Mylau Castle
Encyclopedia
Mylau Castle is a fortification
on a spur
in Mylau
, Vogtland
, Saxony
, Germany
. It is one of the best-preserved medieval
castles in Saxony.
under the regime of Emperor Barbarossa
. It offered protection to the predominantly Frankish
settlers in an area that was sparsely inhabited by Slavs
. Under the protection of the castle, among others the trade city Reichenbach im Vogtland was founded. The 27 m (89 ft) tall Bergfried
was built according to Romanesque style
. The castle was built as hill castle
with a single courtyard
on a ridge
of approximately 80 m (262 ft) long and 35 m (115 ft) wide, at the point where the Seifenbach flows into the Göltzsch river. Originally four defense towers and a 10 m (33 ft) deep dry moat
surrounded the castle.
The first record of the Lords of Milin who inhabited the castle dates from 1214. As a result of the War of Vogtland (1354–1357), emperor Charles IV
ordered them in 1367 to sell the castle to the Bohemic
crown. That same year, he visited the castle and granted town privileges
to the adjacent town of Mylau. Charles IV, whose relief
in porphyry
can be seen above the main entrance gate, instated a royal Bohemian office and began the expansion of the structure, which was continued by his sons Wenceslaus IV
and Sigismund
. Part of the castle was destroyed in 1400 due to a feud
between Wenceslaus IV and the Vögte
of the Vogtland
. During the renovation
s, two large outer bailey
s were erected.
In 1422, Sigismund pledged Mylau Castle to the prince-elector
of Saxony in gratitude for his services during the Hussite Wars
. The castle would remain in the hands of the Saxons
, except between 1547 and 1569 when a burgrave
was appointed over the Vogtland. One of the members of the rotating burgraves was Joseph Levin von Metzsch (1507–1571), a friend of Martin Luther
. In the late 16th century, the aristocratic Thuringia
n-Saxon Von Schönberg family owned the castle. It was no longer used for defense purposes, but received a residential destination. In 1772, following a large reconstruction, it lost its aristocratic estate and has been privately held since.
Between 1808 and 1828 it housed the first factory in northern Vogtland of local spinning
magnate Christian Gotthelf Brückner (1769–1834). The various owners of the castle had it expanded and renovated various times before it became municipal property in 1982. In the late 19th century, a foundation had the castle rebuilt in historic
style to serve as city hall, tavern and museum.
. From the castle's Market Gate, the Imperial Path leads to the imperial court. A total of 13 panels explain the castle's most remarkable features and describe the time under the Bohemian kings Charles IV, Wenzel IV and Sigismund. The Knights' Path leads from the castle into the town of Mylau.
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
on a spur
Spur (mountain)
A spur is a subsidiary summit of a hill or mountain. By definition, spurs have low topographic prominence, as they are lower than their parent summit and are closely connected to them on the same ridgeline...
in Mylau
Mylau
Mylau is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany with 2912 citizens. It is situated in the valleys of the Göltzsch river and the Raumbach, a stream flowing from Reichenbach im Vogtland that is locally known as the Soap Stream because of the textile painting...
, Vogtland
Vogtlandkreis
The Vogtlandkreis is a Landkreis in the southwest of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, at the borders to Thuringia, Bavaria, and the Czech Republic. Neighboring districts are Hof, Saale-Orla, Greiz, Zwickau and Erzgebirgskreis...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is one of the best-preserved medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
castles in Saxony.
History
The castle was probably erected during the German eastward expansionOstsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
under the regime of Emperor Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
. It offered protection to the predominantly Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
settlers in an area that was sparsely inhabited by Slavs
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
. Under the protection of the castle, among others the trade city Reichenbach im Vogtland was founded. The 27 m (89 ft) tall Bergfried
Bergfried
A bergfried is a tall tower typically found in medieval castles in German-speaking countries . Its defensive function is to some extent similar to that of a keep or donjon in English or French castles...
was built according to Romanesque style
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
. The castle was built as hill castle
Rocca (architecture)
Rocca is an Italian term meaning a high, fortifiable stronghold, usually located in smaller towns, beneath or on which the village or town clustered, within which its inhabitants might take refuge at times of trouble; under its owners' patronage the settlement might hope to find prosperity in...
with a single courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
on a ridge
Ridge
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
of approximately 80 m (262 ft) long and 35 m (115 ft) wide, at the point where the Seifenbach flows into the Göltzsch river. Originally four defense towers and a 10 m (33 ft) deep dry moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
surrounded the castle.
The first record of the Lords of Milin who inhabited the castle dates from 1214. As a result of the War of Vogtland (1354–1357), emperor Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
ordered them in 1367 to sell the castle to the Bohemic
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
crown. That same year, he visited the castle and granted town privileges
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
to the adjacent town of Mylau. Charles IV, whose relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
in porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
can be seen above the main entrance gate, instated a royal Bohemian office and began the expansion of the structure, which was continued by his sons Wenceslaus IV
Wenceslaus, King of the Romans
Wenceslaus ) was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the Luxembourg dynasty...
and Sigismund
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
. Part of the castle was destroyed in 1400 due to a feud
Feud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...
between Wenceslaus IV and the Vögte
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...
of the Vogtland
Vogtland
The term Vogtland refers to a region reaching across the German free states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and into the Czech Republic . The name of the region contains a reference to the former leadership by the Vögte of Weida, Gera and Plauen, which translates approximately to advocates or lord...
. During the renovation
Renovation
Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...
s, two large outer bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
s were erected.
In 1422, Sigismund pledged Mylau Castle to the prince-elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
of Saxony in gratitude for his services during the Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
. The castle would remain in the hands of the Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
, except between 1547 and 1569 when a burgrave
Burgrave
A burgrave is literally the count of a castle or fortified town. The English form is derived through the French from the German Burggraf and Dutch burg- or burch-graeve .* The title is originally equivalent to that of castellan or châtelain, meaning keeper of a castle and/or fortified town...
was appointed over the Vogtland. One of the members of the rotating burgraves was Joseph Levin von Metzsch (1507–1571), a friend of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
. In the late 16th century, the aristocratic Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
n-Saxon Von Schönberg family owned the castle. It was no longer used for defense purposes, but received a residential destination. In 1772, following a large reconstruction, it lost its aristocratic estate and has been privately held since.
Between 1808 and 1828 it housed the first factory in northern Vogtland of local spinning
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...
magnate Christian Gotthelf Brückner (1769–1834). The various owners of the castle had it expanded and renovated various times before it became municipal property in 1982. In the late 19th century, a foundation had the castle rebuilt in historic
Historicism (art)
Historicism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. After neo-classicism, which could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in...
style to serve as city hall, tavern and museum.
Attractions and current use
The many modifications in earlier and more recent history makes Mylau Castle a melting pot of styles. The museum that opened in 1883 contains the largest natural history collection in Vogtland and provides information on the regional geology and mining. In 1899/1900, a room was dedicated to the aristocratic Metzsch family and provides information about them. The most representative room of the castle is the council chamber, which was inspired by the WartburgWartburg
The Wartburg is a castle overlooking the town of Eisenach, Germany.Wartburg may also refer to:* Wartburgkreis, a district in Germany named after the Wartburg* Wartburg , former East German brand of automobiles, manufactured in Eisenach...
. From the castle's Market Gate, the Imperial Path leads to the imperial court. A total of 13 panels explain the castle's most remarkable features and describe the time under the Bohemian kings Charles IV, Wenzel IV and Sigismund. The Knights' Path leads from the castle into the town of Mylau.