Misplaced Pages

#533466

119-579: The municipality lies in the Odenbach valley in the North Palatine Uplands in the Western Palatinate. The municipal area measures 294 ha, of which 20 ha is wooded and 10 ha is settled. Adenbach borders in the northwest and north on the municipality of Odenbach , in the east and southeast on the municipality of Becherbach , in the south on the municipality of Ginsweiler and in

238-501: A Romantic revival of Gothic architecture , but they had no military purpose. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum , which is a diminutive of the word castrum , meaning "fortified place". The Old English castel , Occitan castel or chastel , French château , Spanish castillo , Portuguese castelo , Italian castello , and a number of words in other languages also derive from castellum . The word castle

357-456: A base of operations in enemy territory. Castles were established by Norman invaders of England for both defensive purposes and to pacify the country's inhabitants. As William the Conqueror advanced through England, he fortified key positions to secure the land he had taken. Between 1066 and 1087, he established 36 castles such as Warwick Castle , which he used to guard against rebellion in

476-410: A castle to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion , palace , and villa , whose main purpose was exclusively for pleasance and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over

595-595: A drawbridge , although these were often replaced by stone bridges. The site of the 13th-century Caerphilly Castle in Wales covers over 30 acres (12 ha) and the water defences, created by flooding the valley to the south of the castle, are some of the largest in Western Europe. Battlements were most often found surmounting curtain walls and the tops of gatehouses, and comprised several elements: crenellations , hoardings , machicolations , and loopholes . Crenellation

714-488: A 1415 document comes word that Friedrich III, the last count in the line (he died in 1444 without a male heir), took Syfryd vom Obirnstein (Siegfried von Oberstein) as a vassal. He enfeoffed his new man with many holdings and income rights, even with shares in Castle Odenbach and lands in several villages, among them Adenbach and the now vanished village of Mannweiler. The Counts Palatine (Dukes) of Zweibrücken introduced

833-466: A Roman fort or Byzantine tetrapyrgia which were square in plan and had square towers at each corner that did not project much beyond the curtain wall. The keep of these Crusader castles would have had a square plan and generally be undecorated. While castles were used to hold a site and control movement of armies, in the Holy Land some key strategic positions were left unfortified. Castle architecture in

952-462: A barbican was not just to provide another line of defence but also to dictate the only approach to the gate. A moat was a ditch surrounding a castle – or dividing one part of a castle from another – and could be either dry or filled with water. Its purpose often had a defensive purpose, preventing siege towers from reaching walls making mining harder, but could also be ornamental. Water moats were found in low-lying areas and were usually crossed by

1071-551: A catch-all term for all kinds of fortifications , and as a result has been misapplied in the technical sense. An example of this is Maiden Castle which, despite the name, is an Iron Age hill fort which had a very different origin and purpose. Although castle has not become a generic term for a manor house (like château in French and Schloss in German), many manor houses contain castle in their name while having few if any of

1190-570: A common origin, dealt with a particular mode of warfare, and exchanged influences. In different areas of the world, analogous structures shared features of fortification and other defining characteristics associated with the concept of a castle, though they originated in different periods and circumstances and experienced differing evolutions and influences. For example, shiro in Japan, described as castles by historian Stephen Turnbull , underwent "a completely different developmental history, were built in

1309-476: A completely different way and were designed to withstand attacks of a completely different nature". While European castles built from the late 12th and early 13th century onwards were generally stone, shiro were predominantly timber buildings into the 16th century. By the 16th century, when Japanese and European cultures met, fortification in Europe had moved beyond castles and relied on innovations such as

SECTION 10

#1732883566534

1428-641: A confined space and unable to retaliate. It is a popular myth that murder holes  – openings in the ceiling of the gateway passage – were used to pour boiling oil or molten lead on attackers; the price of oil and lead and the distance of the gatehouse from fires meant that this was impractical. This method was, however, a common practice in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean castles and fortifications, where such resources were abundant. They were most likely used to drop objects on attackers, or to allow water to be poured on fires to extinguish them. Provision

1547-674: A farmer when his plough struck the foundation. Adenbach lay originally in the territory of the Counts of the Nahegau , from whom the new noble family of the Counts of Veldenz branched off about 1127. To a great extent, these counts acted as Schutzvögte – roughly “protectors” – over ecclesiastical holdings, namely those around Bad Sobernheim and Odernheim am Glan belonging to the Archbishopric of Mainz , those around Baumholder and Medard belonging to

1666-494: A first documentary mention not only for Adenbach ( Odenbach ), but also for Ginsweiler, Mannweiler and the two Sulzbachs (now Sulzbachtal). Junker Friedrich was Count Friedrich II of the younger line of the Counts of Veldenz. In a similar deposition from 1380, a knight named Gerhard von Alsenz likewise acknowledged receipt of holdings from Count Friedrich II, namely a share of Castle Odenbach and also “interest” from various villages, among them Adenbach, Mannweiler and Ginsweiler. From

1785-413: A fortification such as a city wall . The great hall was a large, decorated room where a lord received his guests. The hall represented the prestige, authority, and richness of the lord. Events such as feasts, banquets, social or ceremonial gatherings, meetings of the military council, and judicial trials were held in the great hall. Sometimes the great hall existed as a separate building, in that case, it

1904-587: A helve hole, a tureen-shaped thrown vessel, two dishes with curved rims and a heavily damaged dish with a thickened rim. The Romans , too, left behind traces in what is now Adenbach. As early as 1839, a farmer found an 8 cm-tall Minerva statuette , which is now kept at the Historisches Museum der Pfalz (“Historical Museum of the Palatinate”) in Speyer . In 1957, remnants of a villa rustica were found by

2023-605: A long time in a constant state of alert"; elsewhere the lord's wife presided over a separate residence ( domus , aula or mansio in Latin) close to the keep, and the donjon was a barracks and headquarters. Gradually, the two functions merged into the same building, and the highest residential storeys had large windows; as a result for many structures, it is difficult to find an appropriate term. The massive internal spaces seen in many surviving donjons can be misleading; they would have been divided into several rooms by light partitions, as in

2142-435: A lord's home or hall was fire as it was usually a wooden structure. To protect against this, and keep other threats at bay, there were several courses of action available: create encircling earthworks to keep an enemy at a distance; build the hall in stone; or raise it up on an artificial mound, known as a motte, to present an obstacle to attackers. While the concept of ditches , ramparts , and stone walls as defensive measures

2261-538: A massive scale, utilising stone, wood, iron and earth in their construction. The Romans encountered fortified settlements such as hill forts and oppida when expanding their territory into northern Europe. Their defences were often effective, and were only overcome by the extensive use of siege engines and other siege warfare techniques, such as at the Battle of Alesia . The Romans' own fortifications ( castra ) varied from simple temporary earthworks thrown up by armies on

2380-642: A modern office building. Even in some large castles the great hall was separated only by a partition from the lord's chamber, his bedroom and to some extent his office. Curtain walls were defensive walls enclosing a bailey. They had to be high enough to make scaling the walls with ladders difficult and thick enough to withstand bombardment from siege engines which, from the 15th century onwards, included gunpowder artillery . A typical wall could be 3 m (10 ft) thick and 12 m (39 ft) tall, although sizes varied greatly between castles. To protect them from undermining , curtain walls were sometimes given

2499-403: A report according to which two men from Adenbach, with their wives’ help, beat a man from Odenbach in the countryside and took his livestock from the pasture. In 1645, five Swedes came to Adenbach and stole, with two local men's help, cows, horses and sheep, all of which they took away, never to be seen again, and that after having spent the night in the village and incurred considerable costs. By

SECTION 20

#1732883566534

2618-619: A result there were 4,000 in the country. There are very few castles dated with certainty from the mid-9th century. Converted into a donjon around 950, Château de Doué-la-Fontaine in France is the oldest standing castle in Europe . From 1000 onwards, references to castles in texts such as charters increased greatly. Historians have interpreted this as evidence of a sudden increase in the number of castles in Europe around this time; this has been supported by archaeological investigation which has dated

2737-470: A scientific design. An example of this approach is Kerak . Although there were no scientific elements to its design, it was almost impregnable, and in 1187 Saladin chose to lay siege to the castle and starve out its garrison rather than risk an assault. During the late 11th and 12th centuries in what is now south-central Turkey the Hospitallers , Teutonic Knights and Templars established themselves in

2856-596: A setback with the Thirty Years' War, and during the 18th century, schooling had to be developed all over again. Classes were organized through the church, and not seldom taught by the clergyman himself. Children from small villages had to attend school in the village of the parish mother church at first. For Adenbach schoolchildren, this meant that they had to go to school in Medard . In 1666, a teacher born in Adenbach wanted to obtain

2975-420: A stone skirt around their bases. Walkways along the tops of the curtain walls allowed defenders to rain missiles on enemies below, and battlements gave them further protection. Curtain walls were studded with towers to allow enfilading fire along the wall. Arrowslits in the walls did not become common in Europe until the 13th century, for fear that they might compromise the wall's strength. The entrance

3094-400: A strip of land on the border of the districts of Kusel and Kaiserslautern , which is roughly demarcated by the 420 , 270 and 48 federal highways and the A 6 and A 63 motorways. Depending on how the region is defined, its largest village is either Nußbach or Obermoschel . The region is very rural in character and has no towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants. Important places are

3213-588: A teaching post in Medard, but was turned down. In 1673, the government allowed children from Adenbach to attend school at the more conveniently located school in Odenbach. From the time about 1700 come records showing that two children of the Lutheran faith were attending the Lutheran school in Meisenheim . From the early 18th century on, a winter school (a school geared towards an agricultural community's practical needs, held in

3332-424: A wall with openings that allowed objects to be dropped on an enemy at the base of the wall in a similar fashion to hoardings. Arrowslits , also commonly called loopholes, were narrow vertical openings in defensive walls which allowed arrows or crossbow bolts to be fired on attackers. The narrow slits were intended to protect the defender by providing a very small target, but the size of the opening could also impede

3451-400: A wooden door. This led to the elevation of windows to the second storey – to make it harder to throw objects in – and to move the entrance from ground level to the second storey. These features are seen in many surviving castle keeps, which were the more sophisticated version of halls. Castles were not just defensive sites but also enhanced a lord's control over his lands. They allowed

3570-665: Is canting for the placename ending –bach , a reference to the village's namesake brook ( Bach is German for “brook”). The arms have been borne since 6 November 1979. Most old customs have fallen by the wayside in Adenbach, and are hardly practised anymore, but there is a yearly kermis held on the last weekend in August. Adenbach once had a longstanding singing club, founded in 1847, but dissolved in 1960. A cycling club called All Heil’ fared even less well, having been founded in 1925 and lasting only about five years. A fruitgrowing club came into being in 1906, but became inactive during

3689-431: Is Jürgen Klein, and his deputies are Frank Rittmann and Christian Faust. The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per bend sinister wavy argent issuant from the line of partition a lion azure armed and langued gules and sable in base an ear of rye and one of wheat couped in base Or and to sinister a coalminer's lamp of the same, the flame proper. The charge on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side

Adenbach - Misplaced Pages Continue

3808-531: Is a corrupted form of "donjon" and means a dark, unwelcoming prison. Although often the strongest part of a castle and a last place of refuge if the outer defences fell, the keep was not left empty in case of attack but was used as a residence by the lord who owned the castle, or his guests or representatives. At first, this was usual only in England, when after the Norman Conquest of 1066 the "conquerors lived for

3927-575: Is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palatinate region. It is part of the Saar-Nahe Uplands . The North Palatine Uplands lie – roughly stated – between St. Wendel in the state of Saarland to the west and three towns belonging to Rhineland-Palatinate : Alzey to the east, Kaiserslautern to the south and Bad Kreuznach to

4046-510: Is also the highest mountain in the Palatinate. The following is a list of prominent mountains and hills in the Uplands, sorted by height in metres above sea level (NHN): Important rivers in the west and north of the range are the 90 km long Glan and the 57 km long Alsenz . The 116 km long Nahe , into which the other two discharge, is no longer included in this region. The area of

4165-433: Is ancient, raising a motte is a medieval innovation. A bank and ditch enclosure was a simple form of defence, and when found without an associated motte is called a ringwork; when the site was in use for a prolonged period, it was sometimes replaced by a more complex structure or enhanced by the addition of a stone curtain wall. Building the hall in stone did not necessarily make it immune to fire as it still had windows and

4284-437: Is marked by looser construction along a street that runs beyond the brook, parallel to the thoroughfare. The Aussiedlerhöfe – the farming homesteads mentioned as outlying Ortsteile above – lie in the south of the municipal area. A new graveyard was established in 1988 on the brook's left bank. According to a writer named Wendel (who wrote a village chronicle), a Bronze Age axe was found within Adenbach's limits as early as

4403-444: Is now closed. Originally, the villagers earned their livelihoods almost exclusively from agriculture . Besides small craft operations, there was also a mill. The Adenbacher Mühle , as it was called, arose after the Thirty Years' War, and was shut down for the last time in 1979. For a long time, chalk was mined and fired into quicklime. Three mines (St. Lorenzigrube, St. Jakobsgrube, Ludwigsgrube) yielded considerable amounts of coal in

4522-407: Is the collective name for alternating crenels and merlons : gaps and solid blocks on top of a wall. Hoardings were wooden constructs that projected beyond the wall, allowing defenders to shoot at, or drop objects on, attackers at the base of the wall without having to lean perilously over the crenellations, thereby exposing themselves to retaliatory fire. Machicolations were stone projections on top of

4641-455: Is the heraldic emblem formerly borne by the Counts of Veldenz , who were the local rulers in the Middle Ages . The charges on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side represent the village's coalmining history (the coalminer's lamp) and agricultural heritage (the ears of grain). The tinctures on this side are also historically borne by the Palatinate . The wavy line of partition

4760-519: Is thought to have vanished even before the Thirty Years' War . Mannweiler might have been an early Frankish founding, possibly described as “Manno’s Hamlet” (according to Dolch and Greule) or “Mannifrit’s Hamlet” (according to Wendel; the placename ending —weiler is German for “ hamlet ”). Mannweiler had its first documentary mention in 1379. From the Early Middle Ages , the village belonged to

4879-891: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , where they discovered an extensive network of sophisticated fortifications which had a profound impact on the architecture of Crusader castles . Most of the Armenian military sites in Cilicia are characterized by: multiple bailey walls laid with irregular plans to follow the sinuosities of the outcrops; rounded and especially horseshoe-shaped towers; finely-cut often rusticated ashlar facing stones with intricate poured cores; concealed postern gates and complex bent entrances with slot machicolations; embrasured loopholes for archers; barrel, pointed or groined vaults over undercrofts, gates and chapels; and cisterns with elaborate scarped drains. Civilian settlement are often found in

Adenbach - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-485: The Bayeux Tapestry 's depiction of Château de Dinan . Sometimes a motte covered an older castle or hall, whose rooms became underground storage areas and prisons beneath a new keep. A bailey, also called a ward, was a fortified enclosure. It was a common feature of castles, and most had at least one. The keep on top of the motte was the domicile of the lord in charge of the castle and a bastion of last defence, while

5117-558: The Bishopric of Verdun , those around Obermoschel belonging to the Bishopric of Worms and the Remigiusland around Kusel belonging to the Archbishopric of Reims . Adenbach lay within this new County of Veldenz and was later repeatedly wholly or partly granted as a fief to comital vassals. In 1379, Adenbach had its first documentary mention in a document from the County of Veldenz, in which

5236-516: The English Midlands . Towards the end of the Middle Ages, castles tended to lose their military significance due to the advent of powerful cannons and permanent artillery fortifications; as a result, castles became more important as residences and statements of power. A castle could act as a stronghold and prison but was also a place where a knight or lord could entertain his peers. Over time

5355-644: The First World War , never to be revived. The only four clubs that still exist today are: Adenbach lies on Landesstraße 382 (Odenbach—Kaiserslautern). To the north runs Bundesstraße 420. The Autobahn interchanges are quite far away (Kaiserslautern 30 km, Kusel 38 km, Wörrstadt 45 km). Serving nearby Lauterecken is a railway station on the Lautertalbahn ( Kaiserslautern — Lauterecken - Grumbach ) some 6 km away. The former railway station at Odenbach lay only 3 km away, but this

5474-502: The Iron Age . Hillforts in Britain typically used earthworks rather than stone as a building material. Many earthworks survive today, along with evidence of palisades to accompany the ditches. In central and western Europe, oppida emerged in the 2nd century BC; these were densely inhabited fortified settlements, such as the oppidum of Manching . Some oppida walls were built on

5593-792: The Kingdom of Bavaria after the Congress of Vienna had awarded the Palatinate – which was now to be known as the Bavarian Rheinkreis – to that state. Adenbach thereafter belonged to the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Odenbach in the Canton of Lauterecken and the Landkommissariat of Kusel. At the time of the Palatine Uprising in 1849, the municipality refused to recruit soldiers or support

5712-501: The Reformation as early as 1537. According to the 1609 Visitation, there were 15 families living in the village. The 17th century was largely marked by wars, such as the Thirty Years' War and French King Louis XIV's wars of conquest. The somewhat remote villages suffered all the more from hunger and sickness. The grimmest hardships began in 1635. In general, an unimaginable brutalization of morals came over people. From that time comes

5831-476: The Romans . The gatehouse contained a series of defences to make a direct assault more difficult than battering down a simple gate. Typically, there were one or more portcullises  – a wooden grille reinforced with metal to block a passage – and arrowslits to allow defenders to harry the enemy. The passage through the gatehouse was lengthened to increase the amount of time an assailant had to spend under fire in

5950-432: The 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery star forts with no role in civil administration, and château or country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of mock castles, part of

6069-575: The 18th and 19th centuries. In the late 18th and early 19th century, wandering Musikanten set out from Adenbach, among other places in the region, and travelled to many parts of the world. After the Reformation, the Dukes of Zweibrücken strove to promote schooling in the duchy, their first and foremost goal being to give their subjects the ability to grapple with the Bible by themselves. The good beginnings suffered

SECTION 50

#1732883566534

6188-457: The 18th century, though, there was extensive emigration . That century also saw repeated disputes between Adenbach and neighbouring villages over grazing rights. A comprehensive village régime from 1717, contained in which is a considerably older Weistum (a Weistum – cognate with English wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times), remained preserved for Adenbach. As in many of

6307-521: The 19th century, although this has since been lost. The local area was therefore already settled in the Bronze Age, as it apparently also was later, in the Iron Age . During the construction of the Aussiedlerhof Brühlerhof, a rectangular pit was found with dark earth containing burnt matter, and with cremated remains. Grave goods included a fragment of a bronze fibula , an iron axe with

6426-646: The Christians were victorious in the First Crusade (1096–1099), rather than nearly 100 years later. Remains of Roman structures in Western Europe were still standing in many places, some of which had flanking round-towers and entrances between two flanking towers. The castle builders of Western Europe were aware of and influenced by Roman design; late Roman coastal forts on the English " Saxon Shore " were reused and in Spain

6545-580: The Donnersberg is drained towards the east by the 43 km long Pfrimm , which itself rises in the northern Palatine Forest, and the 61 km long Selz . Both flow into the Upper Rhine . The North Palatine Uplands is also referred to locally as the "Old World" ( German : alte Welt or in Palatinate German : die alt Welt or bucklige Welt ). However, sometimes the term alte Welt just refers to

6664-612: The East became more complex around the late 12th and early 13th centuries after the stalemate of the Third Crusade (1189–1192). Both Christians and Muslims created fortifications, and the character of each was different. Saphadin , the 13th-century ruler of the Saracens, created structures with large rectangular towers that influenced Muslim architecture and were copied again and again, however they had little influence on Crusader castles. In

6783-562: The Glan Chapter and was a branch parish of the church of Medard . After Count Wolfgang introduced the Reformation into the County Palatine of Zweibrücken about 1537, all the villagers had to convert to Martin Luther ’s beliefs under the old rule of cuius regio, eius religio . Everybody likewise had to convert in 1588 when their overlords decreed that John Calvin ’s beliefs were now

6902-515: The Iberian Peninsula was the use of detached towers, called Albarrana towers , around the perimeter as can be seen at the Alcazaba of Badajoz . Probably developed in the 12th century, the towers provided flanking fire. They were connected to the castle by removable wooden bridges, so if the towers were captured the rest of the castle was not accessible. When seeking to explain this change in

7021-470: The Italian trace italienne and star forts . A motte was an earthen mound with a flat top. It was often artificial, although sometimes it incorporated a pre-existing feature of the landscape. The excavation of earth to make the mound left a ditch around the motte, called a moat (which could be either wet or dry). Although the motte is commonly associated with the bailey to form a motte-and-bailey castle, this

7140-503: The Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls , arrowslits , and portcullises , were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire , which resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. These nobles built castles to control

7259-605: The Northern Palatinate's other villages, a coal mine and a chalk mine were opened in Adenbach. All around the village, remnants of pits may still be found, where coal was once mined. During the time of the French Revolution and Napoleonic times, France had annexed the German lands on the Rhine ’s left bank, and all the borders of the now abolished feudal states had been swept away. Under this new arrangement, Adenbach

SECTION 60

#1732883566534

7378-534: The Palatine Protestant Union, which united Calvinists and Lutherans. Of the 225 inhabitants in 1825, 164 were Protestant and 61 Roman Catholic, a considerably greater share of the population than they have today. There were 30 Catholics among the 181 villagers in 1964. In 1994, out of 191 inhabitants, 145 claimed to be Evangelical and 31 Catholic; the remaining 15 claimed no membership in any religious community. The Evangelical Christians belong today to

7497-413: The aesthetics of the design became more important, as the castle's appearance and size began to reflect the prestige and power of its occupant. Comfortable homes were often fashioned within their fortified walls. Although castles still provided protection from low levels of violence in later periods, eventually they were succeeded by country houses as high-status residences. Castle is sometimes used as

7616-458: The architectural characteristics, usually as their owners liked to maintain a link to the past and felt the term castle was a masculine expression of their power. In scholarship the castle, as defined above, is generally accepted as a coherent concept, originating in Europe and later spreading to parts of the Middle East, where they were introduced by European Crusaders. This coherent group shared

7735-507: The area immediately surrounding them and they were both offensive and defensive structures: they provided a base from which raids could be launched as well as offered protection from enemies. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures also served as centres of administration and symbols of power. Urban castles were used to control the local populace and important travel routes, and rural castles were often situated near features that were integral to life in

7854-426: The bailey was the home of the rest of the lord's household and gave them protection. The barracks for the garrison, stables, workshops, and storage facilities were often found in the bailey. Water was supplied by a well or cistern . Over time the focus of high status accommodation shifted from the keep to the bailey; this resulted in the creation of another bailey that separated the high status buildings – such as

7973-431: The community, such as mills, fertile land, or a water source. Many northern European castles were originally built from earth and timber but had their defences replaced later by stone . Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits and relying on a central keep . In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to

8092-563: The complexity and style of castles, antiquarians found their answer in the Crusades. It seemed that the Crusaders had learned much about fortification from their conflicts with the Saracens and exposure to Byzantine architecture . There were legends such as that of Lalys – an architect from Palestine who reputedly went to Wales after the Crusades and greatly enhanced the castles in the south of

8211-450: The construction of castle sites through the examination of ceramics. The increase in Italy began in the 950s, with numbers of castles increasing by a factor of three to five every 50 years, whereas in other parts of Europe such as France and Spain the growth was slower. In 950, Provence was home to 12 castles; by 1000, this figure had risen to 30, and by 1030 it was over 100. Although

8330-474: The country – and it was assumed that great architects such as James of Saint George originated in the East. In the mid-20th century this view was cast into doubt. Legends were discredited, and in the case of James of Saint George it was proven that he came from Saint-Georges-d'Espéranche , in France. If the innovations in fortification had derived from the East, it would have been expected for their influence to be seen from 1100 onwards, immediately after

8449-412: The county towns of Kirchheimbolanden and Kusel , and the collective municipalities of Alsenz , Altenglan , Lauterecken , Meisenheim , Rockenhausen , Winnweiler and Wolfstein . Motorways Federal roads Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders . Scholars usually consider

8568-427: The defender if it was too small. A smaller horizontal opening could be added to give an archer a better view for aiming. Sometimes a sally port was included; this could allow the garrison to leave the castle and engage besieging forces. It was usual for the latrines to empty down the external walls of a castle and into the surrounding ditch. A postern is a secondary door or gate in a concealed location, usually in

8687-480: The districts of Kusel and Donnersbergkreis . To a lesser extent it also falls within parts of Kaiserslautern , St. Wendel , Birkenfeld and Bad Kreuznach . The North Palatine Uplands is characterised by numerous mountains, hills and valleys which lend the area sharp variations in height from about 200 to over 600 m above  sea level (NN) . The highest point is the Donnersberg which, at 687 m

8806-552: The dominant form of castle in England, Wales, and Ireland well into the 12th century. At the same time, castle architecture in mainland Europe became more sophisticated. The donjon was at the centre of this change in castle architecture in the 12th century. Central towers proliferated, and typically had a square plan, with walls 3 to 4 m (9.8 to 13.1 ft) thick. Their decoration emulated Romanesque architecture , and sometimes incorporated double windows similar to those found in church bell towers. Donjons, which were

8925-413: The economy and justice. However, while castles proliferated in the 9th and 10th centuries the link between periods of insecurity and building fortifications is not always straightforward. Some high concentrations of castles occur in secure places, while some border regions had relatively few castles. It is likely that the castle evolved from the practice of fortifying a lordly home. The greatest threat to

9044-524: The elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape. Although gunpowder was introduced to Europe in the 14th century, it did not significantly affect castle building until the 15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break through stone walls. While castles continued to be built well into

9163-592: The freedom movement. A contribution of 40 Gulden , which municipal council eventually approved, did not have to be paid, for the uprising had in the meantime collapsed. When state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded and the Palatinate was split away from Bavaria after the Second World War , existing territorial arrangements were otherwise unchanged at first. Only in the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1968 did Adenbach pass to

9282-584: The garrison to control the surrounding area, and formed a centre of administration, providing the lord with a place to hold court . Building a castle sometimes required the permission of the king or other high authority. In 864 the King of West Francia, Charles the Bald , prohibited the construction of castella without his permission and ordered them all to be destroyed. This is perhaps the earliest reference to castles, though military historian R. Allen Brown points out that

9401-627: The immediate proximity of these fortifications. After the First Crusade, Crusaders who did not return to their homes in Europe helped found the Crusader states of the Principality of Antioch , the County of Edessa , the Kingdom of Jerusalem , and the County of Tripoli . The castles they founded to secure their acquisitions were designed mostly by Syrian master-masons. Their design was very similar to that of

9520-428: The increase was slower in Spain, the 1020s saw a particular growth in the number of castles in the region, particularly in contested border areas between Christian and Muslim lands. Despite the common period in which castles rose to prominence in Europe, their form and design varied from region to region. In the early 11th century, the motte and keep – an artificial mound with a palisade and tower on top –

9639-402: The knight Mohr von Sötern acknowledged that he had been enfeoffed by his lordship Junker Friedrich, Count at Veldenz, with holdings in the villages of Heinzenhausen , Lohnweiler , Lauterecken , Medard , Roth, Schwanden (a now vanished village near Medard), Obersulzbach, Niedersulzbach , Ginsweiler , Mannweiler (a now vanished village) and Odenbach and in the town of Meisenheim . This was

9758-609: The law of the land. Only after the Thirty Years’ War were people once more allowed to practise Catholicism , or indeed Lutheranism , if they so wished. By immigration into the depopulated region and through promotion of Catholicism by the French during King Louis XIV's wars of conquest, the share of the village's population that embraced the Catholic faith grew. Adenbach, however, remained mostly Reformed (that is, Calvinist ). In 1817 came

9877-414: The lay of the land (the result was often irregular or curvilinear structures). The design of castles was not uniform, but these were features that could be found in a typical castle in the mid-12th century. By the end of the 12th century or the early 13th century, a newly constructed castle could be expected to be polygonal in shape, with towers at the corners to provide enfilading fire for

9996-454: The local feudal lords, either for themselves or for their monarch. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for military service and the expectation of loyalty, the lord would grant the vassal land. In the late 20th century, there was a trend to refine the definition of a castle by including the criterion of feudal ownership, thus tying castles to the medieval period; however, this does not necessarily reflect

10115-499: The lord's chambers and the chapel – from the everyday structures such as the workshops and barracks. From the late 12th century there was a trend for knights to move out of the small houses they had previously occupied within the bailey to live in fortified houses in the countryside. Although often associated with the motte-and-bailey type of castle, baileys could also be found as independent defensive structures. These simple fortifications were called ringworks . The enceinte

10234-420: The loss of the donjon. Where keeps did exist, they were no longer square but polygonal or cylindrical. Gateways were more strongly defended, with the entrance to the castle usually between two half-round towers which were connected by a passage above the gateway – although there was great variety in the styles of gateway and entrances – and one or more portcullis. A peculiar feature of Muslim castles in

10353-463: The main living quarters of the castle and usually the most strongly defended point of a castle before the introduction of concentric defence . "Keep" was not a term used in the medieval period – the term was applied from the 16th century onwards – instead " donjon " was used to refer to great towers, or turris in Latin. In motte-and-bailey castles, the keep was on top of the motte. "Dungeon"

10472-444: The move, to elaborate permanent stone constructions, notably the milecastles of Hadrian's Wall . Roman forts were generally rectangular with rounded corners – a "playing-card shape". In the medieval period, castles were influenced by earlier forms of elite architecture, contributing to regional variations. Importantly, while castles had military aspects, they contained a recognisable household structure within their walls, reflecting

10591-438: The multi-functional use of these buildings. The subject of the emergence of castles in Europe is a complex matter which has led to considerable debate. Discussions have typically attributed the rise of the castle to a reaction to attacks by Magyars , Muslims , and Vikings and a need for private defence. The breakdown of the Carolingian Empire led to the privatisation of government, and local lords assumed responsibility for

10710-457: The municipality had its own schoolhouse, but as early as 1742, Adenbach had one of these. In 1820, the municipality wanted to build a new schoolhouse, but then decided to trade the old schoolhouse for a suitable new house. This house was converted at a cost of 1,589 Gulden . As the village's population rose markedly in those days, so too did the number of the village's schoolchildren (32 schoolchildren in 1820; 60 schoolchildren in 1853). Accordingly,

10829-485: The municipality had the schoolhouse expanded in 1868. In 1937, the Pfalz Regierungsbezirk administration converted the hitherto “ Protestant School” after a plebiscite into a “ Christian Unity School” ( Christliche Einheitsschule ). In 1938, year level 8 was introduced, but the pupils at this level had to go to school in Odenbach. The school remained until its closure in 1966 a one-room school . Afterwards,

10948-562: The north, although these towns are not actually within the region itself. The North Palatine Uplands thus links the landscapes of the Palatine Forest , Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park , Naheland and Rheinhessen . To the northwest its boundary with Naheland is not always clear. A rough guide is the heavily folded ridge north of the Glan river with a height different of as much as 300 metres in place. The North Palatine Uplands fall mainly within

11067-573: The number of castles being built went into decline. This has been partly attributed to the higher cost of stone-built fortifications, and the obsolescence of timber and earthwork sites, which meant it was preferable to build in more durable stone. Although superseded by their stone successors, timber and earthwork castles were by no means useless. This is evidenced by the continual maintenance of timber castles over long periods, sometimes several centuries; Owain Glyndŵr 's 11th-century timber castle at Sycharth

11186-478: The parish of Odenbach in the deaconry of Lauterecken, while the Catholic Christians belong to the parish of Lauterecken (until 1975, the parish of Reipoltskirchen) in the deaconry of Kusel. Adenbach has never had its own church . The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. Adenbach's mayor

11305-514: The proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire . Many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castle's firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades , such as concentric fortification , and inspiration from earlier defences, such as Roman forts . Not all

11424-424: The residence of the lord of the castle, evolved to become more spacious. The design emphasis of donjons changed to reflect a shift from functional to decorative requirements, imposing a symbol of lordly power upon the landscape. This sometimes led to compromising defence for the sake of display. Until the 12th century, stone-built and earth and timber castles were contemporary, but by the late 12th century

11543-461: The schoolhouse was converted into a community centre. Primary school pupils nowadays attend school in Odenbach, while Hauptschule students go to school in Lauterecken. The nearest Gymnasien are the ones in Lauterecken and Meisenheim. North Palatine Uplands The North Palatine Uplands ( German : Nordpfälzer Bergland ), sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands ( Pfälzer Bergland ),

11662-419: The southwest on the municipality of Cronenberg . Adenbach's Ortsteile are the main village site, also called Adenbach, and the outlying homesteads of Brühlerhof, Langwiesenhof, Bornweiderhof and Brucherhof. On the east side of the north-south thoroughfare, the houses stand cheek by jowl, forming here and on several sidestreets a small clump village. The new building area west of the village centre, though,

11781-521: The terminology used in the medieval period. During the First Crusade (1096–1099), the Frankish armies encountered walled settlements and forts that they indiscriminately referred to as castles, but which would not be considered as such under the modern definition. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, and domestic. As well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as

11900-488: The then newly founded Verbandsgemeinde of Lauterecken, with effect from 1 January 1972. The village remains to this day rurally structured. The greater part of the population worked until the Second World War at agriculture . Alongside farmers were craftsmen. Agriculture employs very few nowadays. Most members of the workforce seek their livelihoods outside the village. Adenbach is thus a rural residential community. It

12019-455: The time the Thirty Years' War ended, the number of families in the village had shrunk to five. Still available today is a 1629 list of holdings and taxes in Adenbach, which was still owned by the Lords of Oberstein. All that is known from the time of Louis XIV's wars is lists of contributions. In the time that followed, population figures rose quickly, partly as a result of immigration. In the course of

12138-562: The wall around the city of Ávila imitated Roman architecture when it was built in 1091. Historian Smail in Crusading warfare argued that the case for the influence of Eastern fortification on the West has been overstated, and that Crusaders of the 12th century in fact learned very little about scientific design from Byzantine and Saracen defences. A well-sited castle that made use of natural defences and had strong ditches and walls had no need for

12257-413: The walls. The towers would have protruded from the walls and featured arrowslits on each level to allow archers to target anyone nearing or at the curtain wall. These later castles did not always have a keep, but this may have been because the more complex design of the castle as a whole drove up costs and the keep was sacrificed to save money. The larger towers provided space for habitation to make up for

12376-546: The winter, when farm families had a bit more time to spare) was open in Adenbach. In 1708, the teacher Hans Conrad Höhn, from Medard, came to Adenbach and taught until 1731. The series of Höhn's successors is listed in Wendel's village chronicle right up to the dissolution of the local school in 1966. Six barrels of grain were delivered to the teacher Prass in 1762 for his troubles, and in money he received 2 Gulden , 8 Batzen and 2 Pfennige . The teacher's dwelling in Adenbach back then

12495-460: The word castella may have applied to any fortification at the time. In some countries the monarch had little control over lords, or required the construction of new castles to aid in securing the land so was unconcerned about granting permission – as was the case in England in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest and the Holy Land during the Crusades . Switzerland is an extreme case of there being no state control over who built castles, and as

12614-736: Was a village in the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Becherbach in the Canton of Lauterecken in the Arrondissement of Kaiserslautern in the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German ). After the united Prussian , Russian and Austrian troops had emerged victorious over Napoleon, Blücher crossed the Rhine on New Year's Night 1814, and the French withdrew from their annexed German lands. Adenbach passed in 1816 to

12733-438: Was aged 60 or over. The following table shows population development over the centuries for Adenbach, with some figures broken down by religious denomination: Sources yield at least two stories about how Adenbach got its name: In the south of Adenbach's municipal area, most likely near the strip field called Brunnenrech, once lay a village named Mannweiler. By the late 16th century, it was no longer being named in documents and

12852-605: Was called a hall-house. Historian Charles Coulson states that the accumulation of wealth and resources, such as food, led to the need for defensive structures. The earliest fortifications originated in the Fertile Crescent , the Indus Valley , Europe, Egypt, and China where settlements were protected by large walls. In Northern Europe , hill forts were first developed in the Bronze Age , which then proliferated across Europe in

12971-472: Was common, and usually between local lords. Castles were introduced into England shortly before the Norman Conquest in 1066. Before the 12th century castles were as uncommon in Denmark as they had been in England before the Norman Conquest. The introduction of castles to Denmark was a reaction to attacks from Wendish pirates, and they were usually intended as coastal defences. The motte and bailey remained

13090-430: Was in short supply. Although stone construction would later become common elsewhere, from the 11th century onwards it was the primary building material for Christian castles in Spain, while at the same time timber was still the dominant building material in north-west Europe. Historians have interpreted the widespread presence of castles across Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries as evidence that warfare

13209-468: Was in the Late Middle Ages very small, but had grown by the time of the Thirty Years' War, only to see its population shrink drastically in the wake of that war.. During the 18th and 19th centuries, strong growth once again began, only to fall off once more in the decades following the Second World War. Currently, too, a slight fall in population is noticeable. Already by 1994, some 27% of the population

13328-526: Was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest of 1066 to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is "a private fortified residence". This contrasts with earlier fortifications, such as Anglo-Saxon burhs and walled cities such as Constantinople and Antioch in the Middle East; castles were not communal defences but were built and owned by

13447-420: Was made in the upper storey of the gatehouse for accommodation so the gate was never left undefended, although this arrangement later evolved to become more comfortable at the expense of defence. During the 13th and 14th centuries the barbican was developed. This consisted of a rampart , ditch, and possibly a tower, in front of the gatehouse which could be used to further protect the entrance. The purpose of

13566-419: Was not always the case and there are instances where a motte existed on its own. "Motte" refers to the mound alone, but it was often surmounted by a fortified structure, such as a keep, and the flat top would be surrounded by a palisade . It was common for the motte to be reached over a flying bridge (a bridge over the ditch from the counterscarp of the ditch to the edge of the top of the mound), as shown in

13685-435: Was obviously not very comfortable. At the married teacher Jakob Matheis's disposal in 1776 was a dwelling with a parlour and one small room. Luckily, he and his wife had only one child. In schools in those days, especially in winter schools, heating problems were always arising. The municipality delivered to the school in 1776 20 Maß of coal from the village colliery for heating. Most classes were held in private houses before

13804-417: Was often the weakest part in a circuit of defences. To overcome this, the gatehouse was developed, allowing those inside the castle to control the flow of traffic. In earth and timber castles, the gateway was usually the first feature to be rebuilt in stone. The front of the gateway was a blind spot and to overcome this, projecting towers were added on each side of the gate in a style similar to that developed by

13923-422: Was still in use by the start of the 15th century, its structure having been maintained for four centuries. At the same time there was a change in castle architecture. Until the late 12th century castles generally had few towers; a gateway with few defensive features such as arrowslits or a portcullis; a great keep or donjon, usually square and without arrowslits; and the shape would have been dictated by

14042-425: Was the castle's main defensive enclosure, and the terms "bailey" and "enceinte" are linked. A castle could have several baileys but only one enceinte. Castles with no keep, which relied on their outer defences for protection, are sometimes called enceinte castles; these were the earliest form of castles, before the keep was introduced in the 10th century. A keep was a great tower or other building that served as

14161-510: Was the most common form of castle in Europe, everywhere except Scandinavia. While Britain, France, and Italy shared a tradition of timber construction that was continued in castle architecture, Spain more commonly used stone or mud-brick as the main building material. The Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century introduced a style of building developed in North Africa reliant on tapial , pebbles in cement, where timber

#533466