Spike tower
The Spießurm , also called Spieskappeler Warte or Spiess for short , is a medieval watch tower that is located in northern Hesse near the Spieskappel district of Frielendorf . It was built in the 15th century under the Hessian Landgrave Ludwig I and served as a border tower and as a meeting place for state parliaments and courts.
Today the tower is only preserved as a ruin. The outside inspection is possible at any time, but the tower is not accessible. The tower stands as a cultural monument under monument protection .
investment
The spit tower is located on the north side of the so-called Kornberg, south of the Frielendorf district of Spieskappel on the district road 127 between Spieskappel and Oberbegrenzebach . The name "Spieß" used to refer to some contiguous hills called Loh, Kornberg and Kämperholz between Spieskappel, Gebersdorf , Leimsfeld , Schönborn , Oberbegrenzebach, Großropperhausen and Ebersdorf . The round tower is about 17 meters high and has a diameter of almost five meters. The wall thickness is over a meter. The entrance is five meters above the ground to make it difficult for possible enemies to penetrate. In addition, there was probably a battlement , which is indicated by recessed holes for the necessary beam position.
history
The hill "Spieß" was already from the 6th to the 10th century as a Gau border within the Franconian Empire and separated the Oberlahngau from the Hessengau . Until the 15th century, the Landgraviate of Hesse bordered the County of Ziegenhain here . In 1430 the Hessian Landgrave Ludwig I had the spear tower built to secure the border. In addition, there were land weirs , barriers, boundary signs and other fortifications along the border . Crates were set up at border crossings and guarded by a batsman. There was such a blow near the spit tower; the batsman lived in the tower and collected customs duties for the Hessian office of Homberg . When Count Johann II von Ziegenhain died in 1450, he left no heir, so that the County of Ziegenhain fell to the Landgraviate of Hesse and the border system on the spit became superfluous.
Hessian state parliaments
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the spit was the meeting place for the parliaments of the Landgraviate of Hesse . It was chosen as the venue because various important streets such as the long Hessen ran along the Spießurm. The first meetings of the estates of this type, of which there are traditions, took place in 1456 and 1457. In 1470 the Hessian fratricidal war between Ludwig II. And Heinrich III. attached. In 1509 a state parliament was held at which the estates challenged the will of the late Landgrave Wilhelm II and, in particular, the reign of his widow. Landgrave Philipp convened two diets on the spit in 1534 and 1542. The last Landtag on the spit took place in 1568: Philip's son Wilhelm IV and his brothers read the " Ziegenhainer Einigung ", which regulated the division of the Landgraviate.
Court
In addition to its function as the venue for the Hessian state parliaments, the spit was also the location of one of six courts assigned to the Homberg Office . The dish on the spit included the villages of Frielendorf , Todenhausen , Oberbegrenzebach , Seigertshausen , Leimsfeld , Ebersdorf , Oberkappel , Gebersdorf and Linsingen . At that time, a court was both a judicial and administrative district. In 1542 the court on the spit, which was sometimes referred to as the court of Frielendorf, was assigned to the Ziegenhain office. This made it possible to use the residents of the villages to help expand the Ziegenhain fortress . Bambey sees this separation as a first step towards integrating the region into the Schwalm area .
Frielendorfer coat of arms
After the regional reform in Hesse in the 1970s, the municipality board and council wanted to give the large municipality of Frielendorf a new coat of arms in 1975. After three years in which there were multiple disputes with the Marburg State Archives because the drafts violated heraldic principles such as color rules, the current coat of arms was finally presented in February 1978. The spike tower is shown in the center of the municipal coat of arms.
Myths and legends
There are some often told legends about the spire tower and the hill on which it lies. One of them is about a funeral procession that passes the spike tower.
“In the Middle Ages, the gypsies often set up camp on the spit heights. Exactly on the border between the Grafschaft Ziegenhain and the Landgraviate of Hesse, because there they felt safe. If they were persecuted by the Grafschaft Ziegenhain, they switched to the Landgraviate of Hesse, or vice versa. One night there was a knock under her bed. At the third knock around midnight, a funeral procession that came out of the ground pulled past them in the direction of Hermannsdorf. Since then, the gypsies have not been seen on a spit. "
Some details are modified in further stories. The participants in the funeral procession are described as headless horsemen or the event is moved from the Middle Ages to the time of the First World War or the year 1930. Another legend is about a treasure that is in a secret passage. This secret passage is said to have connected the Spieskappel monastery with the spit tower.
“According to handwritten information, the last abbot of the monastery, Johannes Werner, was believed to have lived in 1582 and was buried in the wide monastery cemetery, which was to the northeast of the church. The legend tells that the abbot Werner buried the twelve silver apostles from the monastery church from the twelfth century in underground passages that are supposed to lead to the spit and to the gnome hole near Oberbegrenzebach. No one has attempted to dig for the precious treasures so far. "
literature
- Hartwig Bambey: The Frielendorfer municipality coat of arms or the handling of "heraldic principles". In: ders. (Ed.): Frielendorf: picture reading book. Frielendorf 1990, pp. 337-338.
- Hartwig Bambey: The spit - border scabbard, court of justice, road junction and watch tower. In: ders. (Ed.): Frielendorf: picture reading book. Frielendorf 1990, pp. 42-47.
- Eduard Brauns: Hiking guide through North Hesse and Waldeck. A. Bernecker Verlag, Melsungen, 1971
- Karl Schmidt: The village of Spieskappel. Frielendorf 1995, pp. 94-98 and 217-222.
- Brigitte Warlich-Schenk: Monument topography "Schwalm-Eder-Kreis I" . with the assistance of Hans Josef Böker. Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (= architectural monuments in Hesse ). Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1985, ISBN 3-528-06233-9 , pp. 105 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schmidt, 1995, p. 94.
- ↑ Schmidt, 1995, p. 95.
- ↑ Bambey, 1990, p. 43.
- ↑ Bambey, 1990, p. 45.
- ↑ Bambey, 1990, p. 46.
- ↑ Schmidt, 1995, p. 98.
- ↑ Bambey, 1990, p. 47.
- ↑ Bambey, 1990, pp. 337f.
- ↑ Schmidt, 1995, pp. 221f.
- ↑ Schmidt, 1995, p. 119.
Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 56 " N , 9 ° 18 ′ 45" E