The Ehrenburg is the

ruin 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 ...

of a

spur castle A spur castle is a type of medieval fortification that is sited on a spur of a hill or mountain for defensive purposes. Ideally, it would be protected on three sides by steep hillsides; the only vulnerable side being that where the spur joins the ...

at in the vicinity of Brodenbach in Germany. The castle had a very eventful history. It was built on a rocky spur in the valley of the Ehrbach, a

right bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...

valley of the Moselle. Once the fortified heart of a small imperial barony with estates between the Lower Moselle and

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

, it is today a

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

that hosts numerous events.

History

The Ehrenberg was probably already owned by the church in Trier in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

for use as a place of refuge and defence for the people. The oldest surviving parts of the present Ehrenburg - the

upper bailey 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 ...

- are the remains of a

fortified house A fortified house or fortified mansion is a type of building which developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, generally with significant fortifications added. United States In the United States, historically a fortified house was often calle ...

, a rectangular residential

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

. The first half of the 12th century is believed to be when this initially very small

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 dynast ...

castle was constructed. In 1161, the castle is mentioned for the first time as ''Castrum Eremberch'' in a deed of

slighting Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zoll ...

, also known as Frederick Barbarossa. This document confirms the renunciation of the rights to two churches in the Archbishopric of Trier and to participation in the administration of the city of Trier by his younger half-brother,

Count Palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an or ...

Conrad of Hohenstaufen Conrad of Hohenstaufen ( – 8 November 1195) was the first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine. His parents were Frederick II of Swabia (1090–1147), Duke of Swabia, and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, daughter of Frederick, Cou ...

. His opponent, Hillin of Falmagne,

Archbishop of Trier The Diocese of Trier, in English historically also known as ''Treves'' (IPA "tɾivz") from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Moselle between Brodenbach und Hatzenport and protected the surrounding imperial estate as a sub-

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 overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

to the count. This complicated legal arranging which was intended to deal with many disputes, existed until the demise of the electorates of Palatinate and

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

at the end of the 18th century as a result of Napoleon's invasion of Germany. The likely builders of the castle, the lords of Ehrenberg, '' Dienstmänner'' or vassals of the Cologne and Trier Church and the Rhenish counts Palatine, appear as witnesses for the first time I 1189. The castle became the site of a ''

Ganerbschaft A ''Ganerbschaft'' (plural: ''Ganerbschaften'' in German), according to old German inheritance law, was a joint family estate, mainly land, over which the co-heirs (''Ganerben'') only had rights in common. In modern German legal parlance it corres ...

'' or joint inherited tenancy and was divided among two or three families over the generations. The Ehrenberg coat of arms was '' azure, a bend or''. From the mid-13th century, a second, younger family (the Frederick line) bore a coat of arms in which the gold bend was accompanied by small crosses and, from around 1480, by golden lilies. In 1331 the imperial ''

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, ''Minist ...

'' who occupied the castles of Waldeck, Schöneck,

Eltz The House of Eltz was a noted German noble family of the ''Uradel''. The Rhenish dynasty has had close ties to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia since 1736. History Though older sources mentioned one Eberhard zu Eltz, a Frankish citizen of Trier ...

and Ehrenburg formed an alliance. During the

Eltz Feud The Eltz Feud (german: Eltzer Fehde) was a 14th-century feud that arose between rulers of the Trier region on the Moselle and certain members of the knightly class who were acting independently and failing to support their sovereign princes. It ca ...

they fought against the territorial policy of the Elector of Trier,

Baldwin of Luxembourg Baldwin of Luxembourg (c. 1285 – 21 January 1354) was the Archbishop- Elector of Trier and Archchancellor of Burgundy from 1307 to his death. From 1328 to 1336, he was the diocesan administrator of the archdiocese of Mainz and from 1331 to 1 ...

, who was trying bring peace and stability to an unsafe area in which the knights were becoming lawless. Five years later the two sides agreed a treaty, the Eltz Atonement, and the knights had to recognise the sovereignty of the Electorate of Trier in return for being granted

burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

status and becoming hereditary peers. In 1397 the last Ehrenberg knight became involved in another feud with the Elector of Trier,

Werner of Falkenstein Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...

and destroyed over 200 houses in his city of Koblenz. In a counter-campaign, the castle was besieged by the citizens of Koblenz and a cannon deployed (which was still rare at that time). A year later, John of Schönberg was enfeoffed with the castle and barony. In 1426 he was followed by Cuno of Pyrmont and of Ehrenberg, in 1526 by Philipp

, in 1561 by the lords of Quadt of Landskron and in 1621 by the House of Hoensbroech (Dutch: Van Hoensbroeck). In the course of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, 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 ...

the Spanish occupied the castle from 1640 to 1651. In 1668 the Ehrenburg was enfeoffed to the ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

n'' of Clodt. On 1 November 1688, French troops und

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 Ver ...

occupied the castle during the

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 monarc ...

and, a year later, blew up parts of the site. The castle chapel survived and was not abandoned until the following century. After the male line of the Ehrenbergs died out in the late 14th century, the castle was no longer the long-term residence of hereditary castellans ('' Burgherren''). For the castellans that followed the castle and barony of Ehrenberg was only a part of their fief and their estate. The last imperial knight and castellan, the ''Freiherr Benedict of Clodt, Lord of Landscron, Ehrenberg, Hennen, Grimberg, Meill and Thomberg'' lived in the late 18th century as the Electoral presiding judge (''Gerichtspräsident'') mainly in the Ehrenberger Hof on the Münzplatz in Koblenz. In 1798 the castle went into the possession of the Lord of

Stein Stein is a German, Yiddish and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and "pip" or "kernel". It stems from the same Germanic root as the English word stone. It may refer to: Places In Austria * Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Aust ...

. In 1831 it passed to the House of Kielmannsegg and in 1924 to the Count of Kanitz-Cappenberg. From 1991 the Ehrenburg has been privately owned and, since 1993, preserved and rebuilt by volunteers of the Friends of the Ehrenburg (''Freundeskreis der Ehrenburg'') from private funding. Cuno von Pyrmont und von Ehrenberg.jpg, Cuno of Pyrmont and of Ehrenberg, 1446. Detail of an old stained-glass window in the Carmelite Church in

Boppard Boppard (), formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality (since the 1976 inclusion of 9 neighbouring villages, ''Ortsbezirken'') in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNE ...

am Rhein Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr Vom Stein.jpg, Reichsfreiherr vom Stein in 1821 by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld Therese vom Stein.jpg, Therese vom Stein in 1820 by

Philipp Veit Philipp Veit (13 February 179318 December 1877) was a German Romantic painter and one of the main exponents of the Nazarene movement. It is to Veit that the credit of having been the first to revive the nearly forgotten technique of fresco ...

. She inherited the Ehrenburg as the married Countess of Kielmannsegg after the death of her father in 1831

Coats of arms of the Ehrenburg knights

For several generations the ''von Ehrenberg'' and, later, ''von Pyrmont'', families were, as

vassals A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. ...

of the Rhenish counts Palatine, imperial knights and lords of the Ehrenburg. In the late 14th century, a Cuno of Pyrmont married the granddaughter of the last Lord of Ehrenberg and quartered his coat of arms (''

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to ...

, a bend dancetty gules'') to the Ehrenberg's ('' azure, a bend or, between eight crosses pattées or''). Allianzwappen Pyrm.-Ehrenburg.jpg, Coat of arms of Cuno of Pyrmont and of Ehrenberg. Detail of a 1446 Late Gothic sandstone votive cross in Brodenbach Pyrmont coat of arms.png, Coat of arms of ''von Pyrmont'' family from the eponymous castle in the Elz valley. On the votive cross this coat of arms is in the 1st and 4th quarters Wappen derer von Ehrenberg (Untermosel).png, Coat of arms of ''von Ehrenberg'' family, who had probably built the Ehrenburg in the early 12th century. On the votive cross this coat of arms is in the 2nd and 3rd quarters Pirmont-Wappen.jpg, Coat of arms of Pyrmont-Ehrenberg (l) and John II of Baden, Bishop of Trier (r) Mid-15th century. In the choir of the former village church of St. Catharine of Treis a.d. Mosel

Literature

* B. Hirschfeld: ''Die Ehrenburg auf dem Hunsrück.'' In: ''Koblenzer Heimatblätter.'' 17-20/9/1931, Koblenz, 1931. * Gustav Schellack, Willi Wagner: ''Burgen und Schlösser im Hunsrück'' 4th edn., 1979, , pp. 17–18. (= Rheinische Kunststätten, Heft 37) * Günter Stanzl: ''Revitalisierung mittelalterlicher Erlebnisräume. Die Ehrenburg bei Brodenbach''. Baudenkmäler in Rheinland-Pfalz Jahrbuch 2004, Mainz, 2004, pp. 23–24. * Olaf Wagener, Achim Wendt: ''Die Burgen an der Mosel''. Koblenz, 2007, , pp. 127–167. * Elmar Rettinger ''Ehrenburg (Burg).'' In: ''Historisches Ortslexikon von Rheinland-Pfalz des Instituts für geschichtl. Landeskunde, Universität Mainz''. In the internet at www.regionalgeschichte.net * Ulrich Mehler: ''Kleiner Burgführer der Ehrenburg''. Freundeskreis der Ehrenburg, 2008. * Georg Dehio: ''Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler - Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland''.

Deutscher Kunstverlag The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation. History Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...

, Munich, 1984, , pp. 239–240.

External links

Internet site of the castle
*
Artist's impression
{{Authority control 12th-century architecture Ehrenburg Castles on the Moselle Buildings and structures in Mayen-Koblenz