Swords of the Wartburg
The oath swords of the Wartburg are part of the founding legend of the Wartburg in Thuringia. The discovery of these "oath swords" reported in 1845 is, however, considered a flimsy example of historical falsification . Apparently the find was so remarkable that in archeology the type of iron bar (Taleae ferreae) uncovered on the Wartburg is called the "oath sword" even today.
According to the legend retold by Ludwig Bechstein , Count Ludwig der Springer became the owner of the mountain on which the Wartburg was to be built through a trick.
- It was Count Ludwig, also the Springer, a powerful gentleman in Thuringia. When he once hunted on the Inselberg, he met a piece of game that he was eagerly pursuing, and rode after him as far as the river Hörsel, and as far as Nieder-Eisenach, and from there back to the mountain, where the Wartburg is now. There he stayed and wanted to wait where the game ran out of the forest, meanwhile looked at the beautiful area and especially the steep rock mountain, and thought to himself and said: "Wait, mountain, you should become a castle for me!" Desire to build on the mountain, he sought ways and means to begin it properly, because the mountain belonged to the Lords of Frankenstein, who already owned a castle nearby, called the Mittelstein (and this was the best before the Wartburg Castle in Thuringia,) but had their ancestral castle on the other side of the forest near Salzungen just above the Werra. And the count had with him twelve knights, brave free men, with whom he secretly consulted, / when they had found themselves with him, how he was taking the mountain, and it was thus dealt with at night from the mountain of foam belonged to the count, earth was carried in baskets to the Wartberg and scattered on it, and the count then struck a truce by force, behind which he could defend himself. Soon the gentlemen of Mittelstein and Frankenstein came, but could not harm the count on his rock fortress, and therefore sued him with the emperor and the empire for violently presuming theirs. When asked by the empire, the count replied that he had built the castle on his own and, according to Urthel and his right, he hoped to keep it. Then the empire recognized, if he could prove and swear with twelve honest men, with a bodily oath, that the land on which he was built would be if he should keep it. Then the count chose his twelve knights to assist them, stepped up with them on the mountain, stuck their swords into the earth they had previously carried up and swore that their lord, Count Ludwig, would stand on his own, and that this soil (namely the one that was carried up) was on his old age ) belonged to the land and rule of Thuringia. With that he kept the mountain.
The legend has been remembered as an example of medieval jurisprudence and Ludovingian family history .
When the restoration of the castle began, up to three meters of rubble had to be removed from the two courtyards in order to expose the foundation walls and the castle rock. Grand Duke Carl Alexander of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach had commissioned the restoration of the Wartburg from 1835 and visited the construction site at regular intervals to find out about the progress of the work. During one such inspection in 1845, he was led to a crevice that had just been uncovered. Well moved, Carl Alexander was then able to help uncover a bundle of rusted iron parts with his own hands, which were referred to as the "Swords of the Wartburg". Carl Alexander was fooled. Delighted about the authenticity of the legend, he had the swords deposited in a specially made display case in the Elisabethkemenate after expert cleaning and conservation. The fraud did not become apparent until after his death, when letters from archaeologists and ancient scholars were told of similar finds in various parts of Germany. The true circumstances of the find later turned out to be a clever fake. The people involved in this forgery remained unknown. The motive was assumed to keep the Grand Duke weighed in order to provide further funds for the castle renovation. It would also be plausible to give the ducal family more prestige through this sensational find from the Wartburg.
The "swords" found were later examined in detail by archaeologists and recognized as an Iron Age deposit . During these examinations it was found that two of the twelve swords that have survived were reproduced. In addition, the recovered find was held together with a wire, the metallurgical composition of which could not match the age of the find material.
The other ten pieces of iron are from an Iron Age depot find which is probably more than 1000 years older than the traditional founding date of the Wartburg. There is also no evidence whether the 10 iron bars come from the Wartburg or from a previously unknown site in Germany. The Siegerland is considered the production area for such goods.
- From central Germany to southern England so-called "swear sword" iron bars are common. They probably come from the iron ore areas of the Siegerland, which have been used at least since the late Hallstatt period .
literature
- Hermann Helmboldt: Wartburg legends and their origin . In: Communications of the Association for Erfurt History and Archeology . Booklet 46. Erfurt 1930, p. 66-82 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Rainer Hohberg: Poetical error. The false oath swords of Ludwig the Springer refute the founding legend of the Wartburg . Ed .: Thüringer Allgemeine. May 27, 2008.
- ↑ Ludwig Bechstein : Legends of Eisenach and the Wartburg (reprint) . Ed .: Harald Rockstuhl. Rockstuhl Verlag , Bad Langensalza 2003, ISBN 3-936030-88-X .
- ↑ a b Sigfried Asche: The Wartburg - history and shape . Ed .: Wartburg Foundation. Rembrandt-Verlag, Berlin 1962, p. 14 .
- ↑ Alfred Götze: The "Sword Swords" of the Wartburg - Taleae ferreae . In: Mannus. Journal of Prehistory. Ceremony for 70 year old Gustaf Kossinna / from friends and students . VI. Supplementary volume. Leipzig 1928, p. 138-144 .
- ↑ Klemens Wilhelmi: On the settlement genesis of England and the northwestern continent from 1,500 BC to the birth of Christ . In: Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica . tape 19 . Marie Leidorf, 1987, ISSN 0341-1184 , p. 71-84 .