Slavic castle Behren-Lübchin
The Slavic castle near Behren-Lübchin near the town of Behren-Lübchin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was one of the main Zirzipan castles from the 10th to the 12th centuries . The castle complex was probably mentioned in a report by Saxo Grammaticus from 1171.
history
The original facility was an island castle . Saxo Grammaticus reported that this lake was navigable. There is nothing left of the lake from that time, the facility is located in a tree-lined depression and is hardly recognizable as such, as it was destroyed by intensive agricultural use. During excavations that were carried out from 1956 to 1961, a lot of construction timbers of a bridge and the castle were found. Nearby (on what was then the bank) a fortified settlement was found, which was probably built before the island castle was built in the 9th / 10th centuries. Century. The settlement on the bank was protected by a horseshoe-shaped mound and remained open to the lake. Here was the over 300 meter long bridge to the castle and probably a palisade fence with a gate. The excavations made it possible to identify two construction phases, the first of which was created towards the end of the 10th century. The second complex was probably built after the first castle was destroyed by the Danish King Waldemar I in the summer of 1171 (according to another source in 1167). The first castle complex consisted of two halves. On the land side there was an earth wall with a covered wooden battlement. In front of it was another lower box construction with an uncovered battlement. The landside part consisted of two defensive rings. At the end of the earth wall there was a presumably two-story gate tower . It could be reached from the inner, covered battlement. On the other side of the gate tower, the wooden wall on the lake side began. It was also accessible and had wooden panels to protect against an enemy coming from the lake. There were probably some buildings inside the ramparts. According to the Saxo Grammaticus report, the Slav defenders almost completely demolished the bridge when the Danish army approached and built a defensive tower on the last section . However, the bridge piers could no longer be removed, so that the Danes laboriously restored the bridge and, at great sacrifice, could first storm the defense tower and then the castle. Then they killed all the men, and the women and children were abducted.
Due to the favorable location of the old castle, a second one was built on the same site shortly after the destruction. But some things have changed. The bridge house was built a little further away from the castle. In addition, this time a completely encircling earth wall was built with a walk-on battlement without a roof. The parapet of the wall consisted of crenellated wooden panels.
The second castle complex was conquered and destroyed around 1200. This is evidenced by coin finds, who the attackers were not against.
Parts of the fortifications were rebuilt in the Groß Raden archaeological open-air museum .
literature
- Ewald Schuldt : Behren-Lübchin - A late Slavic castle complex in Mecklenburg. (= Writings of the Section for Prehistory and Early History. Volume 19). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1965, OCLC 875564255 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Peter Donat: The Slavs in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In: 1000 years of Mecklenburg. Hinstorff, Rostock 1995, ISBN 3-356-00622-3 , p. 20.
Coordinates: 54 ° 2 ′ 10.7 " N , 12 ° 39 ′ 5.8" E