pawnbrokerage.

Over the next centuries the castle had different owners. The Kronburg was given to the Lords of Ratzenried in 1335 as a Habsburg pawn. Just a generation later, the Kronburg fell to the Lords of Uttenried as home tax by Margarete von Ratzenried. In 1370 the Kronburg suffered some damage when, among others, Brun von Uttenried fell into feud with some of the towns belonging to the Swabian Federation . The Lords of Uttenried ruled the Kronburg for almost 100 years. On April 2, 1460, the Kronburg and its associated possessions were sold to Hans von Werdenstein. Hans von Werdenstein fell in Waldshut already 8 years later in 1468. His widow Barbara von Landau then married Georg von Rechberg around 1475. On July 2, 1478, a property agreement was reached with the heirs of those von Werdenstein, with which the Lords of Rechberg finally came into possession of the Kronburg as a pawnbroker.

At the time when Georg von Rechberg held the fief, the Kronburg was in a very poor condition. As early as 1466, Hans von Werdenstein described the Kronburg fortress as ruinous and no longer habitable. Georg von Rechberg tried until his death (before January 9, 1506) to maintain and expand the property in the Kronburg rulership. His two sons, Georg II. And Gaudenz von Rechberg, both received their paternal inheritance as a fief of King Maximilian I. In 1509, however, the inheritance was divided, so that Gaudenz von Rechberg († September 26, 1540) received the Kronburg. From this point on, Gaudenz devoted himself to expanding the Kronburg into a castle. He obtained the necessary funds by selling remote properties, which could not possibly be merged with the properties around the Kronburg. The palace construction was financed through these sales and completed by 1536. The last male descendant of the von Rechberg family at Kronburg Castle, Ernst von Rechberg, died on September 17, 1604. Ernst von Rechberg did not leave any marital heirs, which led to lengthy inheritance disputes. On August 9, 1616, Kronburg Castle was forcibly taken on behalf of Archduke Maximilian . This ended the actual rule of the Lords of Rechberg at Kronburg Castle. From 1616 to 1618, Margrave Karl von Burgau († October 30, 1618) ruled Kronburg Castle.

Kronburg Castle around 1730

Johann Eustachius von Westernach received on December 16, 1619, together with his nephew Wolf Christoph, the enfeoffment of the lordship and the Kronburg Castle. After Johann Eustach von Westernach died on October 25, 1627, his nephew Wolf Christoph inherited Kronburg Castle. In 1632, Swedish troops damaged and looted the Kronburg. In 1646, after the death of Wolf Christoph, his son Johann Rudolf von Westernach received the Kronburg property. First maintenance measures were carried out in 1693 and 1694. After the death of Johann Rudolf von Westernach in 1690, Johann Carl Freiherr von Westernach received the Kronburg fiefdom. During the Spanish War of Succession in 1703, the castle was heavily fortified. The four round towers were demolished halfway up by French troops in 1704. After an intervention by the Augsburg Bishop Eustachius Egolph Freiherr von Westernach against the demolition of the round towers, they were rebuilt and reinforced. At that time, the towers were provided with the onion hoods that are still visible today . The possession of the Kronburg remained with the von Westernach. In 1799 Johann Ignaz Freiherr von Westernach was prematurely declared of legal age by Emperor Franz II . In 1806, under Johann Ignaz Freiherr von Westernach, the Kronburg was taken over by Bavaria.

In 1841 the male line of those von Westernach died out. Since 1852 the Vequel-Westernach line has existed through marriage. The Kronburg has been open for guided tours since 1986. In addition, concerts, banquets and markets take place regularly on the Kronburg. The last major renovation took place between 1993 and 1998.

Building description

North wing

In the northwest corner you can still find the remains of the former tuff keep. The north wing consists of a four-storey exterior and three-storey interior gable roof. Two round pillars made of blocks of tuff are located on the ground floor, as well as a groin-vaulted room. On the 2nd floor there is a wooden ceiling from 1478.

  • Northwest part of the north wing

  • Inner courtyard and north wing

East wing

The east wing is three-story from the outside and two-story from the inside and covered with a hipped roof. Access to the inner courtyard of the palace is through a gate in the east wing. The coat of arms above the gateway comes from the 16th century, the two knights shown on the right and left are modern additions. On the upper floor there are canvas wallpapers from the 18th century and in the tower room on a mirror the coat of arms of the Augsburg auxiliary bishop Eustach Egolf von Westernach from 1704.

  • East wing seen from the courtyard

  • Depiction of the coat of arms above the gateway in the east wing

South wing

The palace chapel is located in the basement of the south wing. The south wing is three-story on the outside and two-story on the inside. The south wing is covered with a gable roof. In the south wing there is a two-aisled hall with groined vaults. On the upper floor of the south wing there is a large hall divided by partition walls with a wooden ceiling and arabesque paintings from the 16th century.

West wing

There is a round arched gate entrance in the west wing. A sandstone plaque with a double coat of arms of those von Westernach from 1690 is attached to the outside above the gate entrance. A two-aisled hall with groined vaults is located on the ground floor, above it on the mezzanine floor, the prison with barrel vaults. A wooden ceiling from the 16th century is on the upper floor.

  • Gate passage in the west wing

  • Double coat of arms from 1690 above the gate passage

Web links

Commons : Kronburg Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments: Entry D-7-8026-0022
  2. ↑ BayernViewer of the Bavarian State Government, accessed on October 31, 2011.
  3. ^ Tilmann Breuer; Heinrich Kreisel and Adam Horn (eds.): City and district of Memmingen . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1959, p. 134
  4. ^ Tilmann Breuer; Heinrich Kreisel and Adam Horn (eds.): City and district of Memmingen . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1959, p. 135
  5. ^ Tilmann Breuer; Heinrich Kreisel and Adam Horn (eds.): City and district of Memmingen . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1959, p. 136
  6. ^ Tilmann Breuer; Heinrich Kreisel and Adam Horn (eds.): City and district of Memmingen . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1959, pp. 136, 137
  • Klaus Frhr v. Andrian-Werburg : Kronburg - an imperial knighthood territory in Swabia and its owners . Verlag für Heimatpflege Kempten / Allgäu, Kempten 1969.
  1. ↑ p. 3
  2. ↑ p. 4.
  3. ↑ p. 6
  4. ↑ p. 7
  5. ↑ pp. 8, 9
  6. ↑ pp. 10, 11
  7. ↑ pp. 15, 16
  8. ↑ pp. 28, 29
  9. ↑ p. 19
  10. ↑ p. 34
  11. ↑ p. 22.

Coordinates: 47 ° 54 ′ 15 ″  N , 10 ° 9 ′ 39 ″  E