Castle of Wasenburg

The Château of Wasenbourg is located in the department the Low-Rhine, in the middle of the the Vosges of North, and culminates with 410 meters.

It overhangs the town of Niederbronn-the-Baths, on which it depends administratively and is located in the forest between Niederbronn and Oberbronn. One can see it trunk road 62, in direction of Bitche.

History

Antiquity

Roman vestiges

Wasenbourg, built fine of the 13th century in Gothic style , by Conrad de Lichtenberg, lets think of an older origin. In the house of the knights, certain stones of the front face, carry the sign of the blazon of Strasbourg of the 13th century.

Other side, one also finds a representation of Roman tools. In the windows of the oriel, we find the same signs and in the court, one discovered the use of stones, which are remainders of inscriptions and sculptures. The double walls of defenses, which surround the plate, and which was used for the defense of the castle, correspond, according to their installation and their size, with the technique Roman E.

Mercury temple

On the southern part of the plate, the rock with the vertical, with its enclosing wall distant from 12 to 15 meters, forms a 40 meters long terrace, whose ground offers a large Roman field of vestiges of the culture E.

Put aside of the small discoveries like the lamps, the ballot boxes, the Fibule S, the Seal X, of the remainders of Pottery S, one found also semi-columns, reliefs and low-reliefs as well as a great number of images of Mercure. One also finds a very great number of furnace bridges of sacrifices with inscriptions, decorated forms of Escargot S, then, various small furnace bridges with M and D , as well as well cut edges of window.

On the back face of the enclosing wall, one found the sign of an old culture of more than 1600 years. It is about the image of the god Mercure with the child, copies statue of Hermes, realized by the sculptor Praxitèle. Further, one could find a stone dedicated to the celebration of the 8th legion, with the image of the temple of the gods (identical to the existing temple).

In against bottom of the place where the enclosing wall yielded to the landslide, are two stones which, according to their inscriptions and their ornaments, decorated the door with the temple. Above this wall of rock, where of the same stones cuts and of the edges of of the same windows invoice still trail, professor Mehlis updated the foundations of the Temple of Mercure.

An inscription, cut in the rock of the castle of Wasenburg, was released in 1569 by the doctor of the time, Doctor Heliseus Rösslin, and say: " that it is of full liking and in the achievement of a promise, that the Roman Severinus Satullinus made set up this temple, cover of tiles and surrounded by a wall of fortification, with the god Mercure ".

This temple, similar with the temple of Mercury on the Donon, was to have a width of 7 m and a length of 9 Mr. the image of this temple, which was carved in one of the enclosing walls, is a stone of worship offered to remember it by legionaries the 8th legion.

The image represents a part with two semi-columns, which carry the gate including/understanding an inscription of blessing. This made construction of stones of size covered with curved tiles and punts, one entered by a high door. With the background the beautiful image of Mercure was, and in front, the furnace bridge was on which the priests made their sacrifices. On the left and on the right on the interior side walls of the temple, the various stone sculptures and furnace bridges were, offered by the admirers of the God.

Roman camping and castle

The reasons, which justified at the 13th century the bishop Conrad de Lichtenberg to rebuild Wasenbourg as a barrier against the Lorrains, were to already be same at the time the Roman one E in Alsace.

Wasenburg seemed a strategic place for defense:

as a barrier against the Lorraine ,
to protect the road,
for touching Customs S, tolls,
as a better point of view towards the the Rhine, which one could fear attacks, even in period of peace,
as a point of retirement strengthened.

Thus on Wasenburg, immediately after having crossed the the Rhine, was a permanent camping ( Castra Stativa ), with walls of defense, prétoriats, soldier quarterings. Further, towards the valley on the rock more raised, a tower of guet out of wood ( Speculated ), and towards the east, a tower with triggerfish and catapult.

On the plate, between the temple and the north-western corner of the wall, one discovered, there is more than two hundred years, a stone of celebration, given by legionaries of the 8th legion of Strasbourg, in thanks, for their visit of then, in César Caracalla and Geta.

Later one still found other stones, coming from the legion, which made it possible to establish that at the time Roman E, a castellum was drawn up in Wasenburg. Moreover, legionaries were to make the guet there.

One of Césars, Caracalla or its Geta brother, which often resided at the accesses of the the Rhine - since one found stones representing of the offerings to the gods (stones of laws) with the Saalbourg -, had perhaps passed by there and had, to remember the occupation of Wasenburg, to make about it set up the commemorative stone.

This camping, after precise studies, was to make 80 meters length and 40 broad. The prétoriats and the tower of guet were in the west, in north and to the south, were added to it the enclosing walls. The rock located at the east was locked up. On its height, the was speculated (large tower of guet), which one reached either by a scale or by a stone staircase. On the left rock, was the entry of the camping; with the front one, where the rock overhangs the valley was the headland.

A double work with drawbridge was able to receive the balista, or then, the place could be used with the officer as guet, because it is from here one could expect an attack or direct an military operation.

Destruction during the emigrations

The destruction of the Temple of Mercury and of the castle of Wasenburg, either preceded, or followed little the fall of the Roman Empire. During the engagements between Roman S and Barbarian S, the people of the plain sought refuge and help near the gods. One took refuge with his of course heights and one tried to defend oneself in Wasenburg with half destroyed; the barbarians besieged the castle; they were victorious after hard combat. There were new enemies; new and former inhabitants of the plain, transfer themselves obliged to go back to the castle.

The stones and statues of the temple were used for the construction of a wall of defense. The Huns, the Francs arrived, and each time, Wasenburg was the refuge of the people.

Birth of Wasenburg of the Francs

It is not to reside at it only the emigrating masses Germanic, which had destroyed the Roman Empire, wanted to use this fortified town; they had come to destroy the castle-forts and to drive out the Roman S and finally to reside among the autochtones of the plain.

But of the fortunate inhabitants of the plain, Gallo-Roman, or the German resident of long time, henceforth used the castle to be protected from the attackers and the plunderers.

They remade the roof of the remainders of the Roman prétoriat and arranged there residences for them, their people and their soldiers; they surrounded their dwellings of palisades and ditches; the tower of guet was equipped with catapults. It was the base of future Wasenburg on which these people-there remained like their descendants, and so acquired a right of possession there.

The Middle Ages

The lords of Lichtenberg made build Wasenburg in the middle of the 14th century. The Lichtenberg had repurchased in 1332 with the count of Alsace the Large-Arnsberg and its forests which were next to Wasenburg; Wasenburg was to protect these new goods.

Documentation

We find in the year 1842, in the public collection offered to the Abbatiale of Wissembourg, two documents which refer to Wasenburg.

In one of them, in the year 730, the duke Luitfrid Ier of Alsace and his Hiltrudis wife speak about a promise made, in the forest of Fasenburg , with the Ermoald abbot of Wissembourg. It acts, in this document, only of payment of taxes of rents, nine serfs of Gœrsdorf and Preuschdorf, which was yielded by the grandfather of Luitfrid Ier of Alsace, Adalbert of Alsace, for its safety with the cloister of Saint Pierre with Wissembourg. In any case, the Ermoald abbot, was invited to hunting at the duke Luitfrid.

This document, one of oldest dated in 733 with Strasbourg, is of this fact a very invaluable historical testimony. Before the middle of the 8th century, there was already a forest called Fasenburg and there was already to be a castle since one speaks about it in the property about the dukes about Alsace.

The second document which refers to the area was given in the presence of the Empereur Louis the Piles the September 2nd 820; it is about an exchange of goods concluded by the count Hugo from Alsace with the convent from Wissembourg, and in which he yields all his real goods located at Niederbronn ( Villa Brunon ), grounds, forests, meadows, fishing rights, the developed sites and not built, put aside the church, the castle and three shares of the forest. In against part, it accepted Dettwiller, of the grounds with Preuschdorf, Valff, and of the vineyards with Barr and Forstheim.

Although it is question in this second document of a “illa ecclesia and illa hastuna” located with Niederbronn and that the first document speaks about a castle, the question remains open so under the word hastuna , one hears the Born house of Niederbronn, or Wasenburg.

In a third document, we find in the Alsatian chronicle of 1592 written by Bernard Herzog:

Under Conrad de Lichtenberg we find: the emperor Ludovic who remained much in Alsace and which directed much the noble ones, covered the latter of freedoms, in particular Conrad de Lichtenberg in 828. It gave to Conrad freedom to set up small the Wœrth downtown (in the the Vosges). The emperor Ludovic, agreed to become the godfather of the son of Conrad, in memory of this one, sovereign of Lichtenberg. This last, having married the countess Ida d' Aldorf, was the son-in-law of the Empereur. This child was called Ludovic like the emperor; the baptism had taken place at the Born house.

The Vosges in XIIIe century

The first three decades of the 13th century were for the Vosgean Noblesse one period of peace and quietude. With Haguenau, town of Barberousse, the situation was very different. The Hohenstaufen liked to reside in their luxurious castle of Haguenau.

Surrounded of the Alsatian nobility , time that they passed to Haguenau summarized the day, with tournaments, sets of weapons and huntings, and the night, with sumptuous feasts at the time which the most famous troubadours, poets and scholars in order to maintain were brought together the court.

In fact only the feasts attracted the knighthood, the ladies, the abbots of the rich person Couvent S of Wissembourg, Stürzelbronn, Neubourg, Walbourg, Seltz, but more especially the gifts exempted at the time of such occasions, by the Empereur. But their situation changed. The star of the Hohenstaufen ceased shining.

Right of most extremely

One barbarian period fell down on the the Vosges and the Alsace. The law, right, and the order was ridiculed. The cities or Couvent S of the bishop S clashed. Lords revolted against king or emperor. The German Emperor S in front of fighting themselves for the conservation of the crown and their goods in Italy, the Alsatian nobility was thus delivered to itself.

It thus tried to extend its capacity, to be freed from the emperors and other lords, and to declare their goods feudal as being their own inheritance. The fear has being large in the the Vosges where a great number of castles reigned on the valleys.

The stronghold and the stronghold of second hand

The the Vosges, of Saverne to the Palatinat, were mainly property of prince d' Etticho when this last gave its heritage in stronghold to its descendants such as the bishops of Metz and Strasbourg, the princes of Lorraine, the lords of Lichtenberg, Fleckenstein, Ochsenstein, Dagsbourg.

These noble defended the rich person convents, who were in, and around the forest of Haguenau, against various attackers. The convents offered services, and conversely, those to them could require the assistance of the governor, representative of the emperor, if they dealt with more extremely than them.

Many knights of the the Vosges benefitted from this period from disorder, for insécuriser of the whole areas by perpetrating confusions and flights. Their reputation continues them still today, in the rumors. To these knights plunderers, was opposed without much resistance, the weak knight of the nobility local, land, from which the possessions often extended on several miles. It also had duties towards its serfs. If it held its possessions in stronghold on behalf of a convent or of any power, it could ask the protection of the lord, in the event of danger. The law and the order were left with the despotic will.

The noble ones of Born

The noble ones of Born were in this difficult situation because they had many possessions (part of the the average Vosges bears their name). They were delimited, in the east by the Schwarzbach close to the Jaegerthal, in the west by the Zinsel close to Zinswiller, in the south by the episcopal city of Reichshoffen, which became later property of the Ochsenstein, and in north by the Vosgean massive .

This noble family, which one does not know the origin with precision, was established here from time immemorial. Their possessions extended far beyond the territory bearing their name. With Niederbronn, Oberbronn, Zinswiller, Offwiller, Gumbrechtshoffen, they had many grounds, forests, grounds cleared inter alia, to which many serfs were attached.

As they had inherited their goods, the lords of Born found themselves without suzerain, and consequently without guard. Their powerful neighbors were the bishops of Strasbourg, and the lords of Lichtenberg.

Thus, to save their properties, they sought the protection of their two neighbors and proposed their goods including their castle, Wasenburg, with the évêché of Strasbourg in stronghold. They recovered those in stronghold of second hand with the help of a payment of certain tributes and taxes. Themselves were riders near the lords of Lichtenberg; those made them reinstate the castle of Wasenburg as lords.

Thus the noble ones of Born were on the one hand the vassal ones of the évêché of Strasbourg, and on the other hand, the warriors of the lords of Lichtenberg. But they were to swear fidelity, to accept the port of the weapons, to maintain a troop armed in time of war as in times peace, to get the horses necessary, and to take care of the training of the soldiers and their availability in the event of conflict.

To cover the expenditure caused by the maintenance with such a large army, the lords of Lichtenberg allocated in Born, the Dîme in the form of grain, of wine, cattle, oats, directly brought to the castle. They obtained in addition to one wages, a compensation for all the damage caused by wars or conflicts and undergone by their properties, like their horses and their riders.

Moreover, one ensured to them the right of demolition, hunting, water in the vast forests of Lichtenberg. Nevertheless, in time of war, the banner white-red flanked of the black lion of the Lichtenberg, floated in top of the belfry of Wasenburg.

The bishop Conrad de Lichtenberg

In the year the 1273, oldest of the wire Lichtenberg, Conrad, is named bishop of Strasbourg. After the important events which have occurred in our area, one expected calmer times, more especially as, the same year, the German princes of Frankfurt had elected, the mayor of Strasbourg and provost of the High-Alsace, Rodolphe de Habsbourg, German Empereur .

This powerful prince restores peace and the order, but left his old friend, Conrad de Lichtenberg, a little too much to be occupied with his warlike occupations as well and so well, as the first conflict burst, already the first year, in the Vosgean massive . There for a long time existed a hatred between the two close families, that of the princes de Lorraine, and that of the princes de Lichtenberg.

Very often, one observed squabbles between guard-pastoral and gamekeeper; they plundered, one the other, farms and villages without there being an open war. Conrad, hardly named bishop, seizes the first occasion which was offered to him, to flee, with its cavalry at the bishop of Metz which carried out a war against its suzerain Frederic of Lorraine.

The small army of Conrad fell into a ambush, was beaten and had to go. It is only using raised ransoms, and of the intervention of the Empereur, that peace was signed in 1274. Conrad had to pay with Bitche 800 million for its person, and 1100 let us millons for its knights.

The disputes between the Lichtenberg and the lord lasted in a quasi uninterrupted way until in 1290, date on which was established a durable peace when the girl of the lords of Lorraine married the count Conrad of Freiburg, whose mother was a Lichtenberg. In the palate of the bishop, with Strasbourg, this great festival took place to which was invited a great number of representatives of the Alsatian nobility .

This war which lasted more than thirty years, with some truces, was one very hard period for Niederbronn, Oberbronn, Reichshoffen like for the castles, the courses and the fields of the neighbouring mountains. It is in these facts, that the castles of Lichtenberg, perhaps that of Wasenburg and well of others on the side of the the Vosges, were annexed.

Lastly, after so much of years of war, it years ago of peace in this area of the the Vosges. The bishop of Strasbourg dealt particularly with its goods. The Castle of Lichtenberg and also that of Wasenburg, in ruin, were rebuilt, because the suzerain of this last was indebted in Born, his man of war. Because at the time the poor knight would not have had the means of building a so beautiful castle.

In 1362, the " Wahsseburg die Burg " always belongs to the Lichtenberg. In 1398, on the other hand, the margrave of Bade has rights there. The castle then has just been occupied by the Strasbourg eois during the War of Bitche. The margrave insists at the city so that it restores with its vassal, Lamprecht and Wilhelm de Brunne, the castle " vestin " .

In 1400 Brons repurchase the castle with the Lichtenberg, that they will give again to them in gagère in 1407. In 1453, the castle is repurchased and entrusted to Simon de Zeissikeim and in 1480, after the extinction of the Lichtenberg, the Deux-Ponts - Bitche inherits all.

The castle is still inhabited with half of the 17th century and is undoubtedly destroyed by the French of Montclar.

Still visible characteristics

Its wall-shield, always visible, is sufficiently high and broad to replace the tower and to have an interior staircase. A very beautiful window made up of nine juxtaposed and surmounted lancets of stained glass of seven openwork rosettes opens on the plain of Alsace.

Access

In the city, to follow the circuit of Wasenburg, marked out of a red rectangle.

Sources

Die Wasenburg : Eine Elsässische Ritterburg im 14. Jahrhundert und ein Römischer Merkurtemple , Charles Matthis with Niederbronn-the-Baths (1906).
Ruins of the Castle-Forts of the Vosges of North - Their Origin and History , E. Mandel (1962).
Castles and Guerriers of Medieval Alsace , Robert Will with Strasbourg (1975).
Castle-Forts of XIIe and 14th centuries - vol. 2 , Jean Wirth.
Dreizehn Burgen of Unter-Elsasses , J.G. Lehmann with Strasbourg (1978).

External bonds

Official site of the Tourist office

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