Berwartstein Castle

Infobox building
name = Berwartstein Castle
native_building_name = Burg Berwartstein De icon

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caption = Berwartstein as seen from the tower "little france"
map_type =
latitude = 49.1085
longitude = 7.8627
location_town = Erlenbach bei Dahn
location_country = Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
architect =
client = Knights of Berwarstein ???
engineer =
construction_start_date = before 1152
date_demolished = Hit by a lightning in 1591
cost =
structural_system =
owner = Private
style = middleaged cliffcastle
size =

Berwartstein Castle is a castle in the Wasgau, the south part of the Palatinate Forest in the state Rhineland-Palatinate in the southwest of Germany. It belongs to the category of cliff castles which where part of the palatinate defense during the Middle Ages. This castle is noted in the publication "Works of Preservation of Monuments of Rheinland-Pfalz", which was assambled and edited under contract by the Ministry of Education and Culture. This publication states that the three main representatives of the so called cliff castles are locatet at "Drachenfels " (engl.: Dragoncliff), "Altdahn" and "Berwartstein" where staires, corridors and rooms are carved out of the rock to form a complete living system which was essential to the defense of the castle. Although the Berwartstein appears somewhat complete when compared to the ruins of neighboring castles, its structure is only a restoration of the original cliff castle structure. It is the only castle in the palatinate that was reconstructed after its demolition and inhabited.

The Berwartstein Castle is open for visitors from March until November all days from 09:30 am to 06:00 pm. During the wintertime it is just open on the weekends.

History

The Castle Origin

There is only speculation about the early of the castle and its name. The name "Berwartstein Castle" is mentioned for the first time in a document dating from 1152, when the castle was given by Emperor Barbarossa to Bishop Gunther of Speyer. From this we can assume that the cliff was used long before as a fortress. This is further supported by the fact, that the town of Erlenbach, which is located at the foot of the castle, was first mentioned in a document dating from 740. It is also known that considerable colonization took place in early franconian time (sixth century) starting in the area of Weissenburg along the "wieslauter valley".

Occupied by Robber Knights

History indicates that during the period 1200 until 1300, feudal tenants, who carried the name "von Berwartstein" inhabited the castle. They soon became self-supporting and around 1256 lived mainly by the motto "to ride and to rob is no disgrace", espacially since this was common among the upper class as well. However, in the cours of their robberies they often went to far and this resulted in the imperial cities of Strassburg and Hagenau joining forces against the "von Berwartstein". Following several weeks of futile attacks against the castle the forces succeeded in taking the castle in 1314 with the help of a traitor. A large loot and about 30 prisoners were taken to Strassburg. The Knights of Berwartstein were permitted to buy the prisoners back for a large ransom. The Knights of Berwartstein, now poor, were forced to sell their castle to the brothers Ort and Ulrich von Weingarten. Four years later the castle became the property of the Weissenburg Monastery.

The Castle as Property of the Weissenburg Monastery

The Weissenburg Monastery placed the castle in stewardship and established a feudal system there in. This system allowed for the dismissal of vassals that became too presumptious. Thus the monastery remained in possession of the castle for quite some time. This could have continued indefinitely had the last steward of the castle (Erhard Wyler) not gone too far. In his ambition and greed, and due to lack of supervision, he ventured into neighboring estates. When he went into feuding with the Knights of Drachenfels, the Elector of the Palatinate took the opportunity to bring the Berwartstein Castle under his command.

Hans von Trotha (also known as "Hans Trapp) and the Castle

Because of this dynatic ambitions, the Elector of the Palatinate wanted to get all of the Weissenburg mandated territory under his control. To accomplish this he orderd in 1480 the Knight "Hans von Trotha" who was Marshal and Commander in Chief of the entire Palatinate Forces, to proceed to Berwartstein. In this way he could enlarge the property at a cost to the Monastery of Weissenburg. For the quarrelsome Knight this was a pleasure to fulfill since this gave him a chance to take personal revenge on the Abbot of Weissenburg. Years before, "Abbot Heinrich von Homburg" had imposed a church fine on the Knight's brother, Bishop Thilo. The "Trotha-family" never forgotten this act.

As a starting point for this conquering expedition, this experienced warrior first renovated the castle to improve its appearance. He built strong rampards and bastions as well as the tower called "little france" (German: "Klein Frankreich"). Soon after completion of this project he went into siege against the Weissenburg Monastery kept the elector, emperor, hierarchy of the empire and the religious hierarchy in Rome busy. Nevertheless, "Hans von Trotha" remained the favorite minion of the Elector of the Palatinate who, at this time, was residing in "Heidelberg". The successor of the "victorious elector", Philip II, an intimate friend of the knight, thought it was best, as a prince of the realm, to keep his distance from these feuds his Marshal was waging against Weissenburg.

Things went from bad to worse where the monastery and the imperial city (which in the meantime had entered the conflict) were concerned. Even though the imperial ban an excommunication were inflicted upon him, the knight continued to rob merchants traveling towards Weissenburg and crippled trade and provisioning of the city almost completely. He took servants of the monastery prisoners and would only grant release upon receipt of a large ransom. Through the building of an enormous dam on the "Wieslauter" he stopped the floating of timber which caused wood mills to case operating. Then he had the dam destroyed, flooding the people of the area. He and his forces occupied the fortress of the monastery and then laid siege to the city of Weissenburg, devastated the surrounding villages, occupied "Steinfeld" and "Kapsweyer" and made the inhabitants pay high sums of money.

In the meantime Emperor "Maximilian I" had declared an "everlasting territorial peace" and so it came about that at the numerous imperial diets the actions of "Hans von Trotha" were part of the discussions. In one case the emperor declared him along with the french king "Karl von Egmont" as the main persons guilty of a breach of the peace. But nevertheless "Hans von Trotha" remained in favour with the Elector who thought very highly of him due to his military efficiency and diplomatic proficiency and even sent him as ambassador to the Court of France. While there he received great honor in being named "Chevalier d'Or, Knight of the Golden Fleece".

"Hans von Trotha" died in 1503, still undefeated. This was mainly due to the fact that the Elector of the Palatinate had a mighty voice in the assembly of the great empire and therefor the Emperor did not have a free hand to deal with the situation as he would have chosen to do. Even today "Hans von Trotha" is very much alive in the legends of the people as "Hans Trapp", espacially in the Elsass Lorraine districts, where his name ist mainly used to frighten unruly children.

After Hans von Trotha - The uninhabited Castle (1591 - 1893)

After "Hans von Trotha" his son Christoph owns the Berwartstein Castle and after his death the castle went to his son-in-law, "Friedrich von Fleckenstein" and remained in this family for three generations. During this time the castle was destroyed by fire in 1591 and since there is no mention of any attac's it is presumed that the caslte was hit by lightning.

Even though the main sections of the castle were not destroyed by the fire, it stood empty and unused for many years to come. This we can only see to the advantage of the castle today since this is the main reason why Berwartstein was not touched when all other castles in the Palatinate were virtually taken apart and burned. In the peace of Westphalia, Berwarstein takes speczial mention, when it was granted to "Baron Gerhard von Waldenburg", known as "Schenkern", a favorite of Emperor Ferdinand III. if he would restore the castle. Since he did not restore the castle, it sank into oblivion.

New Life

It is only due to the self scrifice and idealism of Captain Bagienski, that Berwartstein Castle was brought back to life and inhabited once again in the last years of the 19'th century. He bought the castle in 1893. But as destiny will have it, he was only the proud owner for a few short years. When he died, his wish to be buried at the foot of the castle was granted. In the year 1922 the castle was purchased by Aksel Faber of Copenhagen, Denmark, and thereby went into foreign ownership. Since he was seldom in Germany, he asked Alfons Wadlé to be his castle steward. It was he who brought the castle through the confusion of the last war. Later he was able to purchase the castle.

Whereas in the Middle Ages the castle was built according to the then up-to-date standards, the Berwartstein thanks to its carved out rooms and corridors, still gave shelter during the inferno of the last war. Never before during the entire existence of the castle had it to withstand such attacks as those which came in the form of planes, bombs and artillery. The village of Erlenbach below the castle was comepletely destroyed, but however since the inhabitants sought shelter in the castle, no harm came to them.

The castle was a sad sight to see alter the last war. The roofs were gone as well as woodwork around windows, doors, staircases and other furnishings. It was difficult to imagine that these wounds would someday deal again. The new owner was able to bring about the impossible in spite of a building material shortage and a monetary crisis. Since the castle was in no way subsidized, Alfons Wadlé went about the renovation himself. At first he was only able to do the bare essentials to protect the castle from the elements. In addition to the huge cost of renovation there was, and still is, the high maintanance cost of which is often difficult for the outsider to realize.

Original Castle Entrance

The most interesting difference between Berwartstein and the cliff castles ist the opening on the southeast side of the cliff. This opening is commonly referred to as "the ascending entrance chimney". During the early years of the castle only rooms and casemats in the upper cliff were complete and the ascending entrance chimney served as the only entrance to the castle. To make it easier to ascend this opening, a portable wooden staircase or rope ladder was placed into the castle. In the event of attac, the staircase or ladder was pulled up into the castle. This enabled the entrance to be defended by just one man who was supplied with hot sap, hot oil or liquid to bie poured down on any intruder attempting to ascend the chimney. This limited access to the castles inner rooms was probably the main reason it was never conquered during the Middle Ages. The slender almost vertical cliff on which the castle stands, rises up to a height of approximately 150 feet and still offers a challenge to trained climbers.

The Castle Well

Through close observance of the castle on can see the diligence and boldness of the master builder of earlier centuries, who without the help of modern tools was able to transform a giant cliff into a secure dwelling place. The extremely deep well is one of their greatest accomplishments in this area. The well has a diameter of 2 m ("6 feet") and was chiseld down through the cliff to the bottom of the valley some 104 m ("315 feet") below. In addition to the awesome depth of this well it is unsuual to find the well located within the castle walls. This was essential to the castles life support system when under siege.

The Knight's Hall

The historic Knight's Hall has a cross vaulted ceiling. An angraving on the supporting middle pillar shows that it dates back to the thirteenth century. The southwall of the hall is also formed from rock and includes a chiseld out elevator shaft which was used by the Knight's of Berwartstein to assist in setting the table an to get the food and beverages down from the kitchen up above. This elevator is unique since one such as this is not normally found elsewhere and it is still used today to satisfy the appetite of some visitors to Berwartstein.

Underground Passageways

Carved out of the cliff and accessible even today are corridors and passageways which used to be part of the large underground defense network. Although not accessible today, there once existed a tunnel from the castle to the village below. These tunnels which were carved out with hammer and chisel and partly graved through the soil, are evidence of the hard and difficult work performed by the people of that time.

Outpost "Little France"

Looking to the south and across from the castle on a protrusion of the Nestelberg one sees the tower named "little france". This tower was built by the most well known knight and owner of Berwartstein, "Hans von Trotha", and was mean to be a outpost to the castle. The tower was used as a very important lookout and defense post and attackers often find themeselves in a crossfire between the tower and the tower. The valley below and between the tower and castle still carries the name "Corps Field" which continually reminds us of the bloody battles that must have been fought here. There is also evidence that there was an underground passage between the tower and castle which is no longer accessible today due to its having collapsed at its weaker points.

References

* Theo Wadle (Ed.): "Burg Berwartstein". 13. Auflage, Wannweil 1980

External links

* [http://www.burgberwartstein.de/ Official website]