Maintenance regulations from 1498
The waiting order of 1498 is a late medieval document, which regulated the establishment of a system of waiting for the Margraviate Brandenburg-Kulmbach . Waiting towers, some of which have been heavily modified as observation towers, have been preserved to this day.
Guttenberg feud
The waiting order was issued in 1498 by Margrave Friedrich . As Friedrich II, he was Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Brandenburg-Ansbach . However, the control rooms were all set up “above the mountain”, i.e. in the Brandenburg-Kulmbach area. The captain of this area was Konrad von Wirsberg .
The reason for the maintenance regulations was the Guttenberg feud with family members of those von Guttenberg , who were allied with Duke Georg von Bayern-Landshut . With their ancestral castle Guttenberg they were an immediate threat to the Plassenburg , the seat of the margrave, and were in the immediate vicinity of many margravial villages and castles. On September 4, 1497, the margrave declared the feud against the Guttenbergers at their ancestral castle after the castle had been opened to the Bavarian duke and had received a small Bavarian garrison. When the margrave besieged the castle for four days, the Guttenbergers managed to escape. In the spring of 1498, after unsuccessful negotiations, attacks by the Guttenbergers increased, with Schellenberg Castle serving as a starting point. In this situation, Captain Kunz von Wirsberg and Landschreiber Friedrich Penker worked out the maintenance regulations.
Maintenance rules
The maintenance regulations were announced several times in the Brandenburg-Kulmbach area. At the same time, other measures were taken to reduce the damage caused by the feud, such as the government's call on the population to be more vigilant or the recommendation to empty barns and thrash grain to reduce fire damage. Landlords and the population should report suspicious foreign travelers. Citizens and farmers who wanted to leave the Margraviate to z. As to visit a foreign market, this trip had the bailiff sign. This was intended to prevent them from being captured for the purpose of extorting ransom; prisoners who were already prisoners could only be released again with official consent. The waiting order stipulated that waiting areas were to be manned by guards at all times and that signal lights with fire or smoke should be given in the event of danger . In addition, the guards were required to report their observations on site and, if necessary, also where the relayed signal originally came from.
List of the 13 waiting towers
According to the maintenance regulations, the system consisted of 13 waiting towers. It was later determined that Böheimstein Castle near Pegnitz and the church tower by Lindenhardt were also manned by guards. When other control rooms were built or used, for example in the War of Spanish Succession on the Waldstein , some of the control towers were of military importance. Another example is the Hohe Warte near Bad Berneck or the Wartberg near Grafenreuth .
| place | Remarks | view |
|---|---|---|
| Baking ovens on the Schneeberg | Accessible again as a viewing platform |
|
| Weißenstein near Stammbach | Rebuilt several times as a lookout tower |
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| Kirchberg in Helmbrechts | In 1895 a lookout tower was rebuilt at the place where the watch tower stood |
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| Wartberg at court | Largely true to the original tower, damaged during the siege of Hof in 1553 |
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| Deer tower near Kulmbach | The lower half has largely been preserved in its original form, renovated and increased in height at the end of the 19th century. |
|
| Magnusturm near Kasendorf | Watchtower built from the remains of the medieval castle, now an accessible observation tower, renovations in 1911 and 1950 |
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| Sophienberg and Kulmberg near Bayreuth | No longer preserved, later the mountain was the site of a castle, then a margravial princely palace |
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| Rough Kulm near Neustadt | see also the history of the city of Neustadt am Kulm |
|
| Berg near Creußen | ||
| Katharinenberg near Wunsiedel | Preserved as the church tower of the church ruins |
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| Epprechtstein near Kirchenlamitz | Ruin with viewing platform |
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| Thierstein Castle near Thierstein | Castle tower preserved in the ruins |
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| Castle tower from the courtyard | The castle fell victim to the city fire of 1743, remains were removed in 1762. |
Development of the maintenance system
Waiting already existed before the waiting order, for example to secure old streets. The main aim of the waiting order of 1498 was to quickly identify smaller opposing troop units and to mobilize appropriate resistance on site. However, the effort to equip and maintain the control rooms was high, so that after times of danger, the control rooms quickly became dilapidated. In the following centuries, waiting areas were mainly used in times of war. Their task changed to the effect of perceiving larger enemy troop movements and summoning defenders on a large scale at agreed assembly points. 23 control rooms were last modernized and manned with guards during the War of the Spanish Succession . Their use in wartime probably began during the Hussite Wars and the Bavarian War . The waiting areas also played a role in the First Margrave War , the Landshut War of Succession and the Second Margrave War . Hanns Hofmann also refers to the Franconian War in 1523, as the waiting areas were originally laid out to contain the feuds. Based on the attack on the city of Hof in the Schmalkaldic War and the acts of war during the siege of Hof in 1553, he also points out that the Hofer watch tower was probably no longer manned by guards at that time. During the Thirty Years War they also served as a refuge for the rural population.
literature
- Hanns Hofmann: The waiting tower - a medieval building . In: Kulturwarte - monthly for art and culture , issue 10/1986. Hof 1986. pp. 262-267.
- Helmut Hennig: Warthen on the mountains. An old alarm system in our homeland (= official school gazette for the administrative district of Upper Franconia. Local supplement . No. 256, ZDB -ID 583304-8 ). Government of Upper Franconia, Bayreuth 1998.
Web links
- Helmut Hennig: Wartordnung from 1498. Excerpt from: Helmut Hennig: Warthen auff dem Gebirg. 1998.