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Nanstein Castle
Nanstein Castle () is a ruined medieval spur castle above the town of Landstuhl, Germany, which has been partially reconstructed. Built in the 12th century, the red sandstone rock castle was once owned by Franz von Sickingen who was mortally wounded during a siege of the castle in 1523. History Frederick I of Germany had Nanstein Castle built about 1152. The medieval hill (spur) castle, situated above a high sandstone ledge, was originally part of the Hohenstaufen defenses guarding the imperial lands in the south-western Palatinate. Imperial Knight and Protestant reformer Franz von Sickingen modernized the castle in the 16th century and turned it into a citadel that was supposed to withstand the artillery of the age. In 1523 (during the so-called " Knights' War"), the castle was besieged by the Archbishop of Trier, the Palatine Elector Louis V, and Philip, Landgrave of Hesse. Sickingen fell mortally wounded during the siege. Sickingen's sons received the partially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landstuhl
Landstuhl (), officially the Sickingen Town of Landstuhl (), is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Municipal Association of Landstuhl. Situated on the north-west edge of the Palatinate Forest, west of the city of Kaiserslautern, the town is located near Ramstein Air Base. History Early history The earliest traces of human settlement in Landstuhl date from around 500 BC. The "heathen rock" (''Heidenfels'') from the Celtic period was a holy site until Roman times, and a Roman settlement dates from the 1st century. About 1152, Emperor Frederick I had Nanstein Castle built on the mountain south of town. Early Modern period During the 15th century, the lords of Sickingen assumed responsibility for Landstuhl and the surrounding area. The most famous member of this dynasty was Franz von Sickingen. He converted the castle – Nanstein Castle (), the most visible landmark in Landstuhl and the surrounding area – in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
12th Century
The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the Cistercians". The Golden Age of Islam experienced significant development, particularly in Islamic Spain. In Song dynasty China, Jurchen campaigns against the Song dynasty, an invasion by Jurchens caused a political schism of north and south. The Khmer Empire of Cambodia flourished during this century, while the Fatimids of Egypt were overtaken by the Ayyubid dynasty. Following the expansions of the Ghaznavids and Ghurid dynasty, Ghurid Empire, the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent took place at the end of the century. Events 1101–1109 *1101: In July, the Treaty of Alton is signed between Henry I of England and his older brother Robert Curthose, Robert, Duke of Normandy in which Robert agrees to recognize Henry as king of Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and the authority of the Catholic Church. Towards the end of the Renaissance, the Reformation marked the beginning of Protestantism. It is considered one of the events that signified the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Europe. The Reformation is usually dated from Martin Luther's publication of the ''Ninety-five Theses'' in 1517, which gave birth to Lutheranism. Prior to Martin Luther and other Protestant Reformers, there were Proto-Protestantism, earlier reform movements within Western Christianity. The end of the Reformation era is disputed among modern scholars. In general, the Reformers argued that justification (theology), justification was sola fide, based on faith in Jesus alone and n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Knight
The Free Imperial Knights (, ) were free nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, whose direct overlord was the Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor. They were the remnants of the medieval free nobility (''edelfrei'') and the ministerialis, ministeriales. What distinguished them from other knights, who were vassals of a higher lord, was that they had been granted Imperial immediacy, and as such were the equals in most respects to the other individuals or entities, such as the secular and ecclesiastical territorial rulers of the Empire (margraves, dukes, princes, counts, archbishops, bishops, abbots, etc.) and the Free imperial city, free imperial cities, that also enjoyed Imperial immediacy. However, unlike all of those, the Imperial knights did not possess the status of Imperial State, Estates (''Stände'') of the Empire, and therefore were not represented, individually or collectively, in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet. They tended to define their responsibilities to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaiserslautern (district)
Kaiserslautern is a district (''Kreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Kusel, Saarpfalz-Kreis, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Dürkheim and Südwestpfalz. The city of Kaiserslautern is almost fully enclosed by, but not belonging to the district. History The district of Kaiserslautern was established in 1939. Minor changes of the borders occurred in 1969 and 1972. Geography The district includes parts of the Palatinate Forest (''Pfälzer Wald'') in the east and the North Palatine Hills (''Nordpfälzer Bergland'') in the west, as well as the lowlands between them. Partnerships Since 1962 the district has had a partnership with Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As part of the partnership of Rhineland-Palatinate with Rwanda, the district has had a partnership with the municipality of Musasa since 1983. In 2002, a partnership with the Polish district of Olesno was started. Coat of arms The eagle on the top of the coat of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatinate (region)
The Palatinate (; ; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Palz''), or the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz''), is a historical region of Germany. The Palatinate occupies most of the Southern Germany, southern quarter of the German States of Germany, federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Rheinland-Pfalz''), covering an area of with about 1.4 million inhabitants. Its residents are known as Palatines (''Pfälzer''). Geography The Palatinate borders Saarland in the west, historically also comprising the state's Saarpfalz-Kreis, Saarpfalz District. In the northwest, the Hunsrück mountain range forms the border with the Rhineland region. The eastern border with Hesse and the Baden-Württemberg, Baden region runs along the Upper Rhine river, while the left bank, with Mainz and Worms, Germany, Worms as well as the Selz basin around Alzey, belong to the Rhenish Hesse region. In the south, the German-France, French border separates the Palatinate from Alsace. One-thir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. For most of its history the Empire comprised the entirety of the modern countries of Germany, Czechia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Luxembourg, most of north-central Italy, and large parts of modern-day east France and west Poland. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne Roman emperor, reviving the title more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. The title lapsed in 924, but was revived in 962 when Otto I, OttoI was crowned emperor by Pope John XII, as Charlemagne's and the Carolingian Empire's successor. From 962 until the 12th century, the empire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty's most prominent rulers – Frederick I (1155), Henry VI (1191) and Frederick II (1220) – ascended the imperial throne and also reigned over Italy and Burgundy. The non-contemporary name of 'Hohenstaufen' is derived from the family's Hohenstaufen Castle on Hohenstaufen mountain at the northern fringes of the Swabian Jura, near the town of Göppingen. Under Hohenstaufen rule, the Holy Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent from 1155 to 1268. Name The name Hohenstaufen was first used in the 14th century to distinguish the 'high' (''hohen'') conical hill named Staufen in the Swabian Jura (in the district of Göppingen) from the village of the same name in the valley below. The new name was applied to the hill c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spur Castle
A spur castle is a type of medieval fortification that is sited on a spur (mountain), spur of a hill or mountain for defensive purposes. Ideally, it would be protected on three sides by steep hillsides; the only vulnerable side being that where the spur joins the hill from which it projects. By contrast, a ridge castle is only protected by steep terrain on two sides. Description A spur castle was one of several types of hill castle. Depending on the local topography, a spur castle may have relied mainly on its inaccessible position or may have integrated further features such as shield walls and towers into the defences. In addition castle builders may have improved the natural defences of the terrain by hewing into them to make the hillsides harder to climb and reduce the risk of landslide. A classic feature is the neck ditch, cutting off the spur from the rest of the hill. A long spur castle is sometimes, but not always, subdivided into a lower ward (fortification), ward and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 are thus distinguished from lowland castles (''Niederungsburgen''). Hill castles may be further subdivided depending on their situation into the following: * Hilltop castle (''Gipfelburg''), that stands on the summit of a hill with steep drops on all sides. A special type is the rock castle or ''Felsenburg''. * Ridge castle (''Kammburg''), that is built on the crest of a ridge. * Hillside castle (''Hangburg''), that is built on the side of a hill and thus is dominated by rising ground on one side. * Spur castle (''Spornburg''), that is built on a hill spur surrounded by steep terrain on three sides and thus only needs to be defended on the one remaining side. When in the 10th and 11th centuries castles lost their pure fortress character a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Von Sickingen (16 Jh)
Franz von Sickingen (; 2 March 14817 May 1523) was a knight of the Holy Roman Empire who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called "Knights' War," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Protestant Reformation. Sickingen is posthumously known as "the last knight" (''der letzte Ritter''), an epithet he shared with his contemporaries Chevalier de Bayard and Emperor Maximilian. Early life Franz von Sickingen was born on 2 March 1481 at Ebernburg Castle in the Palatinate of the Holy Roman Empire to Schweickhardt von Sickingen and his wife Margarethe Puller von der Hohenburg. Franz was married to Hedwig von Flersheim (d. 1515). Having fought for the emperor Maximilian I against Venice in 1508, he inherited large estates on the Rhine, and increased his wealth and reputation by numerous private feuds, in which he usually posed as the friend of the oppressed. In 1513, Sickingen took up the quarrel of Balthasar Schlör, a citizen who had been driven o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knights' War
The Knights' War, also known as the Imperial Knights' Revolt (27 August 15226 May 1523), was a failed attempt by the Brotherly Convention (of knights) led by the Evangelical knight Franz von Sickingen to forcibly remove Richard, Prince-Bishop of Trier and secularize his lands. The private feud resulted in the death of Sickingen and likely inspired the German Peasants' War of 1524–1526. Background Imperial knights In the late Middle Ages, the imperial knights were in a period of constant decline. The encroachment of urban-dominated trade and industry on traditional agriculture, combined with rising interest rates and declining land values, harmed the knights financially, while the increasingly wealthy cities of the Holy Roman Empire had become powerful enough to resist attacks. The growing power of the higher nobility, or the princes, helped by the introduction of Roman law which was sweeping away previous common law, hurt the knights politically. On top of this, their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
