Tanstein Castle (german: Burg Tanstein) 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

rock castle A rock castle (german: Felsenburg) is a type of medieval castle that directly incorporates natural rock outcrops into its defences to such an extent that the rock formations define the structure of the castle. Topographically, rock castles are c ...

in the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau region. It lies just under a kilometre east of the small town of

Dahn Dahn is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...

in the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Location

Tanstein is one of the three castles at Dahn; the others being Altdahn and Grafendahn. Although the three castles are sited next to one another on a hill ridge, they were not built at the same time. A similar cluster of castles are also found in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

in nearby

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

: the three castles of Husseren.

History

Tanstein is the oldest of the three castles in the group. An 1127 document refers to an ''Anshelmus de Tannicka'' as the owner or governor; as a result the castle was probably built in the early 12th century. In 1189, in a deed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, a Henry ''von der Than'' is mentioned and the castle designated as an immediate imperial

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 ...

. In the period that followed, Ulrich of Dahn and Conrad of Dahn are named as 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 ...

''. In 1328 the castle became a fief of the bishops of Speyer. Until 1464 there were frequent changes of ownership, which suggests that the fief was still not inheritable during this phase, but was always re-enfeoffed. In 1512 Frederick of Dahn purchased the castle. Because he was an ally of the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, Franz von Sickingen, he was involved in his battles against the imperial princes in southwest Germany. After Sickingen's defeat and death in 1523, Tanstein, too, fell into the hands of the victors. Its occupation by troops of the Archbishop of

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 ...

lasted until 1544 and probably led to irreparable damage to the structure of the castle, because it was finally abandoned in 1585. In 1689, at the start of 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 ...

, the French completely destroyed the ruins.

Site

Tanstein Castle is located on the two westernmost rock outcrops of the Dahn castle cluster. Both were originally linked by a bridge. On the rocks today are modern parapet walls that have been rather arbitrarily added and do not give any real idea of the old castle buildings. On the western rock outcrop there were apparently domestic-like buildings, that were built against the rocks. This is evinced by

putlock hole Putlog holes or putlock holes are small holes made in the walls of structures to receive the ends of poles (small round logs) or beams, called putlogs or putlocks, to support a scaffolding. Putlog holes may extend through a wall to provide staging ...

s and other marks on the rocks as well as a large cistern, in which water from the roofs was gathered and stored. The

lower ward An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

on the southern rock outcrop still shows traces of the original walls dating to the 15th century. These include the ruins of a smithy and a smelting furnace.

Literature

* Stefan Grathoff: ''Die Dahner Burgen. Alt-Dahn – Grafendahn – Tanstein.'' Führungsheft 21st edn., Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer Rheinland Pfalz. Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg, 2003. * Walter Herrmann: ''Auf rotem Fels. Ein Führer zu den schönsten Burgen der Pfalz und des elsässischen Wasgau''. DRW-Verl. Weinbrenner, Braun, Karlsruhe, 2004, * Elena Rey: ''Burgenführer Pfalz''. Superior, Kaiserslautern 2003, * Günter Stein: ''Burgen und Schlösser in der Pfalz. Ein Handbuch''. Weidlich, Frankfurt, 1976, * Alexander Thon, Peter Pohlit: ''Grafendahn''. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit (ed.): ''Pfälzisches Burgenlexikon''. Beiträge zur pfälzischen Geschichte Vol. 12/2, Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde, Kaiserslautern, 2002, pp. 213-223, * Alexander Thon (ed.): ''...wie eine gebannte, unnahbare Zauberburg. Burgen in der Südpfalz''. 2nd rev. edn., Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg, 2005, pp. 18-25,

External links

{{Commons, Dahner Burgengruppe, Castles of Dahn
Dahner Felsenland: ''Altdahn–Grafendahn–Tanstein''
Rock castles Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Dahn