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Nanstein Castle
Nanstein Castle (german: Burg Nanstein) is a ruined medieval castle above the town of Landstuhl in Germany, which has been partially reconstructed. The red sandstone rock castle dates from the 12th century and was once owned by Franz von Sickingen, who was mortally wounded during a siege of the castle in 1523. History Frederick I of Germany had Nanstein Castle built about 1152. The medieval hill (spur) castle, situated above a high sandstone ledge, was originally part of the Hohenstaufen defenses guarding the imperial lands in the south-western Palatinate. Imperial Knight and Protestant reformer Franz von Sickingen modernized the castle in the 16th century and turned it into a citadel that was supposed to withstand the artillery of the age. In 1523 (during the so-called "Knights' Revolt"), the castle was besieged by the Archbishop of Trier, Palatine Elector Louis V, and Landgrave of Hesse. Sickingen fell mortally wounded during the siege. Sickingen's sons received th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landstuhl
Landstuhl () is a town in the Kaiserslautern district of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is the seat of ''Verbandsgemeinde Landstuhl'', a kind of "collective municipality." Landstuhl is situated on the north-west edge of the Palatinate Forest, west of Kaiserslautern. History Early history The earliest traces of human settlement in Landstuhl date from around 500 BC. The “heathen rock” (''Heidenfels'') from the Celtic period was a holy site until Roman times, and a Roman settlement dates from the 1st century. About 1152, Emperor Frederick I had Nanstein Castle built on the mountain south of town. Early Modern period During the 15th Century, the lords of Sickingen assumed responsibility for Landstuhl and the surrounding area. The most famous member of this dynasty was Franz von Sickingen. He converted the castle – Nanstein Castle (german: Burg Nanstein), the most visible landmark in Landstuhl and the surrounding area – into a dominating fortress. In August 1522 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franz Von Sickingen
Franz von Sickingen (2 March 14817 May 1523) was an Imperial Knight who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called "Knights' Revolt," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Protestant Reformation. Sickingen was nicknamed "the last knight" (''der letzte Ritter''), an epithet he shared with his contemporaries Chevalier de Bayard and Emperor Maximilian. Early life Franz von Sickingen was born on 2 March 1481 at Ebernburg Castle in the Palatinate of the Holy Roman Empire to Schweickhardt von Sickingen and his wife Margarethe Puller von der Hohenburg. Franz was married to Hedwig von Flersheim (d. 1515). Having fought for the emperor Maximilian I against Venice in 1508, he inherited large estates on the Rhine, and increased his wealth and reputation by numerous private feuds, in which he usually posed as the friend of the oppressed. In 1513, Sickingen took up the quarrel of Balthasar Schlör, a citizen who had been driven out of Worms, and attacke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knights' Revolt
The Knights' Revolt (27 August 15226 May 1523) was a short-lived revolt by several German Protestant, imperial knights, led by Franz von Sickingen, against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It has been called the Poor Barons' Rebellion as it inspired the bloody German Peasants' War of 1524–1526. Background In the late Middle Ages, the imperial knights were in a period of constant decline. The encroachment of urban-dominated trade and industry on traditional agriculture, combined with rising interest rates and declining land values, harmed the knights financially, while the increasingly wealthy cities of the Holy Roman Empire had become powerful enough to resist attacks. The growing power of the higher nobility, or the princes, helped by the introduction of Roman law which was sweeping away previous Common law, hurt the knights politically. On top of this, their importance in combat was declining with the advance of military technology and tactics. Mercenary Landsknechts were now t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunpowder Artillery In The Middle Ages
Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages primarily consisted of the introduction of the cannon, large tubular firearms designed to fire a heavy projectile over a long distance. Guns, bombs, rockets and cannons were first invented in China during the Han and Song dynasties and then later spread to Europe and the Middle East during the period. Although gunpowder was known in Europe during the High Middle Ages due to the usage of guns and explosives by the Mongols and the Chinese firearms experts employed by them as mercenaries during the Mongol conquests of Europe, it was not until the Late Middle Ages that European versions of cannons were widely developed. Their use was also first documented in the Middle East around this time. English cannons first appeared in 1327, and later saw more general use during the Hundred Years' War, when primitive cannons were employed at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. By the end of the 14th century, the use of cannons was also recorded as being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In a fortification with bastions, the citadel is the strongest part of the system, sometimes well inside the outer walls and bastions, but often forming part of the outer wall for the sake of economy. It is positioned to be the last line of defence, should the enemy breach the other components of the fortification system. The functions of the police and the army, as well as the army barracks were developed in the citadel. History 3300–1300 BC Some of the oldest known structures which have served as citadels were built by the Indus Valley civilisation, where citadels represented a centralised authority. Citadels in Indus Valley were almost 12 meters tall. The purpose of these structures, however, remains debated. Though the structures foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
16th Century
The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th century is regarded by historians as the century which saw the rise of Western civilization and the Islamic gunpowder empires. The Renaissance in Italy and Europe saw the emergence of important artists, authors and scientists, and led to the foundation of important subjects which include accounting and political science. Copernicus proposed the heliocentric universe, which was met with strong resistance, and Tycho Brahe refuted the theory of celestial spheres through observational measurement of the 1572 appearance of a Milky Way supernova. These events directly challenged the long-held notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle, and led to major revolutions in astronomy and science. Galileo Galilei became a champion o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in particular to papal authority, arising from what were perceived to be errors, abuses, and discrepancies by the Catholic Church. The Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now the Roman Catholic Church. It is also considered to be one of the events that signified the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Europe.Davies ''Europe'' pp. 291–293 Prior to Martin Luther, there were many earlier reform movements. Although the Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the '' Ninety-five Theses'' by Martin Luther in 1517, he was not excommunicated by Pope Leo X until January 1521. The Diet of Worms of May 152 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Knight
The Free Imperial knights (german: link=no, Reichsritter la, Eques imperii) were free nobles of the Holy Roman Empire, whose direct overlord was the Emperor. They were the remnants of the medieval free nobility (''edelfrei'') and the ministeriales. What distinguished them from other knights, who were vassals of a higher lord, was the fact that they had been granted Imperial immediacy, and as such were the equals in most respects to the other individuals or entities, such as the secular and ecclesiastical territorial rulers of the Empire (margraves, dukes, princes, counts, archbishops, bishops, abbots, etc.) and the Free Imperial cities, that also enjoyed Imperial immediacy. However, unlike all of those, the Imperial knights did not possess the status of Estates (''Stände'') of the Empire, and therefore were not represented, individually or collectively, in the Imperial Diet. They tended to define their responsibilities to the Empire in terms of feudalized obligations to the E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaiserslautern (district)
Kaiserslautern is a district (''Kreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Kusel, Saarpfalz-Kreis, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Dürkheim and Südwestpfalz. The city of Kaiserslautern is almost fully enclosed by, but not belonging to the district. History The district of Kaiserslautern was established in 1939. Minor changes of the borders occurred in 1969 and 1972. Geography The district includes parts of the Palatinate Forest (''Pfälzer Wald'') in the east and the North Palatine Hills (''Nordpfälzer Bergland'') in the west, as well as the lowlands between them. Partnerships Since 1962 the district has had a partnership with Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As part of the partnership of Rhineland-Palatinate with Rwanda, the district has had a partnership with the municipality of Musasa since 1983. In 2002, a partnership with the Polish district of Olesno was started. Coat of arms The eagle on the top of the coat of arms repr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatinate (region)
The Palatinate (german: Pfalz; Palatine German: ''Palz'') is a region of Germany. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz'') and Lower Palatinate (''Unterpfalz''), which strictly speaking designated only the western part of the Electorate of the Palatinate (''Kurfürstentum Pfalz''), as opposed to the Upper Palatinate (''Oberpfalz''). It occupies roughly the southernmost quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Rheinland-Pfalz''), covering an area of with about 1.4 million inhabitants. Its residents are known as Palatines (''Pfälzer''). Geography The Palatinate borders Saarland in the west, historically also comprising the state's Saarpfalz District. In the northwest, the Hunsrück mountain range forms the border with the Rhineland region. The eastern border with Hesse and the Baden region runs along the Upper Rhine river, while the left bank, with Mainz and Worms as well as the Selz basin around Alzey, belong to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 until the twelfth century, the Empire was the most powerful monarchy in Europe. Andrew Holt characterizes it as "perhaps the most powerful European state of the Middle Ages". The functioning of government depended on the harmonic cooperation (dubbed ''consensual rulership'' by Bernd Schneidmüller) between monarch and vassals but this harmony was disturbed during the Salian Dynasty, Salian period. The empire reached the apex of territorial expansion and power under the House of Hohenstaufen in the mid-thirteenth century, but overextending led to partial collapse. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the List of Frankish kings, Frankish king Charlemagne as Carolingi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 dynasty's most prominent rulers – Frederick I (1155), Henry VI (1191) and Frederick II (1220) – ascended the imperial throne and also reigned over Italy and Burgundy. The non-contemporary name of 'Hohenstaufen' is derived from the family's Hohenstaufen Castle on the Hohenstaufen mountain at the northern fringes of the Swabian Jura, near the town of Göppingen. Under Hohenstaufen rule, the Holy Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent from 1155 to 1268. Name The name Hohenstaufen was first used in the 14th century to distinguish the 'high' (''hohen'') conical hill named Staufen in the Swabian Jura (in the district of Göppingen) from the village of the same name in the valley below. The new name was only applied to the hill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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