Burg Hoehingen

Infobox Castle
name = Burg Hoehingen
location= South-western Germany
built= before 1064 AD, documented reference 1259 AD
type= Castle
materials= Stone
demolished = 1633
condition= Ruine
coordinates= coord|48|4|15|N|7|37|15|E||

Burg Hoehingen ist a castle built in the early middle ages on the top of the Schlossberg mountain above the town Achkarren, a part of the city of Vogtsburg im Kaiserstuhl in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

Location

The castle is located on the top of the 354 m (1161 ft) above sea level Schlossberg mountain in der Rhine Rift in the neighborhood of Breisach. The height difference between the town in the valley and the former castle is about 150 m (460 ft). Hoehingen was an important castle for centuries. The distance to the strategically important and hard-foughted fortification Breisach was just about 7 km (4.5 mi). The reason for the strategic importance lies in the topograhic situation which allows only two narrow passages for north-south routes of commerce on the right side of the Rhine. One route goes between Riegel and the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) and the other one between Breisach and Achkarren. Besides this the Burg Höhingen played a counterpart to the more important Breisach during the changefull a warfull history - particularly in the times of the Thirty Years' War.

History

Only little is known about the beginnings of the first castle buildings on the top of the Schloßberg mountain. But there are references of first castle buildings in the year 1064 AD when the town Achkarren was mentioned first time in documents on the occasion of the giving of the village to the cloister of Ottmarsheim (a small Town in Alsace) by King Heinrich IV. In the following centuries the buildings have been extended several times. The first documented reference of the castle dates from the year 1259 AD. After centuries of existence the castle was burned down 1525 AD during the Peasants' War (a German Peasant Revolt) with participation of the the peasants of Achkarren.

In 1620 AD the castle has been extended to a strong defensive fortification because the Schlossberg mountain gave excellent views of the war events in the Rhine valley and the fortification of Breisach. In a contemporary report of the Breisach mayor to the emperors governor of the lands of Further Austria in Waldshut the castle is described as:

"„The location (of the castle) is excellent, because it tops a mountain and stands on hard rock, which ist hard to access because of its steepness and therefore can't be commanded by any neighbor town. The building is constructed of heavy stonework, surrounded on one side by a deep trench and an unaccessible praecipitium (=sheer) on the other side, which was used as a quarry. The castle possesses a good cistern.“"

In 1633 AD an attack from Breisach occurred. The catholic troops of the emperor were able to conquer and plunder the castle which before was occupied by the Swedes which where supported by the Protestant inhabitants of Ihringen. According to the reports the prey was among others about 15.000 liters of wine. The goods oft the inhabitants of Ihringen which was stocked in the castle, were totally lost. Reports tell about a loss of 200 horses and about 300 pieces of cattle, what gives references of the size of the castle. After several severe quarrels the castle finally has been burned down through the emperors occupying forces when they lost the ability to keep the castle. Because from 1671 AD on it was officially allowed to use the stones of the resulting ruine for the fortifications in Breisach and later for private houses today only poor relicts of the ruine can be seen.

Look

An impression of the possible look of the castle from a engraving by Matthäus Merian from 1644. Only little is known about the realism of this picture. What can be said is that the entrance of the castle must have been exactly at the place the engraving indicates. The entrance can still be seen.