Burg Wallenrode: A Medieval Hilltop Castle in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Burg Wallenrode is a medieval hilltop castle in Germany, built in the mid-thirteenth century by Albert von Waldinrode, son of the Meranian marshal Eberhard Förtsch von Thurnau. It became the ancestral castle of the Wallenrode family, a medieval service-noble family whose members served secular and ecclesiastical lords in administrative and military roles. The castle stood on the Burgstein in the Geroldsgrün Forest, near Geroldsgrün in Bavaria.
Foundation and Bamberg rule
The Wallenrode family served the Andechs-Meraniers, a powerful medieval noble dynasty whose possessions and inheritance shaped the political setting of the region. After the dynasty became extinct, Burg Wallenrode passed to the bishops of Bamberg. An urbar, a medieval administrative register of an institution’s property, rights, and revenues, still listed the castle in Episcopal Urbar A around 1325.
Destruction and later traditions
The castle was probably destroyed between the entry in Urbar A and the compilation of Urbar B in 1348. Its destruction took place during the conflict between the bishops of Bamberg and the Counts of Orlamünde over the inheritance of the Andechs-Meraniers. The Wallenrode family then moved toward Bad Berneck and built Neu-Wallenrode. The earlier stronghold consequently became known as Alt-Wallenrode, while Burg Hohenrod is regarded as its predecessor.
The surviving ramparts have prompted a theory that the site may have existed during the period of the Hungarian invasions, when earthworks were used to defend against mounted forces. This interpretation remains uncertain. Local legends connect the castle with a communion chalice supposedly found there and with a treasure that has not been recovered. Johann Christoph Stierlein completed the first highly precise map of the castle area and its surviving remains in 1816. Burg Wallenrode is protected as an archaeological monument under designation D-4-5635-0010.
Remains
Burg Wallenrode occupies a hilltop spur at about 575 metres above sea level on the Burgstein. The complex extended for no more than approximately 314 by 60 metres and was divided into four sections by ramparts and ditches. The defensive earthworks preserve the organization of the spur castle, including the narrow fortified core, outer areas, and the cuts across the spur that separated the castle from the adjoining terrain.
Core defenses and outer areas
Fortified core
The wedge-shaped core area measured approximately 8 by 30 metres. The main castle on the mountain spur was protected by two deep neck ditches. A neck ditch is a defensive ditch cut across the narrow land connection of a spur. These ditches, together with the surviving ramparts, define the most strongly defended part of the complex.
Outer baileys
Two outer areas, each separated by additional ramparts, are regarded as outer baileys, or fortified spaces beyond the main castle. Their arrangement may reflect different phases of use. Several ramparts and ditches survive across the wider complex, preserving its division into separate defensive areas and the outline of its former hilltop layout.
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