ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of Breitenstein Castle () stand on a crag, high, on the northern side of the
Speyerbach
The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...
valley in the
Palatine Forest
The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...
in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. The castles is east of the village of
Elmstein
Elmstein is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Ge ...
in the county of
Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860.
Geogra ...
in the state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
.
History
The
rock castle
A rock castle () is a type of medieval castle that directly incorporates natural rock outcrops into its defences to such an extent that the rock formations define the structure of the castle. Topographically, rock castles are classified as hill ...
was probably built in 1246 by Pope
Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV (; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universities of Parma and Bolo ...
during the unrest over the excommunication of Frederick II. Not until 1257 was it mentioned in the records in connexion with a
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
of Kropsberg,
castellan
A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...
of the Breitenstein and ''
Dienstmann
A ''Dienstmann'' (plural: ''Dienstleute'', or, in Austria, ''Dienstmänner'', ) was a medieval retainer or vassal and, later, a hired man, in German-speaking countries, particularly in Austria until the first half of the 20th century.
Usage
...
'' of the counts of Leiningen. The knight was named in 1265 as Burkhard of Breitenstein. In 1339 James of Flörsheim was appointed as ''
Burgmann
From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...
''.
After the death of King
Rudolph of Habsburg Rudolf of Habsburg may refer to:
* Rudolf I of Germany (1218–1291), King of the Romans
* Rudolph II, Count of Habsburg (d. 1232)
* Rudolf II, Duke of Austria (1270–1290)
* Rudolf I of Bohemia (1281–1307), Duke of Austria and Styria and King o ...
fighting broke out in 1291 between the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
siege castle
Counter-castles were built in the Middle Ages to counter the power of a hostile neighbour or as a siege castle, that is, a fortified base from which attacks could be launched on a nearby enemy castle.
Purpose
In castle science, and according t ...
just a few metres south of Breitenstein Castle. The two sites were separated from one another by a broad
neck ditch
A neck ditch (), sometimes called a throat ditch, at www.roadstoruins.com. Accessed on 3 Jan 2012. is a dry
Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
Walram of Sponheim was found guilty at the royal court in Munich of building a castle on the territory of the
prince-bishopric
A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to ''Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the Bi ...
of Speyer without permission and was to hand it over to the Speyer vassal (''
Lehnsmann
A ''Lehnsmann'' (plural: ''Lehnsleute'' or ''Lehnsmänner'') or ''Lehnsnehmer'' (also spelt ''Lehens-'') was a nobleman in the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries, who, as a liegeman was obliged to render service, goods in kind and loyalty to ...
''), Friedrich Horneck. However,
Count Palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an or ...
Rudolph II
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–16 ...
appealed against this decision and announced that the Sponheim lord was his vassal, so that he was allowed to retain the castle.
In 1357, a ''
Burgfrieden
The or ' was a German medieval term that referred to imposition of a state of truce within the jurisdiction of a castle, and sometimes its estate, under which feuds, i.e. conflicts between private individuals, were forbidden under threat of the ...
'' treaty was agreed that specified that the larger siege castle would henceforth become the
inner ward
A bailey or ward in a fortification is a leveled courtyard, typically enclosed by a curtain wall. In particular, a medieval type of European castle is known as a motte-and-bailey. Castles and fortifications may have more than one bailey, and t ...
, and the older, smaller building complex would become the
outer ward
An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bu ...
.
After the castle was mentioned for the last time in 1382, it probably came into the possession of the counts of Leiningen and was likely destroyed in 1470–71 during a
feud
A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...
between its tenant family and the
prince-elector
The prince-electors ( pl. , , ) were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops.
From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince- ...
,
Frederick I Frederick I or Friedrich I may refer to:
* Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht.
* Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978)
* Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105)
* Frederick I ...
– the so-called Electoral Palatine War.
After the ruins had been taken over in 1963 by the Rhineland-Palatinate State Castle Administration, conservation and safety measures were carried out on the walls in 1988 and 1989.
Site
The Late
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 dynast ...
inner ward is built on a narrow rock base that, today, is only accessible to experienced climbers. The
shield wall
A shield wall ( or in Old English, in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation,
but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder ...
, made of
rusticated ashlar
image:Palazzo medici riccardi, bugnato 01.JPG, Two different styles of rustication in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and rough-faced below
Rustication is a range of masonry techniques used in classical architecture g ...
s on all sides, has survived almost to its full height. Seen from the uphill side its right-hand edge is sloping. The
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
s of the
chemin de ronde
A ''chemin de ronde'' ( French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement.
In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficu ...
on the inside of the wall display Gothic elements. The attack side is guarded by a neck ditch hewn deep into the rock. Behind the shield wall rises a modest domestic building of which the
enceinte
Enceinte (from Latin ''incinctus'' "girdled, surrounded") is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the positio ...
has only partly survived. Access to the castle was not over the
moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
, but up a staircase hewn out of the rock on the south side. Around the crag is an almost rectangular
lower ward
An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...
, of which only a few wall remains can still be seen. On the other side of the neck ditch, away and higher, are the remains of a separate outer ward with its own moat.
Literature
*
Magnus Backes
Magnus Backes (17 September 1930 – 21 May 2019) was a German art historian and historic preservationist. From 1983 to 1991, he succeeded Werner Bornheim gen. Schilling and Hartmut Hofrichter as the third of the General Directorate for Cultura ...
, Heinz Straeter: ''Staatliche Burgen, Schlösser und Altertümer in Rheinland-Pfalz''. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg, 2003, .
* Manfred Czerwinski: ''Burgen – stolze Zeugen einer großen Zeit − Pfalz und Umgebung''. Verlag Superior, Kaiserslautern, 2002, .
* Walter Eitelmann: ''Rittersteine im Pfälzerwald''. 4th revised and considerably expanded edn. Pfälzerwald-Verein, Neustadt/Weinstraße, 1998, .
* Arndt Hartung, Walter Hartung: ''Pfälzer Burgenrevier''. 6th rev. edn. Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Ludwigshafen, 1985, .
* Walter Herrmann: ''Auf rotem Fels. Ein Führer zu den schönsten Burgen der Pfalz und des elsässischen Wasgau''. Braun, Karlsruhe, 2004, .
* Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: ''Burgen des Deutschen Mittelalters''. Bechtermünz-Verlag, Augsburg, 1996, .
* Elena Rey: ''Burgenführer Pfalz''. Superior, Kaiserslautern, 2003, .
* Alexander Thon (ed.): ''Wie Schwalbennester an den Felsen geklebt. Burgen in der Nordpfalz''. 1st edn. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg, 2005, pp. 40–43, .