Schweizerischer Burgenverein is a Swiss voluntary association dedicated to the study and preservation of medieval castles in Switzerland.
Established in 1927 as Schweizerische Vereinigung zur Erhaltung der Burgen und Ruinen ("Swiss association for the preservation of castles and ruins"; the current name was adopted in 1959), its original purpose was the securing of castle ruins to prevent their further decay. Under the presidency of Hugo Schneider (1955–1972), the focus shifted on archaeological research, including the first systematic excavations of many sites earlier acquired by the association. Since 1975, the association has been a member of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.
During its earlier history, the association served an important function in the preservation of the historical record and archaeological research, a role which was increasingly taken over by state-financed cantonal offices for archaeology since the 1970s, causing the Burgenverein to shift its focus to scientific publication (a journal on medieval archaeology, Schweizer Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, ISSN 1661-4550, since 1974) and education of the general public (the magazine Mittelalter – Moyen Age – Medioevo – Temp Medieval appeared since 1996). The association reported a number of 1,200 members as of 2013.
The phantom time hypothesis is a historical conspiracy theory asserted by Heribert Illig. First published in 1991, it hypothesizes a conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, to fabricate the Anno Domini dating system retrospectively, in order to place them at the special year of AD 1000, and to rewrite history to legitimize Otto's claim to the Holy Roman Empire. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical evidence. According to this scenario, the entire Carolingian period, including the figure of Charlemagne, is a fabrication, with a "phantom time" of 297 years added to the Early Middle Ages.
Walter Schlesinger was a German historian of medieval social and economic institutions, particularly in the context of German regional history ("Landesgeschichte"). Schlesinger is widely recognized as one of the most influential and prolific scholars of medieval social history in the post-war period.
Silenen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.
The ruins of Wulp Castle is a castle located besides Küsnachter Tobel in the municipality of Küsnacht and the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It was built during the high Middle Ages. Despite this, the castle is documented only in a few found texts, and much of the castle's history is not known. However, in the chronicle of Muri Abbey, a castle that could perhaps fit Ruine Wulp's description - a castle in proximity to Zurich and Lake Zurich - was mentioned, but this has not been confirmed by other findings and is mere speculation. Also, a person named Eghart of Küsnacht was mentioned in the chronicle and several other documents to be the owner of the castle in the late 11th century.
Hans-Georg Stephan is a German university professor specializing in European medieval archaeology and post-medieval archaeology.
Hayo Vierck was a German archaeologist, who made a distinguished contribution to German Early Medieval archaeology through research in the industrial arts.
Münsterhof is a town square situated in the Lindenhof quarter in the historical center of Zürich, Switzerland. Münsterhof is the largest town square within the Altstadt of Zürich, and is surrounded by medieval buildings. The area forms part of the southern extension of the Quaianlagen promenades of Zürich's lakefront.
Zwing Uri is a ruined medieval castle north of Amsteg, today in the territory of the municipality of Silenen in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
The Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM), Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology, is headquartered in Mainz. It is supported by the Federal Republic of Germany and its states and is a member of the Leibniz Association of German research institutions.
Fracstein Castle is a castle in the municipality of Seewis im Prättigau of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Sieglinde Hartmann is a German medievalist, expert on the medieval poet Oswald von Wolkenstein and president of the Oswald von Wolkenstein-Gesellschaft.
Barbara Scholkmann was professor of medieval archaeology at the University of Tübingen until her retirement in 2007. From 2001 to 2006, she was vice-chancellor for study and teaching at Tübingen. Scholkmann is a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute. She is a former school teacher.
Horst Wolfgang Böhme is a German archaeologist with a focus on Late Antiquity / Early Middle Ages and research into castles.
Brekov Castle is a ruined Gothic and Renaissance era stone castle above the village of Brekov in Humenné District, Prešov Region, in east Slovakia. It is a hilltop castle located on a cone-shaped hill with a limestone bedrock, in an altitude of approximately 480 m (1574.80 ft) above sea level. The eponymous village at the foot of the castle hill was founded as an adjoined castle settlement, similarly to several other villages in the region. Brekov and Brekov Castle lie in the traditional region of Zemplín. The castle is listed in the National Cultural Heritage list of the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic.
Zunft zum Kämbel is a Zunft (guild) organisation in Zürich, Switzerland. The guild was established in 1336; their guild house, the Haus zur Haue building, is situated at the Limmatquai.
Hohenfels Castle, also called Schloss Hohenfels or New Hohenfels (Neu-Hohenfels) is a medieval spur castle in which a boarding school was housed until July 2017. The castle stands within the parish of Kalkofen, over a kilometre north of the village itself, which is part of the municipality of Hohenfels in the county of Konstanz in Germany. The castle gave its name to the municipality of Hohenfels which was created in 1973.
Neideck Castle is a former high mediaeval nobleman's castle above the village of Streitberg, in the municipality of Wiesenttal in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in the German state of Bavaria. As a result of its exposed location above the valley of the Wiesent, it has become a symbol of Franconian Switzerland.
The ruins of Bärnfels Castle are the remains of a late mediaeval aristocratic castle on the southern edge of the village of Bärnfels in the municipality of Obertrubach in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in Bavaria. The ruins of the spur castle are freely accessible.
Sister-books is the term for a group of texts in the medieval literature. These works were written by Dominican nuns in the first half of the fourteenth century in South Germany and Switzerland. They relate the mystical experiences of sisters within the monastery, and were influential in the development of medieval mysticism.
Helmut Neuhaus is a German historian who specialises on the Early modern period. From 1989 to 2009 he held the Chair of Modern History I at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg.
