Wartstein (Middle Franconia)

Wartstein Castle
	Overview of the Burgstall area from west to east
Creation time :	High Middle Ages
Castle type :	Höhenburg, hillside location
Conservation status:	Foundation walls
Place:	Roth- Eichelburg
Geographical location	49 ° 14 '26.8 " N , 11 ° 9' 36.3" E Coordinates: 49 ° 14 '26.8 " N , 11 ° 9' 36.3" E
Height:	391.7 m above sea level NN

The Wartstein is a castle stable near the village of Eichelburg in the Middle Franconian district of Roth in Bavaria .

location

The ruin is located in a forest area about 1 km west of Eichelburg on the Teufelsknock, about 400 meters above sea level .

history

The Counts of Wartstein have been documented since 1284. In 1361 a Rudolf von Wartstein was appointed court judge in Nuremberg .

Concrete documents for the castle are not available. It was probably burned down between 1460 and 1463 during the war between Ludwig the Rich and Albrecht Achilles .

There is said to have been a picture and description of the rebuilt castle from 1602. The drawing, which is lost today, was in the Brunnau Reich Forestry Office . Accordingly, the castle was depicted as a two-story building on a rock.

Wartstein was finally destroyed by Tilly's troops in the Thirty Years' War in 1632. All residents are said to have been killed. From the rubble, the farmers used the surrounding area to build their own buildings. Nevertheless, around 1873 three to four meters high walls are said to have stood.

description

Today only parts of the foundation walls of the former installations of the hill fort can be recognized, which are mostly based on natural rock. On the north edge there is an underground cavity that is relatively large in terms of its reverb.

Say

Teufelsknock in May 2012

There are various legends surrounding the square.

On August 10, 1661, the innkeeper at Eckersmühlen , Hermann Feyl, is said to have met the devil there. As if out of nowhere, the person in the body is said to have faced him in a mercenary uniform and red coat. The devil offered Feyl a taler for his blood. Feyl refused, whereupon the devil disappeared with a great din - not without losing a golden button on his coat. Feyl fled and was repeatedly ravaged by delusions in the years that followed. Since this event the place has been called "Teufelsknopf", "Teufelsknock" or "Teufelsknorz".

During the Thirty Years' War, Tilly's troops destroyed the castle, killing all residents. According to the legend, the damsel Hilde feared for her life and honor and fell from the castle tower to her death. However, nobody could believe that the beautiful Hilde was no longer alive, and mysteries soon began to grow around her person. So she should live on inside the castle ruins in a vault. Every year at the turn of the year the vault jumps open at midnight and she steps out. She wears a white robe and a white veil in front of her face. She carries a jug in her right hand. With the same she walks to the first house in the nearby village of Eichelburg. However, she never enters the place. In the nearby Schöttleinsweiher she fills her jug and disappears back into the castle ruins. Before she does that, she prays on the white cross (a stone in the shape of a cross) for the salvation of the innocent murdered.

Web links

Commons : Burgstall Wartstein (Middle Franconia) - Collection of images, videos and audio files