The Gelbe Burg ("Yellow Castle"), also called the ''Gelbe Bürg'', is the
site
Site most often refers to:
* Archaeological site
* Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area
* Construction site
* Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere
* Website, a set of related web pages, typical ...
of a
hill castle
A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles a ...
on the
Gelber Berg
Gelber Berg is a mountain of Bavaria, Germany. The plateau was fortified during the 10th to 8th century BC, in the 6th century BC and during the Migration Period
The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale mi ...
("Yellow Mountain", ) northeast of the market village of Heidenheim in the
Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however ...
n county of
Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen
is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west of Bavaria, Germany with a population of 95,000. Neighbouring districts are (from the north clockwise) Ansbach, Roth, Eichstätt and Donau-Ries. It is located in the south of Middle Franconia, 50 kilometr ...
in the German state of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.
During the Migration Period there was a hilltop settlement on the Gelber Berg.
Hardly anything is known of the founding of the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
castle and the course of its history.
Around 1180 the castle was owned by the bishops of Eichstätt: in a document the Eichstätt '' ministerialis'', Chono de Woluesprunnen, was appointed to a district office (''Amt'') there.
On the eastern side of the mountain there are still clear traces of a long abandoned early medieval fortification of the
circular rampart
A circular rampart (German: ''Ringwall'') is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering.
The ...
type. A
neck ditch
A neck ditch (german: Halsgraben), sometimes called a throat ditch, at www.roadstoruins.com. Accessed on 3 Jan 2012. is a dry and collapsed wall remains are still visible on the castle site. In 1448 this ruin is mentioned in the stock book (''Lagerbuch'') at Heidenheim Abbey.
Literature
* Konrad Spindler (revisor): ''Führer zu archäologischen Denkmälern in Deutschland, Band 14: Landkreis Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen - Archäologie und Geschichte''. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1987, , pp. 168–175.