Vriemeensen
Vriemeensen is a desolate, fallen settlement near Meensen in southern Lower Saxony , which existed between the 9th and 15th centuries. The desert site is located around 1.3 km south of Meensen.
Location and exploration
The settlement was located on a south-facing slope within a valley basin on the Dransfeld plateau at around 350 m above sea level. NHN . It was near a branch of the Hellweg . The Glockenbach, which has since disappeared, flowed through the settlement. The deserted site is now on a field.
Already in the 1950s Vriemeensen came into the focus of local researchers , research institutions and monument authorities . Numerous concentrations of finds were found during field inspections. At one point, vegetation features within a grain field suggested a stone building in the ground.
Excavations
In the years 1994 to 1996 as well as 1998 and 1999, the archaeological monument preservation of the district of Göttingen carried out excavations at the desert site in annual campaigns under the direction of the prehistorian Klaus Grote . Some of the excavations involved emergency and rescue excavations, as there was fear of loss of substance to the remains as a result of pilling and erosion. The excavations were extremely rich in finds , as around 34,000 finds were recovered and almost 200 findings were found on the approximately 1600 m 2 excavation area . The focus of the excavations was on the solid structures in the form of a residential tower , the church and a stone building. The building foundations and parts of the rising masonry were partially preserved in the ground.
Residential tower
The exposed residential tower has the dimensions of almost 10 × 12 meters. The foundation has a thickness of around 2 meters in the lower area and is 1.5 meters thick in the area of the rising masonry. The tower had several outbuildings such as pit houses, post structures and threshold beam structures. No remains of fortifications, such as ramparts or ditches, were found in the area. The finds included stove tiles and remains of vessels. A special find was a gauntlet , as it became common in the second half of the 14th century. The finds indicate a noble living environment.
The tower was a representative residential building with a subordinate defense function. With its outbuildings, it is regarded as the noble court of the Lords of Meeensen, which gave the impression of a larger rural homestead. The tower dates from the first half of the 12th century and was demolished in the second third of the 14th century.
church
The Romanesque church building was 21 meters long and 8 meters wide. It consisted of a nave with a choir and apse and a church tower 7 × 8 meters in the west. The building was probably built around the year 1200 and in the 13th century an extension was added on the northern side, which could have served as a burial place for the Lords of Meensen. There are structural similarities to the St. Johannis Church in Meensen. The demolition is believed to be in the 14th century. Among the finds were roof tiles of the monk and nun type and beaver tail , which were engobed in red and white . Similar pieces have been found at Hilwartshausen Abbey , to which the Lords of Meensen had connections according to written sources. According to the sources, the excavated church is St. Laurentius.
Stone construction
A double building was uncovered, which consisted of a 12 × 8 meter front building in half-timbered and post construction and a 10 × 7 meter rear building with a basement in stone construction. The building foundation, 0.9 to 1.4 meters thick, indicated two upper floors. So far, comparable secular buildings have hardly been excavated in rural areas, but rather in urban areas, such as in Braunschweig, Höxter and the urban desert of Nienover . One of the finds was part of a Romanesque chandelier made of non-ferrous metal from around the year 1200, which indicates a socially upscale user class.
History and interpretation
Vriemeensen was first mentioned in a document in 1235 as Vrien Mense in a deed of donation from Archbishop Siegfried III of Mainz . in favor of Hilwartshausen Abbey. The word Vrien can be translated as free or independent in the sense of a privilege and Mense refers to the place name for Meensen, which appeared as early as 990. The place name Vrien Mense is a name delimitation compared to the pottery village Meensen, which was also called Gropmeynsen.
Vriemeensen is one of a number of small nobility in southern Lower Saxony. The exposed residential tower can be used as the seat of the Lords of Meensen. They are an important noble family with larger possessions at Hofgeismar . Since the middle of the 14th century, the settlement Vriemeensen belonged to the Guelph domain, as it is mentioned as an accessory to the nearby Brackenburg .
The settlement is believed to have existed between the 9th and 15th centuries. Its size is estimated at 500 × 150 meters. Its three stone buildings, including the stately church with its strikingly colored, engobed roof tiles, are unusual for a rural settlement .
There are several possible causes for the desertification, such as karstification and drying out of the stream within the settlement. An economic weakening is also possible due to the construction of a nearby Vorwerk of the Lippoldsberg monastery as a farming process .
The archaeologist Stefan Hesse was awarded the Eduard Anthes Prize in 2005 for his research into the Vriemeensen desert .
literature
- Stefan Hesse: Excavations at the Romanesque deserted church in Vriemeensen near Meensen, district Göttingen in: Göttinger Jahrbuch 44, 1996
- Stefan Hesse: Vriemeensen - Archaeological investigations into a rural settlement of the Middle Ages with a manor In: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony 17 (1997), pp. 126–128
- Stefan Hesse: The medieval settlement Vriemeensen in the context of the southern Lower Saxony desert research with special consideration of the problem of small aristocratic seats , Göttingen, 2000, dissertation ( online , pdf, 3.8 MB)
- Stefan Hesse: Vriemeensen - The position of a smaller noble family in the historical environment. In: Mamoun Fansa , Frank Both, Henning Haßmann (editor): Archeology | Land | Lower Saxony. 400,000 years of history. State Museum for Nature and Man, Oldenburg 2004. Pages 262–264.
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann on Vriemeensen in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Photos from the excavations
- Sketch of the excavated church Wüstungskirche von Vriemeensen
- Aerial view of the desert area with growth marks from a stone building
Coordinates: 51 ° 25 ′ 50 ″ N , 9 ° 45 ′ 34 ″ E