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Spangenberg Castle (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Spangenberg Castle (german: Burg Spangenberg) is the partially rebuilt ruin of a rock castle in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies in the Palatine Forest above the Elmstein valley near the village of Erfenstein, but is actually on the forest estates belong to the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße, or more precisely, the village of Lachen-Speyerdorf. Together with the neighbouring castle of Erfenstein, it is linked to the legend of the Leather Bridge. History Spangenberg Castle was probably built in the 11th century. In 1100 it came into the possession of the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer as a castle in fee (''Lehnsburg'') granted by the bishop. The knight, Diether of Zoller, was entrusted with the castle in 1317 as its castellan (''Burgmann''). In 1431, Eberhard of Sickingen became the vassal of the castle and Henry of Remchingen after him, in 1439. The historic background to the legend of the Leather Bridge is that both castles were always owned by dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erfenstein Castle
Erfenstein Castle (german: Burg Erfenstein) is a medieval spur castle in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies within the Palatine Forest above the Elmstein Valley at in the vicinity of the hamlet of Erfenstein in the municipality of Esthal (county of Bad Dürkheim). Together with nearby Spangenberg Castle, it is linked to the legend of the Leather Bridge. History When and by whose instigation Erfenstein was founded is not known for certain; however its builders were the Leiningen counts on whose land Erfenstein lay. The castle was probably established to protect the extensive tracts of forest owned by the House of Leiningen in the surrounding area. In 1272 the first record of the castle mentions a '' ministerialis'', Bock of Erfenstein, who was a descendant of the lesser nobility in the Leiningen Land and who lived at the castle with his family. In 1439 specific rights were granted by deed to Siegfried Bock of Erfenstein, clearly a descendant of Bock, in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince-bishops 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] |
Shield Wall
A shield wall ( or in Old English, in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation, but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder and holding their shields so that they would abut or overlap. Each soldier thus benefited from the protection of the shields of his neighbors and his own. History Ancient history The formation was known to be used by many ancient armies including the Persian Sparabara, Greek phalanx, and the early Roman army, but its origin and spread is unknown. It may have developed independently more than once. Although little is recorded about their military tactics, the Stele of the Vultures depicts Sumerian soldiers in a shield wall formation during the third millennium BC. By the seventh century BC, shield walls in ancient Greece are well-documented. The soldiers in the shield wall formations were called hoplites, so named for their equi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, are "peculiar to German castles". Thanks to 19th-century studies of castles ("castle science"), the term ''palas'' is often used as a generic term used for covered halls in castles; however, the architectural and historical use of the term is restricted by other authors to the Romanesque hall building. Design The stone hall of a ''palas'' has an elongated rectangular floor plan. Frequently, the building has cellars or is provided with a basement. The main floors (usually two, sometimes even more) are well lit by arched windows that are often grouped to form arcades. Rich architectural sculpture is often found here in order to enhance the prestige of the hall. The great hall, located on the first floor, occupies the entire floor area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inner Ward
The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer ward and, sometimes also a ''Zwinger'', moats, a curtain wall and other outworks. Depending on topography it may also be called an upper bailey or upper ward. The inner bailey enclosed the most important living quarters and defensive elements for the lord and his family, e.g. the great hall, the ''palas'', the tower house and the keep or ''bergfried''. The castle well or cistern was usually found in the inner bailey, because water supplies were particularly important in the past in order to be able to withstand a siege for any length of time. The inner bailey is usually the oldest part of a castle, because it contains those buildings that were the first to be built during its construction. It often has flanking towers that enabled gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France , burial_date = 9 September 1715 , burial_place = Basilica of Saint-Denis , religion = Catholicism (Gallican Rite) , signature = Louis XIV Signature.svg Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign in history whose date is verifiable. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the age of absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Of The Palatine Succession
The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy), the Dutch Republic, England, Spain, Savoy, Sweden and Portugal. Although not the first European war to spill over to Europe's overseas colonies, the events of the war spread to such far away places as the Americas, India, and West Africa. It is for this reason that it is sometimes considered the first world war. The conflict encompassed the Glorious Revolution in England, where William of Orange deposed the unpopular James VII and II and subsequently struggled against him for control of Scotland and Ireland, and a campaign in colonial North America between French and English settlers and their respective Native American allies. Louis XIV of France had emerged from the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 as the most powerful monarch in E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ernest II Of Mansfeld
Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld (german: Peter Ernst Graf von Mansfeld; c. 158029 November 1626), or simply Ernst von Mansfeld, was a German military commander who, despite being a Catholic, fought for the Protestants during the early years of the Thirty Years' War. He was one of the leading mercenary generals of the war. Biography Mansfeld was an illegitimate son of Count Peter Ernst von Mansfeld (1517–1604), a member of the comital House of Mansfeld and royal Spanish stadtholder. He was raised in the Catholic faith at his father's palace in Luxembourg. He gained his earliest military experiences during the Long War in Hungary, where his elder half-brother Charles (1543–1595), also a soldier of renown, held a high command in the imperial army. While his brother succumbed to an epidemic within short time, young Ernst stayed at the theatre of war for several years. In the War of the Jülich Succession he served under Archduke Leopold V of Austria, until that prince's ingrati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early ..., lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle, famine, and disease, while some areas of what is now modern Germany experienced population declines of over 50%. Related conflicts include the Eighty Years' War, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), Franco-Spanish War, and the Portuguese Restoration War. Until the 20th century, historians generally viewed it as a continuation of the religious struggle initiated by the 16th-century Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire. The 1555 Peace of Augsburg atte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stud Farm
A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation of the breedings that occur on a stud farm leads to the development of a stud book. Male animals made available for breeding to outside female animals are said to be "standing at stud", or at "stud service", referencing the relatively high probability that they are kept at a stud farm. The word stud is often restricted to larger domesticated (especially farm) animals, such as cattle and horses. A specialized vocabulary exists for the studs of other animals, such as kennel (dog), cattery (cat) and aviary (birds). Horse stud farms Monastic stud farms During the Middle Ages, stud farms were often managed as part of a monastery. At the time, few people apart from monks could read and write, and so they were charged with the responsibility o ... [...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] |
