Ziegenhain water fortress

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The Ziegenhain water fortress is a baroque fortress in the Schwalmstadt district of Ziegenhain in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse. After the military buildings in Kassel , Gießen and Rüsselsheim , it was the fourth largest fortification during the Thirty Years War in Hesse . In this war the fortress was not taken, withstood all sieges and was therefore the reason for the formation of the proverb "As solid as goat grove". The facility is a listed building .

Aerial view of the former Ziegenhain water fortress, seen from the southwest

founding

Stair tower on the east side of the mansion. The massive masonry lower part probably still comes from the medieval castle.

950 one was keep erected. In 1144 Count Gottfried von Reichenbach-Wegebach built a new castle between the old keep and an already existing round castle, which he made his residence and after which he and his descendants then called themselves Counts of Ziegenhain . Werner II von Falkenberg built “Das Steinerne Haus” (today the Schwalm Museum) in 1363 as his castle seat. After the counts of Ziegenhain died out with the death of Johann II , the county of Ziegenhain fell to Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse in 1450 . The castle was then transformed into a landgrave's hunting lodge in 1470 .

Philipp Soldan created a Renaissance stone relief for the south side of the palace in the 16th century . In addition, sculptural designs inside the castle are attributed to him.

Fortification expansion, Reformation

The governor's wing as seen from the parade ground

From 1537 to 1546, under Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous, the medieval castle and town were expanded into a strategic water fortress according to plans by the fortress builder Hans Jakob von Ettlingen and the builder Balthasar von Germersheim . A six meter high earth wall with raised rondelles at the four corners now surrounded the castle and town. These were separated by the 65 meter wide, gently sloping glacis . This made it possible to flood the surrounding area with the water of the Schwalm . The fortress had only one entrance via a wooden drawbridge. In the fortress beside the emerged casemates in the Wall, the armory , two fruit houses, a brewery, the archive, barracks and a horse mill. In 1537 Heinz von Lüder became the first in command of the fortress. Mentioned in 1545 was a heavy artillery called Der Mutz , a hawker .

In 1539 the " Ziegenhain Church Breeding Ordinance " was passed in Ziegenhain Castle . At the invitation of Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous, Hessian theologians and the reformers Adam Krafft and Martin Butzer met here and, under the influence of Philipp Melanchthon , decided that church elders should take on joint responsibility, young people in Christian doctrine should be accepted into the Christian community with final confirmation and those who think differently should not should be pursued. Both Jewish and non-denominational citizens were entitled to hospitality and civil service. This laid the foundation for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hesse. This revolutionary ordinance quickly spread to other places via Waldeck , Wittgenstein , Frankfurt and Göttingen .

In 1542, Landgrave Philipp issued the truce for the Ziegenhain Fortress. In his revised will, dated October 6, 1545, he then appointed his sons ... Heinzen Luther ( Heinz von Lüder ) should let pleiben to Ziegenhain before a captain ... . In the Schmalkaldic War 1546–1547 and during the five years imprisonment of the Landgrave 1547–1552, Heinz von Lüder commanded the fortress, which was the only one of the four Landgrave's fortresses that did not need to be demolished on the orders of Emperor Charles V. (Kassel, Gießen and the fortress Rüsselsheim, however, were razed.) A beautiful legend was later woven around these events. Lüder is said to have said to Count Reinhard zu Solms , who wanted to take possession of the fortress: “The free landgrave handed over the fortress to me. And I will hand the fortress back to a free landgrave. ”Thereupon Emperor Karl asked Landgrave Philipp to have Lüder hung in chains. After his release and return, the Landgrave rewarded Lüder with a short, symbolic hanging on a gold chain at today's “Lüdertor” and gave him the gold chain. The romantic poet August Kopisch wrote his poem "Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous" about this, which Carl Loewe set to music in 1856:

"Oh woe, Heinz von Lüder, how sorry for you!
You defended the city so bravely for a long time!
Now, under the emperor's spell,
to save yourself
you, his most loyal man,
the landgrave hang in chains!
O goat grove, unfortunate city,
where true loyalty has such an end! ":

Thirty Years and Seven Years' War

Ziegenhain (right) and Weichaus (left) from Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655
Ground plan of Ziegenhain from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655

From 1622 to 1623 the fortress was additionally reinforced by the construction of four ravelins . In addition, the suburb of Weichau was surrounded. During the Thirty Years War the fortress was not taken, but in the first week of October 1631 Bavarian and Tilly troops invaded Weichaus, plundered it and partially burned it down. In 1633 the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna visited the fortress.

On November 15, 1640, the imperial general Johann Rudolf von Breda was shot by the captain of the Ziegenhain citizen riflemen , Velten (Valentin) Muhly , in a battle on the Riebelsdorfer Berg near the nearby village of Riebelsdorf . Historical evidence, it is said, is the so-called "Breda sword" that has been kept in the town hall since then.

The Schafhof was built in 1669 as a military logistics supply base and used as a depot .

In the Seven Years' War the now outdated fortress was handed over to French troops in 1758 without a fight; this prevented major damage. In 1761, however, the fortress was shelled and damaged by Hessian artillery . The bombardment severely damaged 47 houses and the cloth factory in the city.

Collection point for Hessian subsidiary troops for the North American War of Independence

In 1769 the Paradeplatz and the "Neue Wache" were built. From 1776 to 1783, the Paradeplatz was the meeting point for the Hessian subsidiary troops who fought on the British side in the North American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783. During this time, the fortress served as a recruit depot by order of Landgrave Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel . The Landgrave transferred a total of 12,000 Hessians in return for subsidies to the English for their war in North America.

This is processed literarily in Johann Gottfried Seumes “Walk to Syracuse 1802”. The theology student was forced into military service by Hessian recruiters, recruited in Ziegenhain and embarked for America. In 1813 his memories of his compulsory obligation appeared in his posthumously published biography Mein Leben .

Napoleonic war and end of military use

From 1776 to 1783 a new fortress entrance with a bridge was built. In November 1806 the fortress was handed over to the Napoleonic army without a fight on the orders of the Hessian Elector Wilhelm I and finally demolished in 1807 on the orders of Napoleon . The casemates were blown up and the gates laid down. The fortress had lost its importance with the development of modern artillery. In 1819 the new south gate was built at the urging of the population. In 1832, Elector Wilhelm II dissolved the garrison of the Electorate of Hesse . The last fortress commander, Colonel von Harras, died in Ziegenhain in 1836.

Use as a correctional facility

A forced labor prison with space for 400 prisoners was set up in Ziegenhain Castle in 1842. The Hessian State Archives were moved from here to Marburg in 1857. A women's prison was established here in 1882. In 1905 the German Reichstag finally withdrew the military command stationed here to guard the royal county of Ziegenhain.

Today the Ziegenhain water fortress is an essential part of the penal institution (JVA) Schwalmstadt-Ziegenhain. In 1989 the Lebanese terrorist of Hezbollah , Mohammed Ali Hamadi, was imprisoned in the Schwalmstadt prison. After the open penal system was outsourced in 2003 , only the closed penal system still exists in the Schwalmstadt prison .

literature

Web links

Commons : Schloss Ziegenhain  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://gratis-sagen.de/karl-lyncker/deutsche-sagen-und-sitten-in-hessischen-gauen/300.-heinz-von-lueder  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: Der Link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / gratis-sagen.de  
  2. ↑ Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous (Text: August Kopisch (1799-1853); Sound: Johann Karl Gottfried Loewe (1796-1869)), op.125 no.1 (1856)
  3. ↑ The general, from a branch of the von Bredow dynasty , appears in various sources as Johann Ludolf von Bredaw or von Bredau, and his rank is given variously as a field marshal lieutenant or general sergeant .
  4. ↑ http://www.warlich.net/bernd/muhly-velten-valentin/  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.warlich.net  
  5. ↑ In 1843 the Velten-Muhly monument near Riebelsdorf was donated by the city of Ziegenhain: a column stands at the presumed place of the shooter, and an obelisk was erected at the place of the fallen General Breda .

Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 39.6 ″  N , 9 ° 14 ′ 6 ″  E