Württemberg Landgraben
The Württemberg Landgraben , also known as the Altwürttembergischer Landgraben, was a border fortification built in the north of Württemberg in the 15th century , which until 1803 mainly served as a source of customs revenue. It was originally planned as a defensive structure, but its strategic importance was minimal.
Building history
By the middle of the 15th century, the county of Württemberg had expanded south of Heilbronn to a line that was roughly marked by the cities of Brackenheim , Lauffen and Beilstein . This relatively closed territory contrasted with several smaller domains in the north: the Neipperg possessions Neipperg , Schwaigern and Klingenberg , the odenheim Großgartach, the places Schluchtern belonging to the Electoral Palatinate (which today forms the municipality of Leingarten with Großgartach ) and Horkheim and their rule Stettenfels , the Teutonic Order -Area around Talheim and the Löwenstein areas around Unterheinriet and in the Schmidbachtal, as well as the imperial city of Heilbronn.
To secure the state border in this area, the Counts of Württemberg had a Landwehr built between Heuchelberg and Löwensteiner Mountains . This completely sealed off the Neckar basin between the mountain ranges on both sides. The Rothenburg and Haller Landheeg could have served as a model for this system .
Count Ulrich V, “the much-loved”, started with the construction of the moat east of the Neckar in 1456. Count Eberhard im Bart continued construction west of the river in 1482/83. The planned further construction over the heights of the Heuchelberg to Sternenfels was increasingly a thorn in the side of the neighbors, and there were threats of war. In the Worms Treaty of 1495, Eberhard had to forego further construction and was given the title of duke in the same period, which indicates his diplomatic skills.
course
The moat was 31 kilometers long. The western end marked the Heuchelberger Warte , from there it led between Klingenberg and Nordheim to the Neckar, which served as a natural border for a length of seven kilometers. Then the Landgraben ran eastwards from Lauffen , crossing the Schozach Valley, north of the places Schozach , Ilsfeld , Auenstein and Helfenberg , south of Talheim , Wüstenhausen and Abstatt . To the south of Wildeck Castle , the Landgraben met the Löwensteiner Berge, on the heights of which it ran south, only to then seal off the Schmidbachtal between Gronau and Schmidhausen and end at the Bräunersberg. Natural obstacles such as bodies of water, steep slopes and faults were always included, so the facility did not always exactly follow the actual borderline of Württemberg at the time.
Plant and use
The facility was up to 18 meters wide and consisted of a three meter wide and deep trench with an earth wall. It was planted with thorn bushes, mostly sloes , and additionally reinforced with sharpened wooden pegs at places considered to be endangered. There were only four larger culverts, three of which were secured with towers: the Nordheimer Landturm on the road between Nordheim and Großgartach, the main customs office on the Lauffen Neckar Bridge , the Lauffener Landturm on the road between Kaltenwesten and Talheim and the Wüstenhausen Landturm. The Heuchelberger Warte in the west and a tower on the Wartberg near Beilstein were also used for observation .
The moat was mainly important as a customs border. Its importance as a state border was already diminished in 1504 when Württemberg conquered the Palatinate offices of Weinsberg , Möckmühl and Neuenstadt in the War of Landshut Succession . As a result, Horkheim, Untergruppenbach and Abstatt and other places north of the Landgraben came to Württemberg, but they remained outside the fortification system. From a military point of view, the ditch could put a stop to marauding groups, but it was never a serious obstacle for armies moving through. However, wagons could not negotiate the ditch, and so the movement of goods was forced to stay on the highways and pay customs duties at the country towers . which was a not inconsiderable source of income for Württemberg.
Through the mediatization from 1802 to 1806, Württemberg also gained the remaining areas north of the Landgraben, which was now surrounded on all sides by Württemberg territory and thus lost its function. Ramparts and ditches were leveled, but the towers partially remained.
Relics
Today the facility is mostly filled in and only recognizable in a few places, but it is still responsible for the course of some paths, streets and property boundaries. You can still see some sections north of Nordheim and Auenstein, on Ilsfelder Straße outside Lauffen, in the St. Anna Forest near Gagernberg and on the country road from Schmidhausen to Jettenbach. These sections were restored from 1995 to 1997 by the local group Lauffen of the Swabian Alb Association , at the same time a 35 kilometer long hiking trail with information boards was set up, which is based on the former course of the land ditch. This measure was awarded the cultural landscape award of the Swabian Heimatbund in 1997 .
The Nordheimer Landturm has disappeared from the former three land towers, only the title “Landturmbacken” on the height between Nordheim and Großgartach still reminds of it. There is also nothing left to refer to the “main customs” in Lauffen. At the beginning it was also the lower city gate on the eastern bridgehead, which was razed with the other defenses in connection with the Thirty Years War in 1647. Its function was taken over by a roofed wooden construction in the middle of the bridge, which in turn gave way to a stone arch around 1810.
The Lauffener Landturm, first mentioned in 1466, is still preserved and today stands right next to the country road between Neckarwestheim and Talheim. After the ditch was leveled, it came into private ownership and there is a restaurant next to the tower. The gate through which the country road once passed was walled up in 1920. In April 1945 the upper floor of the tower was destroyed by artillery fire, and it was restored in 1949.
The Wüstenhausener Landturm is located on an agricultural property south of Wüstenhausen away from today's highway. The Heuchelberger Warte on the hill on the edge of the Heuchelberg was prepared as a lookout tower in 1897/98 and is now a popular and well-known excursion destination.
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Books
- Reinhard Wolf , Hans Mattern , Martin Kühlbrey, Werner Bremmekamp, Klaus Peter Meyer: The old Württemberg ditch from Heuchelberg to Bottwartal . Schwäbischer Heimatbund and Schwäbischer Albverein (Ed.), Stuttgart 1997. 50 pages, 27 b / w illustrations, 1 colored map. ISBN 3-920801-43-1
Web links
- Historical city guide Lauffen am Neckar (points 6, 24 and 26; PDF file; 302 kB)
- Swabian Heimatbund: Cultural Landscape Prize 1997
- Sheets of the Swabian Alb Association , 2004/4, page 19 (PDF file; 2.35 MB)
Others
- Information boards of the Swabian Alb Association along the hiking trail