Heimburg Castle (german: Burg Heimburg), also called the ''Altenburg'' or ''Alteburg'', is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

on an oval hilltop about 330 metres above sea level (NN) which is located just north of the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

in central Germany. The ruins of this

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 ...

stand above the village of

Heimburg Heimburg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Blankenburg am Harz. On a hilltop above the village are the ruins of the old Heimburg Castle which, ...

in the borough of

Blankenburg Blankenburg may refer to: Places * Blankenburg am Harz, a German town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt * Blankenburg Castle (Harz), the castle in Blankenburg am Harz (see above) * Bad Blankenburg, a German town in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt dis ...

in the district of

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

in the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

. It is checkpoint no. 84 in the

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...

hiking network.

History

The

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles ...

was probably built in the 10th century to defend the important Harz mining region and the route to the imperial hunting base of

Bodfeld Bodfeld was a small royal palace or lodge (german: Königspfalz) that was primarily established for hunting purposes and, when the town of Elbingerode emerged, for the administration of ore mining in the central Harz that underpinned the power of ...

in the central Harz from Saxon princes. It was first mentioned as a possession of Emperor Henry IV in 1073. It was destroyed by the Saxons after the Battle of Welserholz in 1123. In 1143 the castle must have been rebuilt as it was entrusted to a

ministerialis 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, ''Minis ...

, Anno of Heimburg, by

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180. Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...

. After losing a feud between Heimburg and

Regenstein The County of Regenstein was a mediaeval State of the Holy Roman Empire, statelet of the Holy Roman Empire. It was ruled by the Duchy of Saxony, Saxon comital House of Regenstein, named after their residence at Regenstein Castle near Blankenburg (H ...

that had lasted for several generations, Heimburg conceded the castle to Count Ulrich I of Regenstein. One line of these counts thenceforth called themselves Regenstein-Heimburg. In the 16th century the castle was enfeoffed repeatedly but after its destruction in the

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 (80 ...

it was not restored. The castle fell into ruins and was used as a source of stone for building materials. After the Regensteins died out in 1599 the

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

was returned to its feudal lord, the

Duke of Brunswick Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. Excavations were carried out on the site from 1891 to 1894 and, in 1990, the site was refurbished and opened to the public.

Layout

Today the oval castle site consists of the remnants of a 10 metre high curtain wall, the remains of several other walls, ditches and ramparts and the round ''

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 ...

''. The

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 w ...

had an area of 60 by 35 metres.

Sources

* Friedrich Stolberg: ''Befestigungsanlagen im und am Harz von der Frühgeschichte bis zur Neuzeit'', Hildesheim 1983

External links

Heimburg Castle at burgeninventar.de
* {{AlleBurgen, 26997 Castles in Saxony-Anhalt Buildings and structures in Harz (district) Blankenburg (Harz) Ruined castles in Germany