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Burg Castle | |
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Schloss Burg | |
Location within Germany | |
General information | |
Location | Solingen, Germany |
Coordinates | 51°08′15″N7°09′10″E / 51.13750°N 7.15278°E |
Website | |
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Burg Castle (German : Schloss Burg), located in Burg an der Wupper (Solingen), is the largest reconstructed castle in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a popular tourist attraction. Its early history is closely connected to the rise of the Duchy of Berg.
At the beginning of the 12th century (after 1133), Count Adolf III of Berg built Schloss Burg on a mountain overlooking the river Wupper. The old castle of the counts, Castle Berge in Odenthal near Altenberg, was abandoned. The original name of the new castle was Castle Neuenberge (Newmountain), or in Latin, novus mons, novum castrum, or novi montis castrum. Not until the 15th century, after significant reconstruction as a hunting castle, did it receive its current name reflecting its palatial extension.
His great-grandson, Count Adolf VI of Berg took part in the Fifth Crusade and died during the siege of Damietta in Egypt in 1218. Since the late count had no male descendants his younger brother, Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne, took over the reign of the county needing two feuds to win the inheritance dispute with Duke Waleran III of Limburg. As count Engelbert II of Berg he built the palas of Burg castle 1218–1225. Engelbert was a very powerful man, not only archbishop and count, but also advisor and chief administrator to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and guardian and tutor of the later king Henry (VII) of Germany. But he also made enemies and on 7 November 1225, he was murdered by his nephew Friedrich von Isenberg.
The War of succession for the Duchy of Limburg influenced the history of the castle. Count Adolf VIII of Berg participated successfully in the decisive battle of Worringen on 5 June 1288. After the battle, the opposing archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried II of Westerburg, was kept prisoner in the castle. Adolf VIII now was able to proceed to elevate his town, Düsseldorf, to a city and was able to control traffic on the Rhine river. In the 13th and 14th centuries Schloss Burg remained the main residence of the counts of Berg. Five years after King Wenzel elevated Count William to the position of a duke in 1380, Düsseldorf became the capital of the Duchy of Berg. Schloss Burg continued to serve as a hunting castle and was used for ceremonial events, hence it became a "Schloss" (representative castle). Thus in 1496, Maria of Jülich-Berg was engaged as a child to John of Cleves-Mark (later John III, Duke of Cleves). Their wedding took place 14 years later at Burg and led to the unification of the duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. The second daughter of this couple was Anne of Cleves, briefly married to Henry VIII of England. [1]
In 1632 Swedish soldiers laid siege to the castle. After the Thirty years war, in 1648, Imperial troops destroyed the fortifications of the castle including the keep, walls, and gates. In 1700, the main building was partially reconstructed and subsequently used for administrative purposes. 1849, the castle was sold to be scrapped, decayed, and became a ruin.
The architect Gerhard August Fischer from Barmen proposed in 1882 the reconstruction and submitted drawings and plans based on old documents, primarily using the castle's appearance in the 16th century. Since 1890 the castle reconstruction committee has led the restoration of the castle over the next 24 years. Painters from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf participated. With the erection of the Battery Tower in 1914 the work seemed complete.
On the night of 26 November 1920 a large fire destroyed much of the castle. Subsequently, visitors had to pay entry fees and the money was used to restore and rebuild the castle again. Reconstruction lasted from 1922 to 1925. In 1929 the Engelbert monument by the sculptor Paul Wynand was dedicated to honor the builder and archbishop.
Today's appearance does not exactly match the condition documented by Erich Philipp Ploennies in about 1715. The reconstructed castle of today is a major public attraction. It also contains the Museum of the Bergisches Land. The castle church is popular for weddings. The castle is also home to the Memorial for Deportation and the Memorial of the German Eastern Provinces with church bells from Königsberg and Breslau. In addition, commercial shops for souvenirs are located on the grounds.
The surroundings offer hiking trails to the forests and to Unterburg, that is where the village is located, at the foot of the mountain. There you can buy the Burger Brezel, a local pretzel specialty; the pretzel bakers even have a monument. A chairlift (Seilbahn) connects Unterburg and the castle.
Burg used to be an independent township until it became part of Solingen in 1975.
Linguistically, "Schloss Burg" would be translated as "palace castle" - a tautology, yet in German "Schloss" refers to a representative building and "Burg" to a fortification - an oxymoron.
Altena is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern stretches of the Sauerland.
Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.
The County of Mark was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay on both sides of the Ruhr River along the Volme and Lenne rivers.
The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen, which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succession, fought for the possession of the Duchy of Limburg between on one side the Archbishop Siegfried II of Cologne and Count Henry VI of Luxembourg, and on the other side, Duke John I of Brabant.
The Duchy of Cleves was a State of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval Hettergau. It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the towns of Wesel, Kalkar, Xanten, Emmerich, Rees and Duisburg bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west. Its history is closely related to that of its southern neighbours: the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, as well as Guelders and the Westphalian county of Mark. The Duchy was archaically known as Cleveland in English.
Count Engelbert II of Berg, also known as Saint Engelbert, Engelbert of Cologne, Engelbert I, Archbishop of Cologne or Engelbert I of Berg, Archbishop of Cologne was archbishop of Cologne and a saint; he was notoriously murdered by a member of his own family.
Count Frederick of Isenberg was a German noble, the younger son of Arnold of Altena. Before the split between Arnold of Altena-Isenberg the eldest and his brother Friedrich Altena-Mark the younger son of Everhard von Berg-Altena. His family castle was the Isenberg near Hattingen, Germany.
Count Adolf VI of Berg ruled the County of Berg from 1197 until 1218.
The House of La Marck was a noble family, which from about 1200 appeared as the counts of Mark.
Sibylle of Cleves was electress consort of Saxony.
The House of Limburg-Stirum, which adopted its name in the 12th century from the immediate county of Limburg an der Lenne in what is now Germany, is one of the oldest families in Europe. It is the eldest and only surviving branch of the House of Berg, which was among the most powerful dynasties in the region of the lower Rhine during the Middle Ages. Some historians link them to an even older dynasty, the Ezzonen, going back to the 9th century.
SiegfriedII of Westerburg was Archbishop of Cologne from 1275 to 1297.
Henry of Berg, Lord of Windeck was the son of Adolf VII of Berg and Margaret of Hochstaden. He was the younger brother of Adolf VIII of Berg and William I of Berg.
Adolf VIII of Berg was the eldest son of Count Adolf VII of Berg and Margaret of Hochstaden.
The house of Limburg Hohenlimburg took its name in the 12th century from the county of Limburg on the river Lenne in today's Germany. After Diederick of Isenberg had claimed part of the former property of his father Frederik of Isenberg with the help of uncle Duke Hendrik of Limburg, he built the Hohenlimburg castle on the river Lenne. At fifty years of age, his third son Everhart, closest descendant of the original holder, succeeded him in the county. Mentioned count, in original kept charters, since 1276 together with his father. It was clear that the future male-line primogeniture was granted. Everhard is the ancestor of the family branch of the counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg and Broich. His first brother Henry died young and second Johan (1247-1277), died at the age of thirty, left three children. Johan is the ancestor of the house Lords of Limburg Stirum. The Counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg and Broich were not count by name with a late 17th century certified title but actually ruled the county of Limburg-Lenne since the 13th century, until the first quarter of the 16th century. The last count Johan (1464-1511) who had no descendants of his own. None of his only two male relatives, cousins Diederick and Adolf of Limburg, sons of his former godfather Johan of Limburg (1421-1472), had inheritance rights, as explained below. To prevent the family of his former wife Von Neuenahr from taking the county, Count Johan adopted his cousin Irmgard of Sayn at her marriage to Winrich of Daun. She and her husband inherited the county.
Diederik III of Limburg Hohenlimburg, born around 1328, was the eldest son of Everhard II van Limburg Hohenlimburg and Juta of Sayn. Twenty years later he followed the 9th of August 1364 his grandfather Diederik II count of Limburg Hohenlimburg. In 1366 Diederik III became the Amtmann of Angermünde, the district between Duisburg and Düsseldorf. As the successor to lord Diederik III of Broich, who five years later would become his father-in-law. He also was Voght of the Rellinghausen Abbey. On 3 July 1371 Diederik married Ludgardis (Lukarda) daughter of Diederik of Broich and Katharina of Steinfurt. Lukarda was heiress of the Lordship Broich. At his wedding, he received a dowry of 1,600 old gold shields.
The Düsseldorf castle at or in the Düsseldorfer Altstadt existed from 1260 to 1872 or 1896. The building was erected in 1260 as a lowland castle of the Counts of Düsseldorf. Berg at the Rhine mouth of the Düssel on a small island. Extensions as Duke and Court Schloss took place under William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1549), Jan Wellem and Charles Theodore (1755). The palace gained international attention above all for its Düsseldorf Picture Gallery, which was built from 1709 to 1712 as the first independent gallery building It exhibited a world-famous collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings until 1805. From 1817 to 1848, part of the palace housed a mint of the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1845 onwards, the former residential palace, which at that time had already housed the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf for several decades, was developed under Friedrich Wilhelm IV into the Parliament of the Rhine Province Provincial Diet. In the night of 19 to 20 March 1872, the palace, for centuries the landmark of the residential city of Düsseldorf as well as a centre in the life and urban fabric of the old town, was a prey to the flames. A remaining south wing was demolished in 1896.
Engelbert of Altena-Isenberg was appointed Propst at St. George's Church in Cologne around 1220 and then Dompropst von Osnabrück in 1222. On September 4, 1223 Engelbertus, Osnabrugensis ecclesie maior prepositus he became Engelbert I bishop of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. and reigned during two periods, the first from 1224 - 1226 and the second from 1237 - 1250.
Dietrich IV of Limburg Hohenlimburg, born around 1375, was the second son Diederik III count of Limburg Hohenlimburg and Broich and Lukardis of Broich. He had an older sister Elisabeth and brother Willem I. Elisabeth married Dietrich IV of Volmestein. Willem married Metza of Reifferscheidt Erbin of Bedburg. Dietrich IV married Henrica of Wisch on 3 February 1415. Her father bannerlord Hendrik of Wisch and mother Elisabeth of Bronkhorst belonged to the most important nobility in Gelre. The bannerlords of Wisch had their castle Wisch on the old IJssel near Terborg.. Henrica had one younger sister Elisabeth married to Johan of Volmarstein. This created a double family ties between the Lower Rhine families Of Limburg, Of Volmarstein and the Gueldrian Of Wisch.