Windeck Castle (), also Old Windeck Castle (''Burg Alt-Windeck''), is a

ruined 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 ...

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

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 t ...

which stands on a 378-metre-high

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

in the Bühl district of Kappelwindeck, in the county of

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...

in the German state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

History

The castle was built around 1200 by the lords of Windeck. The family, probably of Franconian origin and based in the

Ortenau The Ortenau (), originally called Mortenau, is a historic region in the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the right bank of the river Rhine, stretching from the Upper Rhine Plain to the foothill zone of the Black F ...

, owned wealthy

allodial estate Allod, deriving from Frankish language, Frankish ''alōd'' meaning "full ownership" (from ''al'' "full, whole" and ''ōd'' "property, possession"; Medieval Latin ''allod'' or ''allodium''), also known as allodial land or proprietary property, was ...

s and held numerous fiefs from various liege lords, such as the empire, the

Prince-Bishopric of Straßburg 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 Bis ...

, the

counts of Eberstein The County of Eberstein was a territory within the Holy Roman Empire, situated in the southwest of modern Germany. From 1085 up into the 13th century, the Counts of Eberstein lived in the castle known today as Alt Eberstein which lies on a moun ...

as well as the ''

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

ei'' of Schwarzach Abbey as an ''

Afterlehen An ''Afterlehen'' or ''Afterlehn'' ''(plural: Afterlehne, Afterlehen)'' is a fief that the liege lord has himself been given as a fief and which he has then, in turn, enfeoffed wholly or partially to a lesser vassal or vassals. The term is German. ...

'' of the

burgraves of Nuremberg The Burgraviate of Nuremberg () was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; almost two centuries passed before the burgraviate lost p ...

. The first documentary evidence dates to 1212 when a certain Melchior von Windeck comes to light, and, in 1248, the lords of Windeck are mentioned in a document at Schwarzach Abbey as

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

of the Bishop of Straßburg. The castle itself, however, is first mentioned in 1335. It became a jointly-managed castle or '' Ganerbenburg'' very early on as a result of divisions of inheritance. In the early 13th century the New Windeck Castle (''Burg Neu-Windeck'') was built by a branch of the family near Lauf within sight of Old Windeck. During the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, the lords of Windeck came into conflict many times with neighbouring

territorial lord A territorial lord () was a ruler in the period beginning with the Early Middle Ages who, stemming from his status as being immediate (''unmittelbar''), held a form of authority over a territory known as ''Landeshoheit''. This authority gave him ...

s, the city of Straßburg and the counts of Württemberg in alliance with the Martinsvögel during the so-called Schlegler Wars, during which the castle was besieged, but never captured and so remained largely undamaged. In the late 14th century, however, it was stricken by a devastating fire. Stables and domestic buildings were razed, and the valuable archives, the basis of numerous legal titles, were destroyed. Reinhard von Windeck had the affected buildings rebuilt. In 1466, the last heir of Old Windeck, Anna, only child of Burkhard von Windeck, married and so the castle went to the family of her husband, Baron Berthold IV of New Windeck. His descendants occupied the castle until the 16th century, but from 1561 it was used as a quarry for other buildings in Bühl, such as the Kappelwindeck Church. Its owner thus moved into the more modern ''Schlosshof'' (today a hotel) in Bühl. The last heir, Jakob von Windeck, was on the return journey of his '' Junkerfahrt'', which had taken him through France, Spain and Italy to Palestine, when he was taken seriously ill and died in Venice in 1592. The fief was returned to the Empire, the remaining

allod Allod, deriving from Frankish language, Frankish ''alōd'' meaning "full ownership" (from ''al'' "full, whole" and ''ōd'' "property, possession"; Medieval Latin ''allod'' or ''allodium''), also known as allodial land or proprietary property, was ...

s went in equal portions to his two sisters: Old Windeck to Ursula and New Windeck to Elizabeth.

Description

All that remains of the castle today is a ''

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries an ...

'', a tower and parts of the curtain wall. They may be visited in good weather. The castle probably consisted of an outer and an inner ward that each had its own ''bergfried'' and ''

palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval '' Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson ...

''. The smaller, northern ''bergfried'', with a ground plan measuring 8.5 metres square, guarded the castle gate and the downhill side of the site. The surviving southern ''bergfried'', 27.6 metres high, has a floor area of 9.6 x 9.8 metres. Its lower floor was probably used as a

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably derives more from the Renaissance period. An oubliette (fr ...

or store room. In case of war, its thick walls made it a strong refuge for the castle's residents. On the first and second floors of the attached ''palas'' were probably reception rooms such as the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

. At the foot of the castle ruins are the hotel and restaurant, ''Burg Windeck'', and the ''Pferdestall'' snack bar.

Literature

* Ernst Batzer, Alfons Städele (eds.): ''Burgen und Schlösser um Bühl'', Bühl/Baden o.J. * Ulrich Coenen: ''Die Baukunst der nördlichen Ortenau. Denkmäler in Bühl, Bühlertal, Ottersweier, Lichtenau, Rheinmünster und Sinzheim''. Karlsruhe, 1993. * Suso Gartner: ''Die Windecker und ihre Burgen''. 2nd edn., Buhl, 1998. * Suso Gartner, Stefan Uhl: ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Windecker und ihrer Burgen. Die Hinterlassenschaft des Wolf von Windeck – Zur Baugeschichte von Alt- und Neuwindeck''. Buhl, 2008. * Karl-Bernhard Knappe: ''Die Burg Alt-Windeck''. In: Hugo Schneider (ed.): ''Burgen und Schlösser in Mittelbaden''. Schriftenreihe: ''Die Ortenau: Zeitschrift des Historischen Vereins für Mittelbaden'', Vol. 64. Verlag des Historischen Vereins für Mittelbaden, Offenburg, 1984, , pp. 150–160. * Josef Harbrecht (ed.): ''Alt-Windeck, Die Geschichte der Windecker und ihrer Burg''. Special edition from "Bühler Blauer Hefte" Vols. 5,6,7, Bühl/Baden, 1960. * Adolf Welte: ''Die Burgen Alt- & Neu-Windeck''. Bonndorf, 1894.

External links

Photo gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windeck Castle (Buhl) Ruined castles in Germany