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Osterburg (Groothusen)
The Osterburg is a castle from the High Middle Ages in the village of Groothusen in the municipality of Krummhörn, in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony, Germany. Location The castles lies at the eastern end of the East Frisian village next to a protected landscape. Today it houses a large quantity of historical memorabilia. History The village of Groothusen was originally built on a long warft in the early Middle Ages and was an important trading centre and meeting place in the Frisian Emsigerland, as well as the provost office for 12 parishes. At that time, like many other places in Krummhörn, it was on the edge of a bay and was accessible to shipping. There were, in those days, three moated castles in the village: the Osterburg, Middelburg and Westerburg. Only the Osterburg - rebuilt in 1490 - has survived; the other two were destroyed by Hamburg forces during feuds in 1400 and 1432. The Osterburg, is surrounded by a moat in the middle of a park with an old lime tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin, as well as the overall List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th largest city and largest non-capital city in the European Union with a population of over 1.85 million. Hamburg's urban area has a population of around 2.5 million and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, which has a population of over 5.1 million people in total. The city lies on the River Elbe and two of its tributaries, the River Alster and the Bille (Elbe), River Bille. One of Germany's 16 States of Germany, federated states, Hamburg is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The official name reflects History of Hamburg, Hamburg's history ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castles In Lower Saxony
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for royalty or nobility; from a ''pleasance'' which was a walled-in residence for nobility, but not adequately fortified; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Use of the term has varied over time and has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th-20th century homes built to resemble castles. Over the approximately 900 years when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gulfhaus
A Gulf house (german: Gulfhaus), also called a Gulf farmhouse (''Gulfhof'') or East Frisian house (''Ostfriesenhaus''), is a type of byre-dwelling that emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries in North Germany.Vollmer, Manfred et al., ''Landscape and Cultural Heritage in the Wadden Sea Region'', Wadden Sea Ecosystem No. 12 - 2001, CWSS, Wilhelmshaven, 2001. ISSN 0946-896X. It is timber-framed and built using post-and-beam construction. Initially Gulf houses appeared in the marshes, but later spread to the Frisian geest. They were distributed across the North Sea coastal regions from West Flanders through the Netherlands, East Frisia and Oldenburg as far as Schleswig-Holstein (as a variant called the Haubarg). This spread was interrupted by the Elbe-Weser Triangle which developed a type of Low German house instead, better known as the Low Saxon house. Historically, the Gulf house belongs to a larger group of aisled barns, which also include medieval tithe barns, monastery grange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Frisian Chieftains
The East Frisian chieftains (german: Häuptlinge, Low German: ''hovetlinge / hovedlinge'') assumed positions of power in East Frisia during the course of the 14th century, after the force of the old, egalitarian constitution from the time of Frisian Freedom had markedly waned. Early history East Frisia was not under any centralised rule, as was common elsewhere at the time of feudalism during the Middle Ages. By the 12th and 13th centuries the "free Frisians" as they called themselves had organised themselves into quasi-cooperative parishes (''Landesgemeinden''), in which every member had equal rights, at least in principle. This fundamental equality applied to all owners of farmsteads and their attached estates in their respective villages and church parishes. The public offices of the judges or '' Redjeven'' (Latin: ''consules'') were appointed by annual elections. In practice, several ''nobiles'' stood out amongst these ''universitas'': the public offices were frequently o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices. In older fortifications, such as hillforts, they are usually referred to simply as ditches, although the function is similar. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental. They could also act as a sewer. Historical use Ancient Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian castles. One example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in many archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Dwelling Hill
A ''terp'', also known as a ''wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt'' or ''værft'', is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides and sea or river flooding. The various terms used reflect the regional dialects of the North European region. In English sources, ''terp'' appears to be by far the most common term used. These mounds occur in the coastal parts of the Netherlands (in the provinces of Zeeland, Friesland and Groningen), in southern parts of Denmark and in the north-western parts of Germany where, before dykes were made, floodwater interfered with daily life. These can be found especially in the region Ostfriesland and Kreis Nordfriesland in Germany. In Kreis Nordfriesland on the Halligen, people still live on terps unprotected by dykes. Terps also occur in the Rhine and Meuse river plains in the central part of the Netherlands. Furthermore, terps can be found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lowland Castle
The term lowland castle or plains castle (german: Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg, Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The classification is extensively used in Germany where about 34 percent of all castles are of the lowland type.Krahe, pp. 21-23 (2002) Because lowland castles do not have the defensive advantage of a site on higher ground, sites are chosen that are easy to defend, taking advantage, for example, of rivers, islands in lakes or marshes. Where such natural obstacles do not exist, artificially similar obstacles take on added significance. These include water-filled or dry moats, ramparts, palisades and curtain walls. In order to increase the height of the castle above the surrounding terrain, artificial earth mounds may be built (such as mottes), and fortified towers also fulfil this purpose. Castles of the Early Middle Ages (including Slavic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Landscape
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage serv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Frisia
East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the west of Landkreis Friesland. Administratively, East Frisia consists of the districts Aurich, Leer and Wittmund and the city of Emden. It has a population of approximately 469,000 people and an area of . There is a chain of islands off the coast, called the East Frisian Islands (''Ostfriesische Inseln''). From west to east, these islands are: Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog and Spiekeroog. History The geographical region of East Frisia was inhabited in Paleolithic times by reindeer hunters of the Hamburg culture. Later there were Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements of various cultures. The period after prehistory can only be reconstructed from archaeological evidence. Access to the early history of Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
