Gräfenberg Castle (Aschaffenburg)
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Gräfenberg Castle (german: Burgstall Gräfenberg), also called Landesehre Castle (''Burg Landesehre''), is a levelled
hilltop castle A hilltop castle is a type of hill castle that was built on the summit of a hill or mountain. In the latter case it may be termed a mountaintop castle. The term is derived from the German, ''Gipfelburg'', which is one of a number of terms used ...
near on the hill of . It is located near in the market municipality of
Hösbach Hösbach is a market community and municipality in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 13,000 (2020). Geography Location The municipa ...
in the district of
Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
in the south German state of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.


History

The castle was probably built in the mid-13th century on and next to a fort of the
La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
, probably later than the castle on nearby . By 1261 the castle had been destroyed during a conflict between the Rieneck counts and
Electoral Mainz The Electorate of Mainz (german: Kurfürstentum Mainz or ', la, Electoratus Moguntinus), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the ...
. In the 18th century the castle was used as a quarry and demolished apart from a few wall remains.


Description

The castle had a sturdy
enceinte Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...
, which enclosed the entire site and guaranteed protection for its occupants. The roughly 2-metre-thick and probably over ten-metre-high
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 ...
with its wooden
wall walk A ''chemin de ronde'' ( French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficu ...
and tiled roof was integrated into the early mediaeval enceinte. The buildings in the castle courtyard were made of stone and wood. From the then treeless summit, the
Aschaff The Aschaff (in its uppermost course: ''Kleinaschaff'') is a river in the northern Spessart in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Main and is long. It begins at the Aschaffquelle near Waldaschaff. Loosely translated the name Aschaf ...
valley could be overlooked. In 1904, the Aschaffenburg chemist, ''Deinlein'', carried out the first excavations on the Gräfenberg. Today there are the wall foundations of a rectangular building, a five-metre-long and 1.8-metre-side longitudinal wall, a four-metre-long and 0.4-metre-wide transverse wall which abuts on another wall that has yet to be uncovered. Also recognisable are elements of a vaulted ceiling and a circular wall that could be a
cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...
or 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 belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...
.Der Gräfenberg – Forschungsgeschichte
bei spessartprojekt.de


Literature

* Björn-Uwe Abels: ''Die vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Geländedenkmäler Unterfrankens''. (Materialhefte zur bayerischen Vorgeschichte, Series B, Vol. 6). Verlag Michael Lassleben, Kallmünz, 1979, , p. 67. * Karl Bosl (ed.): ''Handbuch der historischen Stätten'', 7th volume, Bayern, 3rd edition, Alfred Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1981, .


External links

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grafenberg Castle Aschaffenburg Castles in Bavaria Aschaffenburg (district)