Campen Castle () is a partially standing

lowland castle The term lowland castle or plains castle () 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 ...

built in the late 13th century in Flechtorf, a town within the municipality of Lehre,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Description

The castle is located on an slightly elevated plateau just south of the historic Flechtorf town center. It lies between the

Schunter Schunter () is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a length of and is a right tributary of the Oker. Etymology The river was first mentioned as ''Schuntra'' in a 781 deed. The name may be of Slavic languages, Slavic origin as ''sukątora'' ...

River and a small canal used to transport water for a mill and was also surrounded by a moat. The size of the plateau was about by from the northwest corner to the southwest corner. A description from 1754 indicate the main part of the castle was shaped like an irregular hexagon. The grounds also included a

cavalier house A cavaliers' house or cavalier house (from "cavalier" meaning horseman or cavalryman) was a building that formed part of the ensemble of a stately home, palace or ''schloss'' and was used to accommodate the royal or princely household. They emer ...

, gatehouse,

pleasure garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, b ...

and prison. On the plateau, only a few remaining structures of the former castle have been preserved. Part of the royal house dating to the 16th century, built by

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Wilhelm the Younger, which has a stone ground floor and an attached

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

structure, is still standing. Around 1800, much of the castle building was demolished.

History

The castle was built to protect the

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

and

Altmark :''See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for the Polish village named Altmark in German.'' The Altmark (; English: Old MarchHansard, ''The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ...'', Vo ...

trading route. The castle is believed to be constructed prior to its first documented mention in 1279. It was mentioned in the Hildesheim Episcopal Chronicle in connection with the conquest of the castle by Duke Henry the Admirable of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen and Duke Albert the Fat of Braunschweig-Gottingen. The two dukes fought against the

Bishop of Hildesheim This list records the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim (). Between 1235 and 1803 the bishops simultaneously officiating as rulers of princely rank (prince-bishop) in the Bishopric of Hildesheim, Prince-Bishopric of Hildeshei ...

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

, and captured 70 of his knights and vassals in the castle. The two dukes and their uncle had an ongoing territorial feud following the death of their father,

Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Albert the Tall (, ; 1236 – 15 August 1279), a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1252 and the first ruler of the newly created Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1269 until his death. Life Albert was ...

. This feud eventually led to the notable

Battle of Dinklar A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

in 1367. For much of its history, the castle changed hands, either by conquest, pledges or being purchased. In 1706, the castle belonged to the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel. It returned to private ownership in 1875 and in 1932, it was used as a school for the Hitler Youth, but was closed after one year due to lack of funds. In 1937, the castle was in possession of the

National Socialist German Workers Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Worker ...

(Nazi Party). Following World War II, it has been under the ownership of the State of Lower Saxony.

Literature

* Friedrich Andrews Perthes: “Geschichte von Braunschweig und Hannover.“ 1883

References

{{Reflist Lehre Tourist attractions in Lower Saxony