Rotenberg Castle

Rotenberg Castle, corner tower from the new building 1921/1922

The castle over Rotenberg

Rotenberg Castle is a former castle and palace complex above Rotenberg , a district of Rauenberg in the Rhine-Neckar district . Its current appearance is essentially based on a new building from 1921/22.

history

13th to 16th centuries

In 1255 the knights called Streipe von Rodenburg. At this point in time at the latest there was a castle with this name. Bishop Heinrich von Speyer spoke of a Rothenburch fortification in his will from 1272 .

In 1329 the castle had to endure a storm when Bishop Berthold von Speyer refused to hand it over to his Speyer successor after his election as Bishop of Strasbourg . Bishop Walram von Veldenz took Rotenberg Castle by force in 1329. In 1376, Bishop Adolf von Nassau felt compelled to pledge the castle and town with people, goods and favors to his uncle Crafto von Hohenlohe. In 1384 he sold the noble servant Triegel von Gemmingen , Vogt von Kißlau , an annual fee of 150 florins for 1500 guilders , for which the castle and town of Rotenberg and the associated villages were liable. Bishop Nikolaus von Speyer was able to redeem the pledge in 1391 . From the year 1394 an agreement between him and Henselin Mu (r) er von Mingolsheim is handed down, in which it comes to the construction of a tower.

Bishop Reinhard von Helmstatt redeemed the castle, which had since been pledged again, in 1439 from knight Eberhard von Nieppingen. In 1456 and 1459 the bishops Siegfried III stayed. von Venningen and his successor Johannes, Baron von Hoheneck zu Entzenberg, each to pay homage in Rotenberg. In the conflicts between Elector Frederick I of the Palatinate, with the allied Graf von Württemberg and the Margrave Charles of Baden , with allies Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken , bishop of Metz and Bishop of Speyer came in 1462 for Battle of Seckenheim which a success for the elector , whereupon he besieged Rotenberg. After five days they surrendered and in the peace treaty of Heidelberg the castle, town and associated villages fell to the Electoral Palatinate . It was not until Bishop Philipp, Baron von Rosenberg , that the castle and town of Rotenberg were redeemed in 1505.

1525 was the year of the Palatinate Peasants' War . The first insurgents gathered in Malsch at Easter, and they soon got their hands on Rotenberg, Kißlau and Bruchsal . It took the support of Bishop Georg von Speyer from his brother, Elector Ludwig von der Pfalz , to get Rotenberg (as well as his entire territory) back into his hands. Bishop Georg's successor, Philip II Baron von Flersheim found Rotenberg Castle in a desolate state. From 1540–1542 he had it expanded into a castle, which the Renaissance portal with its coat of arms still attests to today .

17th to 19th century

During the Thirty Years' War in the Rotenberg area in 1621/1622 eventful battles took place between the Protestants under Count Ernst von Mansfeld and the Catholics under Lieutenant General Tilly. In 1633, Rotenberg Castle was burned down by the Swedes , but restored after the war. The French temporarily occupied Rotenberg Castle in 1675 during the so-called Dutch War . After the cellar was moved to Rauenberg in 1720 and the administration in 1739, the castle gradually fell into disrepair. Under the Baden government, it was sold to private individuals for demolition in 1809. However, it went through several hands without the remaining components being broken off.

20th century

In 1905/1906, Eugenie Mayfarth, to whom the property had passed after the death of her father Gustav Weißheimer, a brother of the composer Wendelin Weißheimer from Osthofen near Worms , carried out a partial reconstruction.

In 1919 Privy Councilor Franz von Reichenau and his wife became the owners of the castle. They generously completed the reconstruction in 1921/1922, built a new access road (today's Schloßstraße) and showed themselves to be very generous towards the Rotenberg citizens. Therefore the street between the Hofäckern and the Schloßstraße, which apparently leads exactly to the castle, was also called Von-Reichenau-Straße .

In 1936, the palace passed to the Reich Youth Leadership and after the war fell to the state of Baden-Württemberg. It served as an emergency shelter for refugees and eventually became the youth castle of the Baden District Youth Association.

investment

Rotenberg Castle Jugendburg 1

With the exception of the Renaissance portal, the new building from 1921/22 hardly took over anything from the older castle, which at that time was already completely derelict. Only the outer walls still use some older foundation walls. The 20th century castle is a two-winged building with a round corner tower and a neo-renaissance bay window on the valley side.

Web links

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

literature

1338–1988, 650 years of the city of Rotenberg; City of Rauenberg; Odenwälder printing works (Buchen-Walldürn)
The “Black Book” by Rotenberg, in Kraichgau, contributions to landscape and local research, volume 10 from 1987 p. 175; Henschel

49,259 8,719Coordinates: 49 ° 15 '32.4 " N , 8 ° 43' 8.4" E