Wenigenburg (Gudensberg)

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Wenigenburg
Wenigenburg

Wenigenburg

Alternative name (s): Hiegenberg, Unterstburg, Wodansberg
Creation time : before 1272
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Burgstall, today's buildings date from more recent times
Standing position : Counts
Construction: Keep , wall thickness: approx.1.2 m, diameter: about 7 m,
Place: Gudensberg
Geographical location 51 ° 11 ′ 0 ″  N , 9 ° 22 ′ 0 ″  E Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 0 ″  N , 9 ° 22 ′ 0 ″  E
Height: 226  m above sea level NHN
Wenigenburg (Hesse)
Wenigenburg

The Little Castle (also lower castle or Hiegenberg ) is an Outbound Romanesque hilltop castle on 226  m above sea level. NN in the north Hessian city ​​of Gudensberg . It was an outer bailey of the Obernburg .

history

Copper engraving after Matthäus Merian d. Ä. von Gudensberg and its surroundings, around 1850; Obernburg left, Wenigenburg right

The year of construction and the builder are unknown, but the castle was probably built from a farm yard of the Obernburg on the basalt cone in front of the Obernburg and was probably fortified as early as the times of the Hessian Counts of the Werner family . Landgrave Heinrich I of Hesse paid "25 Schillings lighter Heller " to the guards of the "Unterburg" in 1272.

In 1312 the castle was stormed by Count Heinrich IV von Waldeck in connection with the reclamation for the Landgraviate of Hesse . During the siege of Gudensberg in 1387, it was completely destroyed on September 2, 1387 by the Archbishop of Mainz Adolf I of Nassau after unsuccessful defense by Thile von Wehren and was not rebuilt. Parts were later installed in the Gudensberg city fortifications.

Parts of today's buildings were probably built in the 16th and 17th centuries. Tower guards lived in the Wenigenburg; they alerted the city's residents when there was a fire hazard. From 1717 the town musician, who was also responsible for the fire alarm, lived on the mountain.

From 1738 to 1860 the Lukas family and from 1862 the Hiege family owned the castle. The latter founded a music school on the Wenigenburg. After the Sunday service, the music students blew choral music from the mountain. The mountain was therefore called the "Hiegenberg" by the Gudensbergers. In 1900 the music school was given up. From the end of the 19th century until 1975 there was a restaurant in the castle. In 1911 the 23rd Hessian City Conference took place in the newly built Great Hall.

After a thorough restoration , the Wenigenburg is now privately owned.

Pictorial representation

The demonstrably oldest pictorial representation of the Wenigenburg is shown in Wigand Gerstenberg's state chronicle of Thuringia and Hesse . In 1627 the engraving of the city of Gudensberg by the engraver Matthäus Merian the Elder was made. Ä. prepared. In the Topographia Germaniae , Matthäus Merian published this view of Wenigenburg from 1642 to 1688.

Todays use

The current buildings are privately owned. Viewing is not possible.

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 103f.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 158f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Wenigenburg, Schwalm-Eder district. Historical local dictionary for Hesse (as of March 13, 2013). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on March 9, 2016 .