Sprengelburg
| Sprengelburg | ||
|---|---|---|
 The Sprengelburg |
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| Alternative name (s): | Springeburg | |
| Creation time : | around 1200 to 1300 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Ministeriale | |
| Place: | Eßweiler and Oberweiler in the valley | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 33 '58 " N , 7 ° 33' 28" E | |
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The Sprengelburg (or Springeburg ) is the ruin of a hilltop castle in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate . It lies between the communities of Eßweiler and Oberweiler in the valley on the L 372. Since 1983, the ruin has been a listed building .
location
The Sprengelburg is located on a foothill of the Königsberg between Eßweiler and Oberweiler in the valley directly on today's state road 372. The boundary between the two communities runs through the castle grounds.
history
In the middle ages
Judging by the existing building remains, the Sprengelburg was probably built in the 13th century. The castle was built at the narrowest point of the Talbach valley and controlled the road that then ran below the castle in the valley floor.
Known as the lords of the castle were the Mülenstein knights, feudal men of the Rhine Counts in Grumbach . It is uncertain whether they were also the builders. The Mulenstein family is attested from 1317 to 1451. The Mülenstein knights acted as robber barons and inflicted severe damage on the merchants who used the road. As a result, the castle was destroyed by Strasbourg merchants in retaliation for the raids. The exact date of the destruction is not known. However, the Lichtenberger land clerk and geometer Johannes Hoffmann wrote in his "Description of the Essweiler Valley 1595" that the castle grounds were cleared and sown several times by the local farmers after the destruction, but that the harvests were always canceled due to wet and cold summers. When, after a third clearing, "a great darkness came in the middle of the summer day" and this harvest also failed, they finally gave up and the castle area was overgrown in the following years. This eclipse after the third clearing could have been the solar eclipse of 1441.
Modern times
After the unsuccessful attempts to use it, the castle grounds are completely overgrown. Up until the 1970s there were no more building remains to be found, the castle slumbered under a hill overgrown with trees. Only the name "at the old castle" and the remains of the neck ditch , which was partly built over by the L372, still reminded of what was hidden underneath.
Starting in 1976, excavations were carried out on the site by students of the University of Maryland under the direction of Professor Higel. The remains of the outer walls, a rectangle of 20 by 15 m, and a round tower with a diameter of 8 m were exposed. In the summer of 1978 a woman's skeleton was discovered inside the castle.
After the excavations were completed , reconstruction measures were carried out , initiated by the Office for Monument Preservation in Speyer . The outer walls and the tower were rebuilt, and a round-arched gate was inserted into the outer wall at the rear of the complex as an entrance. For this purpose, some stones found during the excavation were used. The modern staircase to the approximately 8.5 m high tower, an iron spiral staircase, was added at that time. This leads to a viewing platform , from which, however, the view through the surrounding forest is quite limited.
Stories about the castle
The following stories are circulating around the castle ruins:
The destruction of the castle
Johannes Hofmann writes the following about the destruction of the castle in his "Description of the Eßweiler Valley 1595":
The Knights of Mülestein, two brothers, were once at a wedding in Eßweiler. The Strasbourg merchants took advantage of this, disguised themselves and were mistakenly mistaken for the Mülensteiners and admitted by the remaining castle crew. They captured the castle, plundered and destroyed it. Lured by the noise, the real lords of the castle returned, saw that there was nothing more they could do, and fled. Before Hinzweiler , they were overtaken by the Strasbourgers. One of the brothers was stabbed to death. A cross was later erected at this point, the field name "An den Kreuzäckern" heralds it. The other Mülensteiner managed to escape to Grumbach .
The hunchbacked man
If you were out on the road between Oberweiler im Tal and Eßweiler in the evening or at night, you could suddenly feel a heavy load on your back that almost wanted to push you to the ground. The uphill path became more and more difficult. But if you had passed the "old lock" the weight suddenly disappeared. What was going on? The explanation is simple: the hunchbacked man who lives in the old castle ruins had the hiker carry him home.
The white woman
Another apparition is a white woman who is supposed to appear to passers-by from the tower of the castle and wants to entice them to follow her by waving and shouting.
Wolfstein tunnel
Allegedly there is supposed to be a passage from the Sprengelburg that leads under the Königsberg to Wolfstein . It has not yet been found. However, until the 1950s, there was a lot of digging for mercury and barite in Königsberg , so there are many tunnels there.
swell
- ↑ a b Daniel Hinkelmann: From the history of the "Springeburg" near Eßweiler (Ldkr. Kusel), Pfälzer Heimat, year 29 (1978), p. 107 (translation of the text by Johannes Hoffmann, Keller zu Lichtenberg, description of the Eßweiler Thales, 1595)
- ↑ Lanzer, Rudi: There where the humpbacked man is at home, Die Rheinpfalz, October 10, 2002
