Sporkenburg

P3

The Sporkenburg in April 2009

The Sporkenburg is the ruin of a late medieval castle spur about one kilometer south of Eitelborn in the Westerwald district in Rhineland- Palatinate.

Location

The ruin lies on the boundary of the village Eitelborn Westerwald above the national road 329 between Bad Ems and Arzbach. Located in the forest, the Sporkenburg is not easy to find. It follows best from the eastern outskirts Eitel Born from ( Erlenweg, near the cemetery) the signs down the castle path in the forest. You pass the barrier and assumes the junction the path to the right which drops slightly. Alternatively, one rises from the L 329, of which can be seen from the castle overlooking the valley. The non-farmed ruin is accessible at all times.

Plant

The tower castle located on an approximately rectangular mountain spur above the Emsbaches. The spur falls to the west, south and east from steep. In the north of the castle is preceded by a moat. The outer defenses and the south upstream kennels are almost completely gone.

The main castle is 35 meters long and 18 meters wide. She does not have a dungeon. On the north side of the castle has a five-story, reinforced with tour Ellen, slightly bent, shield wall with a height of almost 20 meters. In the western curtain wall, the access was to the main castle. On the south side of the densely built-up inner castle, the palace, the outside walls have survived was. The eastern part of the main castle is fully disposed of.

History

Probably under Archbishop Poppo (1016-1047) came the lower Engersgau under the rule of the Electorate of Trier. For this possession gave Archbishop Engelbert (1079-1101), the village Dezerhaid the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias. In the late 13th century, this was the place as a fiefdom owned by Emmerich of Andernach and Heinrich von Lahnstein. This began with the construction of a castle. The castle was, however, by Count Otto von Nassau, governor of the Electorate of Trier destroyed as. Then Heinrich von Lahnstein transferred its rights to Dezerhaid to Henry II of Helfenstein.

Let Henry II of Helfenstein, probably not rebuild on the old site that Sporkenburg in 1310. He carried her to the Archbishop of Trier Baldwin (1307-1354) as a fief. The castle became the center of the domain Helfenstein - Sporkenburg. The family of Helfenstein had in addition to their family castle (castle Helfenstein ), which was located below the castle kurtrierischen Ehrenbreitstein nor the mill brook castle in Arenberg.

In 1515, Johann von Helfenstein sold the castle to John and Quyrin of Nassau (not with the Count of Nassau to be confused ). In the deed the castle was described as "vast buwefellig ". Of the lords of Nassau Castle in 1604 went to the von Metternich. In the Thirty Years' War it was destroyed in 1635 by the French.

State Chancellor Prince Metternich sold the ruins 1811. Ownership went to Prussia in 1900 and 1948 to Rhineland- Palatinate. The State Conservation Office Rhineland -Palatinate restored since 1967, gradually the existing ruins.