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Münzenberg Castle
Münzenberg Castle (German. ''Burg Münzenberg'') is a ruined hill castle in the Münzenberg, town of the same name in the Wetteraukreis, Hesse, Germany. It dates from the 12th century. It is one of the best preserved castles from the High Middle Ages in Germany. History The first lord of nearby Arnsburg Abbey, Arnsburg known by name is Kuno von Arnsburg, who served Emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich IV as a ''Ministerialis'' in 1057. Around 1064 he married Gräfin Mathilde of the Barony of Bilstein, House of Bilstein. Their daughter, Gertrud (b. c. 1065, d. before 1093) married Eberhard von Hagen (1075-1122), lord of ' near Frankfurt, who moved his seat to Arnsburg and changed his name to "von Hagen und Arnsburg". Under Eberhard's son, Konrad I (1093-1130) the family became the most powerful in the Wetterau and the Rhine-Main region. Konrad II exchanged properties with Fulda Abbey, receiving the land around Münzenberg Castle. The name Münzenberg means ''Mint mountain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 are thus distinguished from lowland castles (''Niederungsburgen''). Hill castles may be further subdivided depending on their situation into the following: * Hilltop castle (''Gipfelburg''), that stands on the summit of a hill with steep drops on all sides. A special type is the rock castle or ''Felsenburg''. * Ridge castle (''Kammburg''), that is built on the crest of a ridge. * Hillside castle (''Hangburg''), that is built on the side of a hill and thus is dominated by rising ground on one side. * Spur castle (''Spornburg''), that is built on a hill spur surrounded by steep terrain on three sides and thus only needs to be defended on the one remaining side. When in the 10th and 11th centuries castles lost their pure fortress character a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Regalia
The Imperial Regalia, also called Imperial Insignia (in German ''Reichskleinodien'', ''Reichsinsignien'' or ''Reichsschatz''), are regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. The most important parts are the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, Crown, the Imperial orb, the sceptre, Imperial sceptre, the Holy Lance#Vienna, Holy Lance and the Imperial Sword. Today they are kept at the Imperial Treasury, Vienna, Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg palace in Vienna, Austria. The Imperial Regalia are the only completely preserved regalia from the Middle Ages. During the late Middle Ages, the word Imperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien) had many variations in the Latin language. The regalia were named in Latin: ''insignia imperialia, regalia insignia, insignia imperalis capellae quae regalia dicuntur'' and other similar words. Components The regalia is composed of two different parts. The greater group are the so-called Nürnberger Kleinodien (roughly translated ''Nuremberg jewels''), named ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtain Wall (fortification)
A curtain wall is a defensive wall between fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town. Ancient fortifications Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the historical sources from Assyria and Egypt. Some notable examples are ancient Tel Lachish in Israel and Buhen in Egypt. Curtain walls were built across Europe during the Roman Empire; the early 5th century Theodosian Walls of Constantinople influenced the builders of medieval castles many centuries later. Curtain wall castles In medieval castles, the area surrounded by a curtain wall, with or without towers, is known as the bailey. The outermost walls with their integrated bastions and wall towers together make up the enceinte or main defensive line enclosing the site. In medieval designs of castle and town, the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult. Walls were topped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ward (fortification)
A bailey or ward in a fortification is a leveled courtyard, typically enclosed by a curtain wall. In particular, a medieval type of European castle is known as a motte-and-bailey. Castles and fortifications may have more than one bailey, and the enclosure wall building material may have been at first in wood, and later transitioned to stone. Their layout depends both on the local topography and the level of fortification technology employed, ranging from simple enclosures to elaborate concentric defences. In addition to the gradual evolution of more complex fortification plans, there are also significant differences in regional traditions of military architecture regarding subdivisions into baileys. Upper, lower, middle, inner and outer wards or baileys Baileys can be arranged in sequence along a hill (as in a spur castle), giving an upper bailey and lower bailey. They can also be nested one inside the other, as in a concentric castle, giving an outer bailey and inner bailey. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''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 influence. Stephen Friar in the ''Sutton Companion to Castles'' describes a bergfried as a "free-standing, fighting-tower".Friar (2003), p 36. Its defensive function is to some extent similar to that of a keep (also known as a ''donjon'') in English or French castles. However, the characteristic difference between a bergfried and a keep is that a bergfried was typically not designed for permanent habitation. Overview The living quarters of a castle with a bergfried are separate, often in a lower tower or an adjacent building called a ''palas'' (an English-style keep combines both functions of habitation and defence.) Consequently, a bergfried could be built as a tall slender tower with little internal room, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People's State Of Hesse
The People's State of Hesse () was one of the constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1945, as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Hesse () after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, on the territory of the current States of Germany, German states of Hesse and the Rhineland-Palatinate. The State was established after Grand Duke Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, Ernest Louis was deposed on 9 November 1918. The term "People's State" referred to the fact that the new state was a Republic (rather than implying that it was a socialist state) and was used in the same manner as the term Free state (polity)#Germany, Free State, which was employed by most of the other German States in this period. Like the Grand Duchy, the capital was Darmstadt and the state consisted of provinces Upper Hesse (, capital Gießen), Starkenburg (capital Darmstadt) and Rhenish Hesse (, capital Mainz). The area of the state was 7,692 km²; it had 1,347,279 inhabitants in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solms-Laubach
Solms-Laubach was a County of southern Hesse and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The House of Solms had its origins in Solms, Hesse. History Solms-Laubach was originally created as a partition of Solms-Lich. In 1537 Philip, Count of Solms-Lich, ruling count at Lich, purchased the ''Herrschaft'' Sonnewalde in Lower Lusatia which he left to his younger son Otto of Solms-Laubach (1496–1522), together with the county of Laubach. While Lich and Laubach were counties with imperial immediacy, Sonnewalde remained a semi-independent state country within the March of Lusatia (the latter being an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire). A later Count Otto (1550–1612) moved to Sonnewalde and built the castle in 1582. In 1596 he also purchased the nearby Herrschaft of Baruth which was also elevated to a state country within the March of Lusatia. The branch then was divided into the twigs of Solms-Laubach, Solms-Sonnewalde and Solms-Baruth. Solms-Laubach partitioned betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, while parts of Germany reported 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, the Torstenson War, the Dutch-Portuguese War, and the Portuguese Restoration War. The war had its origins in the 16th-century Reformation, which led to religious conflict within the Holy Roman Empire. The 1555 Peace of Augsburg attempted to resolve this by dividing the Empire into Catholic and Lutheran states, but the settlement was destabilised by the subsequent expansion of Protestantism beyond these boundaries. Combined with differences over the limits of imperial authority, religion was thus an important factor in star ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zwinger
A () is an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the medieval and early modern periods to improve the defence of castles and town walls. The term is usually left untranslated, but is sometimes rendered as "outer courtyard", presumably referring to the subsequent role of a as a castle's defences became redundant and it was converted into a palace or ''schloss''; however, this belies its original purpose as a form of killing ground for the defence. The word is linked with , "to force", perhaps because the forced an enemy to negotiate it before assaulting the main defensive line. Essenwein states that the "main purpose of this feature was so that the besieging force could not reach the actual castle wall very easily with battering rams or belfries, but had to stop at the lower, outer wall; also that two ranks of archers, behind and above one another, could fire upon the approaching enemy".von Essenwein, "Kriegsba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solms-Braunfels
Solms-Braunfels was a County and later Principality with Imperial immediacy in what is today the federal Land of Hesse in Germany. History Solms-Braunfels was a partition of Solms, ruled by the House of Solms, and was raised to a Principality of the Holy Roman Empire in 1742. The county of Solms-Braunfels was partitioned between: itself and Solms-Ottenstein in 1325; itself and Solms-Lich in 1409; and itself, Solms-Greifenstein and Solms-Hungen in 1592. Frederick William (1696–1761) was created a ''Prince of the Holy Roman Empire'' in 1742, with his younger offspring also bearing the title prince and princess, styled ''Serene Highness''. The Principality of Solms-Braunfels was mediatised to Austria, Hesse-Darmstadt, Prussia and Württemberg in 1806. Rulers Counts of Solms-Braunfels (1258–1742) * Henry III, Count 1258–1312 (died 1312), ''elder son of Henry II, Count of Solms'' ** Bernhard I, Count 1312–49 (died 1349), ''second son of Henry III'' *** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solms
Solms () is a town west of Wetzlar in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hessen, Germany with around 13,500 inhabitants. In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral castle of the Counts and Princes of House of Solms, Solms. Geography Location Solms lies right in the Lahn valley at the mouth of the eponymous little river Solmsbach and is nestled between the foothills of both the Taunus and Westerwald at heights from 140 to 400 m above sea level. It is about 7 km west of Wetzlar and 30 km northeast of Limburg an der Lahn. Neighbouring communities Solms borders in the north on the community of Ehringshausen and the town of Aßlar, in the east on the town of Wetzlar, in the southeast on the community of Schöffengrund, in the southwest on the town of Braunfels and in the west on the town of Leun (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis). Constituent communities The town consists of the following centres: *Albshausen * Burgsolms * Niederbiel * Oberbiel * Oberndorf Solms i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
