Schnellerts Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

On the Schnellerts hill, at an altitude of 350 m above the hamlet of Stierbach, in the municipality of Brensbach (Odenwaldkreis), stand the consolidated remains of a small castle not mentioned in any charter. Long taken for a Roman structure, it was recognised as medieval in 1886 by the archaeologist Eduard Anthes. Dating of the half-timbered buildings places its occupation between about 1220 and 1330; it is thought to have been built in the first half of the 13th century, perhaps by the lords of Crumbach auf Rodenstein, and violently destroyed around 1300 or after 1391. Its irregular hexagonal curtain wall, with a maximum diameter of 36.5 m, preserves to the east the stump of a round tower 6.5 m across with 2.1 m thick walls and a dungeon, and opened to the west through a gate probably made of wood; two tile-roofed half-timbered houses and a stable occupied the courtyard. Restored from 1976 to 1990 by a volunteer association and scientifically excavated in 1991, the site is inseparable from the legend of the "Schnellertsgeist", the spirit of the Rodensteiner said to fly off towards Rodenstein.