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Scharfenberg Castle (Palatinate)
Scharfenberg Castle (german: Burg Scharfenberg, popularly also called ''Münz''), is the ruin of a medieval rock castle in the Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is situated above the small South Palatine town of Annweiler. Geography The hill castle lies in the forest estate of the municipality of Leinsweiler at a height of 489 metres on a rocky hill with a rounded summit, typical of the Wasgau region, as the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the adjoining northern part of the Vosges is called. Scharfenberg and its sister castles, Trifels and Anebos are known as the Trifels Group and are the symbol of Annweiler, which sprawls beneath them in the valley meadows of the River Queich. In the immediate vicinity lie the sites of two other castles, the ''Fensterfels'' and the ''Has''. Description The landmark of the castle is a 20-metre-high ''bergfried'', whose walls are made of rusticated ashlars from the Hohenstaufen era. In addition, pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German influence. Friar describes it as a "free-standing, fighting-tower".Friar (2003), p 36. Its defensive function is to some extent similar to that of a keep (also known as a ''donjon'') in English or French castles. However, the characteristic difference between a bergfried and a keep is that a bergfried was typically not designed for permanent habitation. Overview The living quarters of a castle with a bergfried are separate, often in a lower tower or an adjacent building called a ''palas'' (an English-style keep combines both functions of habitation and defence.) Consequently, a bergfried could be built as a tall slender tower with little internal room, few vaults and few if any windows. The bergfried served as a watchtower and as a ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle Well
A castle well was a water well built to supply drinking water to a castle. It was often the most costly and time-consuming element in the building of a castle, and its construction time could span decades. The well – as well as any available cisterns – provided a protected source of drinking water for the castle garrison in peace and war and also for any civil population seeking refuge during a siege. In medieval times, external wells were often poisoned, usually with a decomposing body, in order to force a garrison to surrender. But wells sunk within the castle itself could not be poisoned from outside during a siege. Construction Wells often had to be sunk a considerable depth in order to tap the nearest geological stratum holding sufficient water, the actual depth depending on the height of the castle and level of the groundwater. This was particularly challenging in the construction of hill castles. In addition, there was also the problem of providing sufficient oxygen fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Münzrecht
From the Middle Ages to the Early modern period (or even later), to have minting rights was to have "the power to mint coins and to control currency within one's own dominion." History In the Middle Ages there were at times a large number of mints, and similar coins could have different denominations depending on who minted them, but there were certain coinage regulations. In the Holy Roman Empire, the right to mint coins, known as the ''Münzrecht'', was granted by the emperor to individual feudal princes and cities. As in the Francia under Charlemagne, the empire initially minted coins itself but, from the 10th century, more and more fiefdoms and institutions were granted the right to mint coins. For example, Emperor Otto I gave minting rights to the Archbishopric of Cologne. In the 16th century, the Empire stopped minting coins itself and only specified minting regulations. Similarly, within European kingdoms, the king granted the right to mint coins. Individual monasterie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Right Of Coinage
From the Middle Ages to the Early modern period (or even later), to have minting rights was to have "the power to mint coins and to control currency within one's own dominion." History In the Middle Ages there were at times a large number of mints, and similar coins could have different denominations depending on who minted them, but there were certain coinage regulations. In the Holy Roman Empire, the right to mint coins, known as the ''Münzrecht'', was granted by the emperor to individual feudal princes and cities. As in the Francia under Charlemagne, the empire initially minted coins itself but, from the 10th century, more and more fiefdoms and institutions were granted the right to mint coins. For example, Emperor Otto I gave minting rights to the Archbishopric of Cologne. In the 16th century, the Empire stopped minting coins itself and only specified minting regulations. Similarly, within European kingdoms, the king granted the right to mint coins. Individual monasterie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruins
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 destruction by humans, or uncontrollable destruction by natural phenomena. The most common root causes that yield ruins in their wake are natural disasters, armed conflict, and population decline, with many structures becoming progressively derelict over time due to long-term weathering and scavenging. There are famous ruins all over the world, with notable sites originating from ancient China, the Indus Valley and other regions of ancient India, ancient Iran, ancient Israel and Judea, ancient Iraq, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, Roman sites throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and Incan and Mayan sites in the Americas. Ruins are of great importance to historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, whether they were once individual f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense opposition from the aristocracy, who slaughtered up to 100,000 of the 300,000 poorly armed peasants and farmers. The survivors were fined and achieved few, if any, of their goals. Like the preceding Bundschuh movement and the Hussite Wars, the war consisted of a series of both economic and religious revolts in which peasants and farmers, often supported by Anabaptist clergy, took the lead. The German Peasants' War was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising before the French Revolution of 1789. The fighting was at its height in the middle of 1525. The war began with separate insurrections, beginning in the southwestern part of what is now Germany and Alsace, and spread in subsequent insurrections to the central and eastern areas of Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conrad III Of Scharfenberg
Conrad of Scharfenberg (german: Konrad von Scharfenberg; c. 1165 – 24 March 1224) was a Kingdom of Germany, German cleric who became bishop of Speyer (1200–24, as Conrad III) and later, simultaneously, bishop of Metz (1212–24). He came from a family of knights who served the Holy Roman Empire from the area around Trifels Castle. His family castle was Scharfenburg (today Burg Münz). Early life Conrad was raised and educated at the cathedral school in Speyer. In 1187 he entered royal service during the reign of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Altogether, he served four emperors and kings in the imperial chancellery, where he made his career in both the worldly and the spiritual. First he was the Provost (religion), provost of Saint Germain in Speyer. In 1198 he became ''Dekan'' of the Chapter (religion), chapter there. He became a follower of the House of Hohenstaufen, Staufer Philip of Swabia during the struggle for the throne between the House Hohenstaufen and the House of W ... [...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] |
Chancery (medieval Office)
A chancery or chancellery ( la, cancellaria) is a medieval writing office, responsible for the production of official documents.Coredon ''Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases'' p. 66 The title of chancellor, for the head of the office, came to be held by important ministers in a number of states, and remains the title of the heads of government in modern Germany and Austria. Chancery hand is a term for various types of handwriting associated with chanceries. Etymology The word ''chancery'' is from French, from Latin, and ultimately refers to the lattice-work partition that divided a section of a church or court, from which also derives chancel, cancel "cross out with lines", and, more distantly, incarcerate "put behind bars" – see '' chancery'' for details. In England In England, this office was one of the two main administrative offices, along with the Exchequer. It began as part of the royal household, but by the 13th-century was separate from the household and was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bishopric Of Speyer
The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. It was secularized in 1803. The prince-bishop resided in Speyer, a Free Imperial City, until the 14th century when he moved his residence to Uddenheim (Philippsburg), then in 1723 to Bruchsal, in large part due to the tense relationship between successive prince-bishops and the civic authorities of the Free City, officially Protestant since the Reformation. The prince-provostry of Wissemburg in Alsace was ruled by the prince-bishop of Speyer in a personal union.Franck Lafarge, ''Les comtes Schönborn, 1642-1756'', L'Harmattan, Paris, 2008, vol. 2, p. 349-350. Geography The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer belonged to the Upper Rhenish Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. One of the smallest principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, it consi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministeriales
The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Ministeriale(n)'' and ''Dienstmann'', came to describe those unfree nobles who made up a large majority of what could be described as the German knighthood during that time. What began as an irregular arrangement of workers with a wide variety of duties and restrictions rose in status and wealth to become the power brokers of an empire. The ''ministeriales'' were not legally free people, but held social rank. Legally, their liege lord determined whom they could or could not marry, and they were not able to transfer their lords' properties to heirs or spouses. They were, however, considered members of the nobility since that was a social designation, not a legal one. ''Ministeriales'' were trained knights, held military responsibilities and surr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaol
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correctional facility, lock-up, hoosegow or remand center, is a facility in which inmates (or prisoners) are confined against their will and usually denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state as punishment for various crimes. Prisons are most commonly used within a criminal justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those pleading or being found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment. In simplest terms, a prison can also be described as a building in which people are legally held as a punishment for a crime they have committed. Prisons can also be used as a tool of political repression by authoritarian regimes. Their perceived opponents may be imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
