Burg Davensberg: A Lowland Castle in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Burg Davensberg is a lowland castle in Germany, located in Davensberg, a district of Ascheberg. Probably built around 1250, most likely by the Lords of Meinhövel, it stood on relatively level, wet terrain rather than on a naturally defensive hill or mountain. The complex later passed through several noble families before suffering severe destruction during the Thirty Years’ War.
Meinhövel and Büren Ownership
Around 1320, Gerburg, the Meinhövel heiress, transferred half of the castle through her marriage to the Lords of Büren. This noble family came from the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn, a territory governed by a prince-bishop who held both religious and secular authority. After the last male member of the Meinhövel family died around 1360, the Lords of Büren acquired the remaining half as well.
Transfer, Destruction, and Decline
In 1589, marriages involving the heiresses Agnes and Johanna von Büren transferred the castle to the Lords of Morrien of Nordkirchen and to Wolf von Füchteln, a nobleman. During the Thirty Years’ War, Lüneburg troops burned the complex and the adjoining castle liberty in 1634. A castle liberty was a settlement or area governed under special legal privileges associated with a castle.
The Morrien family became the sole owner of the buildings in 1736. From about 1750, the complex gradually fell into decay. The surviving tower was restored in 1971 and now contains a museum operated by the Davensberg local heritage association, with a main focus on historic rural agricultural equipment.
Remains
Burg Davensberg survives as a brick-and-rubble-masonry round tower, excavated foundation remains, and rubble. The castle was arranged as a main castle and an outer bailey, a defended outer enclosure generally separated from the main castle by a moat or similar boundary. The main-castle remains lie on an undeveloped rise north of the tower, while the outer bailey occupied open ground south of the ruin mound.
Round Tower
The surviving round tower was probably built between about 1500 and 1530, during an expansion of the castle complex. Its lower levels contain a dungeon and a prison, while the upper floor has a room with a fireplace. The tower also contains a torture chamber and a witches’ stock, a restraint or confinement device historically associated with the punishment or detention of alleged witches. Its restoration in 1971 preserved the principal standing structure of the castle.
Main Castle and Outer Bailey
From the early sixteenth century, the main castle was enclosed by a brick curtain wall approximately 2.35 metres thick. A curtain wall is a continuous defensive wall enclosing a castle or one of its sections. The entrance to the main castle crossed a drawbridge west of the tower. A gatehouse stood in the southwestern part of the outer bailey.
The 1834 Rhenish-Westphalian original cadastral survey records two buildings whose long sides followed the course of the inner moat. Their recorded alignment helps define the arrangement of the former complex alongside the surviving tower, foundations, and rubble.
Mills and Water Defenses
A large mill and a small mill stood east of the castle. To the south, a mill pond formed the outer moat and received water from the Emmerbach. In front of the mills, the Hahnenbrinksbach branched from the Emmerbach. It powered the mills and protected the castle site to the north and east.
