Burg Hohentann: A Hohenstaufen-Period Spur Castle in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
Burg Hohentann is a Hohenstaufen-period spur castle in Germany, near Altusried in Bavarian Swabia, generally dated to the twelfth century. The Hohenstaufen period was the era when that dynasty supplied kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, chiefly during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The castle’s builder, exact construction date, and original ancestral lord remain uncertain.
Early Lords and the Hohentann Family
Four brothers who were recorded in 1144 with the additional name “von Tanne” transferred three serfs to the Prince-Abbey of Kempten. Their connection with Hohentann is uncertain, since they may instead have come from Alttann Castle northeast of Ravensburg. Rudolf and Berthold von Erkentann, who served Ottobeuren Abbey, are other possible early lords.
The first secure reference to Hohentann dates from 1268. In that year, Berthold, Rudolf, and Konrad von Hohenegg divided their lordship, and Konrad received Hohentann. By no later than 1290, he was using the name “von Hohentann.” His son Rudolf succeeded him, swore allegiance to Duke Ludwig of Bavaria in 1322, and received Kempten’s city tax as pledged income. Rudolf’s sons, Rudolf and Hans, known as “the Monk,” later held the lordship.
A Substantial Lower-Noble Lordship
Hohentann formed a substantial lower-noble estate. Its holdings included the castle, a castle mill, and a farmyard, together with subjects and properties in Frauenzell and Muthmannshofen. In Legau, the lordship possessed two mills, a manor farm, a tavern, a bathhouse, and ten additional properties. Its rights in Kimratshofen included subjects, a manor farm, a mill, a tavern, and eight further properties.
Further properties, dependent farms, and people lay in Grünenbach, Hettisried, Käsers, Grund, Strimo, Schreiloch, Auf der Halde near Durach, Leuten, Staudach, Aigholz, Lanholz, Witzenberg, Wigelis, Zirs, and Engelharz. The lordship also exercised lower court jurisdiction, giving its holders judicial authority over lesser cases within their territory.
Transfer to the Heimenhofen Family
After a feud with the bishop, cathedral chapter, and city of Augsburg, the Hohentann family faced financial difficulties. In 1413, it sold the lordship to Berthold von Heimenhofen for 9,000 pounds heller, a monetary unit based on the heller. The property was divided later that year. Berthold received the larger share, while his brother Ulrich took the smaller portion. Ulrich nevertheless lived at the castle and styled himself “Ulrich von Heimenhofen zu Hohentann.”
A fire in 1454 destroyed important Heimenhofen documents concerning their rights. Emperor Friedrich III reconfirmed those rights, and the castle was repaired soon afterward. When Hieronymus von Heimenhofen zu Hohentann died without children in 1498, the Hohentann branch ended. The lordship passed to Heimenhofen heirs in Sonthofen.
Prince-Abbey Rule and Reformation Conflict
The Heimenhofen family pledged the lordship in 1499 to the Tyrolean chancellor Cyprian von Sarnstein. He in turn pledged it to the Prince-Abbey of Kempten in 1502 for 7,000 gulden, a larger currency used in the German-speaking lands. The pledge was not redeemed, so the abbey retained Hohentann and established a bailiwick there. A bailiwick was an administrative jurisdiction managed by a bailiff, and Erhard von Königsegg became its first bailiff.
On 9 April 1525, during the German Peasants’ War, insurgent peasants captured and plundered Burg Hohentann. This uprising of peasants and other lower social groups spread through the Holy Roman Empire in 1524 and 1525. The rebels allowed bailiff Hans Wernher von Raitnau, his wife, and their children to leave for Leutkirch in the Allgäu with his possessions, but made him surrender his horses.
In 1529, the Prince-Abbot of Kempten imprisoned Andreas Öder, pastor of Frauenzell, at Hohentann because he preached the new Protestant faith. Öder was later taken to Meersburg Castle and burned at the stake after refusing to renounce his faith.
Abandonment and Later Destruction
Repairs to the complete roof structure, the tower, and the bridge leading to the castle took place in 1595. In 1642, the Hohentann bailiwick was dissolved and replaced by an administrative office serving nine municipalities. Maintaining the castle as the office’s seat was too expensive, so the administrative center moved to Lautrach Castle. Hohentann was abandoned as a residence and subsequently fell into decay.
The Prince-Abbey of Kempten was dissolved during secularization in 1803, when its territorial and institutional property passed into secular ownership. The castle was then sold for use as a quarry. Gravel extraction continued in the neck ditch, a ditch cut across the connecting side of a spur, until the 1980s. The work reduced the castle site to roughly half its former size.
Remains
Castle Spur and Defenses
Burg Hohentann stands at about 835 metres above sea level on the northwest-facing spur of the Langenberg, near the Hohentann isolated farmstead in the Altusried area. The site lies west of and near Kimratshofen but belongs to the cadastral district of Muthmannshofen. As a spur castle, it occupied a projecting ridge whose steep slopes fell toward the valley on three sides.
The castle area measured approximately 20 by 40 metres. A ditch protected the tip of the spur, while a second ditch secured the side toward the mountain plateau. The former approach came from the southeast, crossing a bridge over the ditch. That bridge was among the structures repaired in 1595.
Castle Mound and Associated Buildings
The roughly rectangular castle mound retains foundation remains from former buildings, although very few traces are visible today. Gravel extraction severely disturbed the area, filled in a well that had stood in the affected section, and reduced the site to about half its earlier extent.
On the eastern side of the mound is a lower plateau measuring 12 by 8 metres. Old views show that another building stood there outside the enclosing wall. The present Hohentann isolated farmstead occupies the former castle farmyard, while the Holzmühle southeast of the castle site also once belonged to the estate. A memorial stone now marks the castle site.
