Castles of Central Germany

By frank keith

Do castles bring out the child in you? Do the Middle Ages awaken your burning interest? Is history your thing? Then join me on a fascinating journey back to times long past, when castles, suits of armor, fables and damsels in distress were a part of everyday life.
This book covers a select assortment of castles in central Germany, from the world famous Frankenstein castle to a completely rebuilt Roman fort. Their history is described as well as their present condition. Moreover, the history of those who built them is described within and those who owned them too. As an extra bonus, you will find within these pages sagas, fables and other tidbits of information. Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: frank keith
• Release date: May 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370944149

Book preview

Please join me on a trip around a comparatively small region of central Germany. Here you will see quaint old towns nestled in great landscapes, much history, industry, highways and byways, wide open fields and many lonely corners in deep lush forests. And while we’re at it, we’ll stop by to see a number of structures that lets the heart beat faster of any history buff, medieval enthusiast or admirer of chivalric romance: Castles.

No doubt, it would be great to write a book or a series of books that include every castle and manor that had been erected since medieval times but this is essentially an impossible task. Why? To put it in a nutshell there simply are too many. Depending on the source, it is estimated that in Germany alone there are around 15,000 castles and manors/palaces or 25,000 or up to 30,000. Fact is that no one really knows for certain what the total number is. It would be a monster task finding all of them and putting them on a list, not to mention writing brief histories about them. A person’s lifetime just is not long enough to accomplish such a monumental task.

Thus, this author chose twenty-seven representative castles which have been visited by him at least once. This work entails the brief descriptions of characteristic details of those castles which include their fates, the present condition of the remains, and where they are located. In addition, the histories of their builders and subsequent owners, whenever applicable, are also described herein as are brief descriptions about the towns that are associated most closely with them, again, whenever possible.

As an additional bonus I’ve added a small story of each castle —sagas or tales, if you will—whenever possible. To help differentiate between the main parts of each section and the sagas, the titles of the sagas are marked with this symbol,  Title , ahead and behind their heading. I admit that some of these stories are a bit strange, so please have some measure of tolerance for them and the diverging mentality of a different time period of history.

Other pertinent information is provided for the reader in the appendix section, for instance information about the regions in which these fascinating structures stand in and the precise coordinates of each castle, this time in alphabetical order for ease of use.

Certainly, there are many more castles that have been visited by the author, but the ones in this work have interesting histories, are for the most part easy to find, stand in beautiful landscapes and offer real walls and towers to marvel at. These points are not always existent with every castle. For instance, there are some castles whose histories are virtually unknown. Others are very difficult to locate, yes, even in a place like Germany, and there are those which have nothing left over at all to look at.

Indeed, there are thousands of castles and other types of fortifications and manors and etc. that no longer exist above ground level. One of those is sitting right on the edge of the village I live in. For decades, it was thought to have been am old Celtic fort, but in 2008, during archeological excavations, it was discovered that it was really a medieval motte and bailey castle from the 12th century. The only thing that had endured the ravages of time above ground level was the round moat. So, this castle has not much to look at and most of its history is cloaked in mystery. There are many others which at best might have a few stone wall fragments left standing and others that are completely leveled, including their moats.

A single exception was made when putting together the collection of castles for this work and this is Obernburg. There is no castle in this town, per se, but I feel that this place is appealing simply due to some interesting details different from all the other places. Being fascinated by castles usually goes hand-in-hand with an interest in history, so seeing the old part of Obernburg is at the same time looking at a place that was practically started by the Romans. Obernburg and this section of the Main River used to be an international boundary—the Roman Empire on the Obernburg side of the waterway and Germania Magnus on the other side. It is fascinating to know that there used to be a roman fort right there where today a part of the old town stands, although its remains are buried beneath the old houses and streets.

For the sake of a better perspective, there are two sections in this work.

The first section entails an excursion right up along the Main River. It starts at Aschaffenburg and ends at Würzburg about 180 kilometers away, or about 112 miles. The trip through this beautiful river valley presents a string of castles that offers a similar setting to the Rhine River. Count on spending two days when exploring all fifteen castles and more when the old towns are viewed too. This part of Germany is also known for its wines and beer, thus it is very easy to spend a much longer amount of time along this route when trying out the many types of fine beverages and enjoying good food. Speaking of which, it is an uncommon and fascinating experience when sitting in guest houses that may be hundreds of years old or even those found in some castles.

The other book section includes the rest of the twenty-seven castles in this work. They are spread over a wider area that ranges from the hills of the Taunus, to those in the Odenwald, Vogelsberg, Spessart and the Rhön. These regions are not located so far apart from each other, in particular for Americans, Canadians and Australians, who live in huge countries. Although they are unique each in their own ways, they do share commonality; long histories, quaint old towns, beautiful landscapes, some thick lush forests and of course they have castles, some of which are real gems. Take the Saalburg, for instance. This is a Roman fort that was rebuilt in the end of the 19th century and is an absolute must-see for any history buff. And there is Frankenstein Castle; the one which is said to have inspired Mary Shelly for her world famous work.

There are more, so before I give it all away here, come in and see for yourself the excitement of castles with all their commonality and differences.

German Terminologies

Below are German expressions which have no direct English translations. The definitions of these terms are given here for better comprehension, since they are used throughout this work.

Bannwald: This term defines a forest (Wald) in which hunting was banned (Bann). Only the Emperor, King and/or other higher aristocrats were permitted to hunt in a Bannwald. No clear cutting was permitted in such a forest either.

Burgfrieden: This term 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 the owners were forbidden under threat of the imperial ban. This was usually applied to castles in which there was more than one owner of it and/or the associated territory.

Burgstall: In German castle studies, a Burgstall is a castle that has effectively been razed and virtually nothing is left over above ground level. Whereas a castle ruin still has recognizable remnants of the castle above ground level. Variations in the literature include Burgstelle, Altburgstelle, die Burgställe (plural), Burgstähl (archaic) or abgegangene Burg.

Halsgraben: A Halsgraben is nothing more than a moat that does not go around a castle and is usually quite short. Most castles sitting on hills are surrounded by steep slopes making a regular moat superfluous. However, there usually is a piece of ground which is level or fairly level to one side of the castle. This is where the so-called Halsgraben would be dug for added protection. Sometimes, as on a ridge, two such moats would be dug, one on each side of the ridge top, thus the castel is surrounded by steep slopes all around.

Palas: This is a term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period, 11th to 13th centuries, and, according to certain scholars, are peculiar to German castles.

Up until the 19th century, Palas was often used as a description of all buildings in castles which housed the great hall. But, in more recent times the architectural use of the term is restricted to Romanesque hall construction. These stone buildings usually have a rectangular floor plan. The buildings often have basements beneath them. The main floors (usually two, sometimes more) are generously illuminated by round-arch windows, often grouped into arcades. Rich sculptures and designs were often preferred by the builders to increase the representative effect of the Palas.

Zwinger: The main (inner) curtain wall of a castle is surrounded by another and lower curtain wall, called Zwingermauer (Zwinger wall) thus creating a small space between the two walls. This space is the Zwinger. If attackers got past the outside wall (Zwingermauer) they were essentially trapped between two barriers and thus an easy target for the defenders up on the higher main wall. Further penetration into the castle was thereby made considerably more difficult.

In Central Europe, most of the Zwinger facilities were retrofitted as an extension on older castles.

Main River Tour

1 Aschaffenburg

Aschaffenburg in 1631

Castle Johannisburg is the large building on the half-left

Aschaffenburg is the seat of the county with the same name and has a population of around 70,000 people. It’s called Das Tor zum Spessart, which means The Gateway to the Spessart.

Aschaffenburg was founded in the 5th century by the German tribe called Alemannen, or Alemanni in English. This is the source of the French word for Germans—Alemand.

The Stiftskirche St. Peter und Alexander (a collegiate church) is Aschaffenburg’s oldest church and the city’s oldest structure. It’s not fully known when order for its construction was given but generally it is said to have been between the years 947 and 957. Construction began in 975. Much of the church stems from the 11th and 12th centuries. It contains a number of interesting stone carvings of knights and other notable persons and there is a number of remarkable tombstone slabs mounted on the outside walls carved with the noble person’s edifice.

The oldest surviving private house of Aschaffenburg stems from the late 1200s. Although its architecture has been largely preserved, a complete renovation a few years ago makes it hard to tell that it’s over 700 years old. It is still a privately owned house and shelters the 28th generation since its erection! Although much had been ruined in the past, Aschaffenburg was lucky to have a number of other old structures left standing after some very destructive wars in its history such as the Margrave War and in particular WWII.

During much of its history, Aschaffenburg and its castle was the secondary seat of government for the powerful Archbishops of Mainz. Mainz, along with Cologne and Trier, were the largest and most dominant church provinces of the Holy Roman Empire. These provinces were led by archbishops who had the term Fürst (prince) in their titles, thus Fürstbischof or Prince-Bishop. They were also three out of seven so-called Kurfürsten (pl.). A Kurfürst had voting rights to select the German king and ultimately the Emperor. Thus, Mainz, Cologne and Trier were Kurfürstentum and Fürsterzbistum or Prince-Electorate and Prince-Archbishopric.

In the 13th to 15th centuries, Aschaffenburg was the seat of various princely assemblies and bishopric synods with notable visitors such as Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian or King Wenceslas of Luxembourg.

The Castle

The present castle, Schloss Johannisburg, is really a palace but it’ll be called a castle. Both terms are synonymous in German—Schloss— and are used in genuine castles as well as in palaces, even though Burg is a more correct term for castles in German. Besides that, the Aschaffenburg castle still retained some measure of defensive nature, including a moat and the much older keep.

A regular medieval castle stood on the very same spot upon which Schloss Johannisburg now sits. It too was called Johannisburg and its origins date all the way back to the 10th century and legends say that a yet older one stood here where even Emperor Karl der Große (Charlemagne) stopped by occasionally. Some sources say it was more of a fortified hunting lodge. Towards the end of the 13th century a chapel was added to the castle which was devoted to St. John the Baptist.

In 1552 the castle was plundered and destroyed during the Markgräfler War—the Margrave War. Many art treasures that were kept in the castle were lost or destroyed. Fortunately though, many works by Lucas Cranach the Elder survived that war and all the subsequent ones too, including the disastrous WWII. Today they are a part of the state art gallery in Schloss Johannisburg.

In 1604 the plans to construct the current castle was commissioned by Elector Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg. The rubble and standing remains of the old castle were removed to make way for the palace. The stones of the old castle were used for the new structure. Only the Bergfried—the keep—was allowed to remain standing and is today the fifth tower of the castle. The new towers stand on each of the four corners. A replica of the Elector's coat of arms can be seen in the middle axis of the high wall by the riverside. The original one was destroyed in World War II.

The castle is strictly symmetrical and has external dimensions of 87.5 meters x 86 meters or 287 feet X 282 feet. The façade is made of red sandstone. The corner towers are 52 meters high, which corresponds to the width of the individual wings sans towers. Remarkable are the three-storey dwarf gables in the central axes of the intermediate buildings with an ornate ornamentation in the style of Italian Renaissance architecture. The castle is partially surrounded by a dry moat, accessed via a bridge in the southeast wing. There is also a very high wall on the river side of the building, the one with the elector’s coat of arms, and another one on the north side.

Upon the structure’s completion in 1614, Johannes Schweikhard von Kronberg performed governmental business from here. To commemorate the castle’s inauguration, he had coins stamped showing the castle and his coat of arms. In 1618 to 1619 the last jobs on Johannisburg were completed.

Today, the castle houses a museum, which features paintings, sculptures, furniture, clothing, weapons, a very interesting cork model collection and much more. The Elector's apartment was located on the second floor of the wing overlooking the nearby Main River. The so-called Silver Chamber was located in the southeast wing. In this chamber, the visitor can now see original furniture of Archbishop Friedrich Karl Joseph of Erthal from around 1800. Serving as a residence for the Holy Roman Emperor is the so-called Kaiserappartement (emperor apartment). It’s also on the river side and on the second floor and it includes the very representative Kaisersaal (emperor's hall).

Schloss Johannisburg was severely damaged in WWII, during The Battle of Aschaffenburg. The ten day battle, fought from March 28 to April 3, 1945, was particularly hard and bitter on the people and the city’s structures. Bombers, fighter-bombers, fighters, tanks, artillery and mortars severely damaged the town and other nearby settlements. When Johannisburg burnt, it was said that the blaze could be seen over thirty kilometers away (about 20 mi.). It was the military headquarters for the German garrison until it had to be abandoned due to the great fire. Rebuilding of the castle began during the 1960s. The comprehensive repair and reconstruction work in the castle was completed in 1989 and it was superbly done.

Pompejanum

The Pompejanum is another one of