The Ericsburg in the village of the same name in the borough of

Dassel Dassel is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district Northeim. It is located near the hills of the Solling mountains. Geography The city covers an area of . Buildings and streets make up about 10% of this area while 26% ...

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 ...

, Germany, is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

that was built in the 16th century within the

Principality of Calenberg The Principality of Calenberg was a dynastic division of the House of Welf, Welf Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg established in 1432. Calenberg was ruled by the House of Hanover (from the Principality of Lüneburg) from 1635 onwards; the princes re ...

. It is currently (2007) in a poor state of repair.

Location

The castles was built in a marshy depression. It is of the type known as a

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 ...

Site

Erichsburg

The Erichsburg was formerly guarded by a wide moat and high ramparts. Next to it was a cultivated outwork (''Vorwerk'').

Earlier castle

Its predecessor was Hunnesrück Castle, which the counts of Dassel had built in the 13th century. In 1521 during the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud it was bombarded with heavy cannon from the heights of Hatop and captured by Eric I together with Henry the Younger of Wolfenbüttel. The destroyed castle lies in the Amtsberge hills north of Dassel and about 3 km west of the Erichsburg on a steep-sided eminence. Today only the remains of walls and ramparts are left.

History

Duke Eric I of Brunswick-Lüneburg had the Erichsburg built between 1527 and 1530. It was named after his son and heir, born in 1528, later Duke Eric II. It was used by his father, Eric I, for a time as his administrative seat (''Amtssitz''). During the construction, he lived at Hunnesrück Castle about 3 km west of the new castle. Duke Julius of Wolfenbüttel had the castle extended between 1604 and 1612. His master builder was Paul Francke. By 1688 buildings from the original construction phase were demolished due to their dilapidated state. The outworks was developed for the economic support of the castle into a small estate settlement, the village of Erichsburg which belongs to Dassel. From 1891 to 1980 the Erichsburg was owned by the Hanoverian State Church and housed a

theological seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and Christian theology, theology, generally to prepare them for ordinatio ...

. Renovations have been carried out. The upper part of the

staircase tower A staircase tower or stair tower (, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase. History Only a few examples of staircase ...

(''Treppenturm'') is in a poor condition and numerous repairs are visible. Since 2019, Erichsburg castle has been owned by ADN Investment Group, an investment and development company group based in Germany. File:Erichsburg Turm.jpg, Castle site today with the staircase tower File:Erichsburg Detail.jpg, Detail on the façade File:Erichsburg Schild.jpg, Shield in the village of Erichsburg

External links