Veste Otzberg

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Veste Otzberg
The fortress Otzberg taken from the southeast

The fortress Otzberg taken from the southeast

Alternative name (s): castrum Othesberg
Creation time : First mention 1231
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Preserved with the exception of the barracks / bower
Standing position : Ministeriale
Place: herring
Geographical location 49 ° 49 '11 "  N , 8 ° 54' 39"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 49 '11 "  N , 8 ° 54' 39"  E
Height: 367.9  m above sea level NHN
Veste Otzberg (Hesse)
Veste Otzberg

The Veste Otzberg ( Hessen ) was built on the summit of the Otzberg in the Odenwald at 367.9  m above sea level. NHN erected. On its northern slope is the place Hering in the southern Hessian district of Darmstadt-Dieburg , which emerged from the outer bailey or the Burgmann settlement . The history of the castle and the place is therefore closely linked.

history

The area around the Otzberg probably belonged to the territory that King Pippin gave to the Fulda Monastery in 766 together with Groß-Umstadt .

The fortress Otzberg was probably built at the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th century. At this time, the abbot Marquard I von Fulda secured the monastery property and built castles visible from afar as a sign of his influence.

... Here is a place for a castle ...

He handed the castle over to Konrad the Staufer , the brother of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa , as Vogt . The Hohenstaufen was Count Palatine near the Rhine.

The castrum Othesberg was first mentioned in a document in 1231. In this document the Archbishop of Mainz Siegfried III. , at the same time administrator of the Abbey of Fulda , the Count Palatine Otto II. the agreement made the year before, the content of which is not known.

In 1244 castellanos de odesbrech , Burgmannen of Otzberg Castle , appeared for the first time . The defense system must have been completed so that five castle men and their servants could occupy the system. The Burgmannen built courtyards, so-called Burgmannenhäuser, in the village of Hering. Of these, parts of the Gans von Otzberg's property are still preserved.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the Fulda monastery ran out of funds, so Prince Abbot Heinrich VI pledged it. von Hohenberg 1332 the Veste Otzberg and the Fulda share of Umstadt for 4600 pounds Heller to Werner von Anevelt and Engelhard von Frankenstein , who had buildings carried out on the Veste Otzberg for 200 pounds.

Fulda redeemed the estate again in 1374, but in the same year pledged Otsperg die burg , Heringes stad darundir and half of Umstadt for 23,875 guilders to Ulrich von Hanau , who in turn carried out building work in the castle for 400 guilders.

In 1390, the monastery Otzberg and Hering and half of Umstadt sold with the Hanau pledge, which had meanwhile been increased to 33,000 guilders, to Count Palatine Ruprecht II.

In 1504 the Bavarian feud was partly fought on the Otzberg. In the dispute over the Landshut inheritance, Emperor Maximilian declared a ban on the imperial against Count Palatine Philipp for breach of the peace . Landgrave Wilhelm II of Hesse took the fortress Otzberg militarily. After the Reichstag of Constance in 1507, the Electoral Palatinate took back the Otzberg office and did not give up the property. The weapon technology had changed, however, so that the fortress could no longer be held by castle men alone. From 1511 a kennel was built, the inner wall ring reinforced and a new gatehouse built.

In the middle of the 16th century a stone city ​​wall was built around the outer bailey (the village of Hering) .

In 1621, during the Thirty Years' War , a Bavarian corps with 2000 men as well as imperial and Spanish troops quartered in the Otzberg-Umstadt area and besieged the fortress Otzberg. A year later, in 1622, the castle's crew surrendered. The fortress and the Otzberg office and half of Umstadt went back to Hessen in 1623, which they received as compensation for war damage suffered.

In 1647 the French took the fortress . They settled down in the castle and made use of the food that was still there. With the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 Otzberg came back to the Palatinate.

Although the entire Palatinate was in French hands during the French War, the two offices of Otzberg and Umstadt remained in the Electoral Palatinate. At that time the Palatinate Archive was stored on the Veste Otzberg, from which the ownership claims for a new beginning could be proven.

With the stabilization of the political situation, the Veste Otzberg had lost its military importance for the Palatinate. From 1711 active soldiers were gradually replaced by invalids, so that from 1720 the Veste Otzberg presented itself as a pure invalids garrison, guarding the prisoners incarcerated there.

Legend has it that anyone who bites through this ring will own the vest
Inner courtyard in 1900

In 1802 the Oberamt Otzberg in the Electoral Palatinate was transferred to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt , which used it as a state prison from 1803 .

In 1818, the fortress Otzberg was given up as a location.

On July 25, 1826, the Ministry of Finance in Darmstadt issued an order to preserve the tower of the fortress, the commandant's house with the small stables, the doctor's apartment, the stall near the sutler's shop, the fountain house and the new barracks (band house). All other buildings were to be sold for demolition.

In 1921 the band house was expanded into a youth hostel .

In the 1950s there was a forestry station and a restaurant in the commandant's house. The commandant's house was used jointly as a forester's house and restaurant until the mid-1960s and then continued as a restaurant with changing tenants.

From 1985 the Museum of Folklore Collection in Hesse moved into the band house. In 1996 the corporal house was rebuilt. Since then, it has been used as a museum building and registry office for the Otzberg community. The lease for the fortress ends in June 2019, after which the entire walls will be renovated by the State of Hesse.

military

The residents were soldiers from the start; in the 14th century six men lived up there, around 1471 there were 14 people. Specialized soldiers were not added until the 16th century, at the time when the property was being expanded into a fortified fortress.

Building description

Site plan of the Veste Otzberg

The shape of the fortress is shaped by the double ring walls built in the 16th century, which describe an oval shape, and the keep , which is of Romanesque origin. The character is still that of a fortress from the time after the introduction of artillery, typical castle features such as tower landscapes are completely missing.

Keep

The keep, also popularly known as the white turnip or sauerkraut barrel, is the oldest building in Veste Otzberg. The round brick 17 m high tower has a diameter of 10 m at the bottom, at a height of about 2 m it tapers to 9.6 m. At a height of 15.5 m there is a circumferential cantilever made of sandstone, which is supposed to keep rainwater away from the tower. From the 15.9 m high observation platform of the White Turnip , you can look over the entire Darmstadt-Dieburg district to Frankfurt am Main and the Taunus on nice days .

Fountain

The castle well from around 1320 at the passage is one of the deepest wells in Hesse. According to recent excavations, the depth of the well is now estimated to be around 50 meters. Next to it is the pedal bike built in 1788, which made the water pumping considerably easier at the time.

Commandant's House

The commandant's house, in which the Burgschänke is located today , was built in 1574 together with several other new buildings.

Hall

The Palas is home to the Otzberg Museum - Folklore Collection in Hesse.

Barracks / Kemenate

The former bower was later used as a barracks. Because of the Hessian demolition order of 1806, it was one of the few buildings on the Veste Otzberg to be destroyed. Today only the foundation walls can be seen.

Corporal House

The corporal house, which was rebuilt in 1996, serves as the wedding room of the Otzberg community.

  • Buildings on the Veste Otzberg

  • The Otzberg - north view

  • Gatehouse, to the castle

  • Gatehouse, to the exit

  • Well house

  • Keep

  • Commandant's House

  • Barracks / Kemenate

  • Corporal House

  • Corporal House and Palas

  • Hall

  • Palas south view

Regular events

literature

  • Wolfram Becher: Name and origin of Otzberg Castle. In: The Odenwald. Zeitschrift des Breuberg-Bundes 26/1, 1979, pp. 3–26.
  • Thomas Biller: Castles and palaces in the Odenwald. A guide to history and architecture. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1711-2 , pp. 189–192.
  • Elmar Brohl : Fortresses in Hessen. Published by the German Society for Fortress Research eV, Wesel, Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2013 (=  German Fortresses  2), ISBN 978-3-7954-2534-0 , pp. 147–152.
  • Carl Bronner : Odenwaldburgen. Verlag von Karl Zibulski, bookstore, Groß-Umstadt 1924.
  • Thomas Steinmetz: On the early history of Otzberg Castle . In: The Odenwald. Journal of the Breuberg Association . 51st year (2004), issue 2, ISSN  0029-8360 , pp. 43-57.
  • Axel W. Gleue: Otzberg castle-fortress-barracks . Otzberg 2003.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 540-542.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , pp. 287–289.

Web links

Commons : Veste Otzberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  2. ^ The Gesta Marcuardi, in: Traditiones et Antiquitates Fuldenses, Fulda 1844
  3. ↑ Veste Otzberg is sold out
  4. ↑ Darmstädter Echo , Thursday, November 26, 2015, p. 20