Hanstein Castle
Encyclopedia
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
in Central Germany
Central Germany (geography)
In geography, central Germany describes the areas surrounding the central point of modern-day Germany.The town of Niederdorla, in the state of Thuringia, claims to be the most central town in Germany...
near Bornhagen
Bornhagen
Bornhagen is a Thuringian municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Germany, located at the foot of the ruins of Hanstein Castle. The town district Rimbach is positioned directly on the castle citadel at an elevation of 450 m....
in the Eichsfeld
Eichsfeld
The Eichsfeld is a historical region in the southeast of Lower Saxony and northwest of Thuringia in the south of the Harz mountains...
, situated above the river Werra
Werra
The Werra is a river in central Germany, the right-source river of the Weser. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After 293 km the Werra joins the river Fulda in the town of Hann. Münden, forming the Weser....
in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
. The name of the nobles von Hansteins, most notable Fritz Huschke von Hanstein
Fritz Huschke von Hanstein
Fritz Sittig Enno Werner von Hanstein , nicknamed "Huschke von Hanstein", was a German race driver who from the 1950s served as Porsche's public relations manager and chief of the racing department of Porsche....
, derived from the castle.
History
According to the cronicles of Corvey AbbeyCorvey Abbey
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey was a Benedictine monastery on the River Weser, 2 km northeast of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany....
a haanstedihus was given to one Eilhard between 826-853. The chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld
Lambert of Hersfeld
Lambert of Hersfeld was a medieval chronicler, probably a Thuringian by birth. His work represents a major source for the history of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire in the eleventh century....
mentioned the destruction of Burg Hanenstein, then in possession of Saxon
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
Count Otto von Northeim
Otto of Nordheim
Otto of Northeim was Duke of Bavaria from 1061 until 1070. He was one of the leaders of the Saxon revolt against Emperor Henry IV....
, by King Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
in 1070. The castle was inherited by the House of Welf and in 1203 it was in the possession of Count Palatine Henry V
Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine
Henry was count palatine of the Rhine from 6 August 1195 to 1213.Henry was the eldest son of Duke Henry the Lion, from his marriage to Matilda, eldest daughter of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He grew up in England and became count palatine of the Rhine through his 1193...
, then of his brother Emperor Otto IV
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto IV of Brunswick was one of two rival kings of the Holy Roman Empire from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and emperor from 1209 on. The only king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215.-Early life:Otto was the third son of Henry the...
, who in 1209 granted it to the Archbishopric of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
.
In 1308, Heinrich and Lippold von Hanstein with the permission of Bishop Peter of Aspelt
Peter of Aspelt
Peter Aspelt was Archbishop of Mainz from 1306 to 1320, and an influential political figure of the period. He brought the archbishopric to its peak of power....
began to re-build the whole of the castle. The walls and gates destroyed during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
were re-built between 1655 and 1658. In 1840, the building of a new hall for family conferences was being finished.
Massive renovations between 1904 and 1907.
In 1946, Hanstein Castle became the property of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
. Due to the fact that the border was only several hundred meters away one of the towers was used by the border guard as a watch tower. Some renovations started in 1985, although no tourists were allowed to go to the castle, because of the border.