Deserted Osterlant Castle
| Place: | Oschatz (Oschatz, North Saxony) |
|---|---|
| Type: | Castle ruins |
| Dating: | High Middle Ages | Late Middle Ages | 1200 A.D. - ca. 1300 A.D. |
Description
On the slope above the Stranggraben, about 25 km west of the medieval town center of Oschatz, stand the ruins of the desolate Osterlant Castle. Its monumental wall stumps, which are still preserved today, rise up to 10 meters into the treetops. The ruins are located next to the road from Thalheim in a sparse deciduous forest near a stream that was once dammed to form ponds in a romantic, formerly park-like area, which was restored at the beginning of the 20th century. It was planned by Hans Julius Schmorl (1859-1940) at the beginning of the 20th century. Finds from the once square, four-winged castle complex indicate that the building site was used from the 11th century onwards. up to 13. Century. A dendro date refers to the year 1211. As the probable builder of the "desert castle“ Dietrich the Afflicted (1162-1221), the then Margrave of Meissen, to whom the town of Oschatz was also subject from 1210 onwards.
Annemarie ReckFirst excavations
In 1903, Hans Schmorl, who knew the ruins standing in the dense spruce forest from his youth, hoped to answer the previously unsolved question of the age of Osterlant Castle by means of archaeological excavations. By 1909, he had uncovered large parts of the inner courtyard and all the surrounding walls. Their course largely confirmed older floor plans from the middle of the 19th century, which had already assumed a rectangular layout. However, Schmorl believed that the building was closed off by a single wall in the north-west. He also assumed that this was the former entrance.
Annemarie ReckImage Source H. Schmorl, OA 66680/308, Foto ©LfA 1908.
Findings and findings
Unfortunately, the justiciar's excavation methods were amateurish, which is why the fundamental questions about the function and dating of Osterlant Castle remained largely unanswered. Although he uncovered the foundations and dug through the rubble and cultural layers, he had large parts of them excavated without noting the context of the finds or observing the course of the layers. His focus was primarily on the finds. Among the heavily rusted iron parts were crossbow bolts, knife blades, horseshoes, keys, part of an equestrian spur and a medieval coin, a bracteate. Two further coins were found in the 19th century. Most of the ceramics and other remains of the former architecture, however, were disposed of. Johannes Deichmüller (1854-1944), the then director of the Dresden Prehistoric Collection and Saxony's leading archaeologist, dated the remains of the castle to the 11th to 13th centuries based on the finds made by Schmorl. The coins found and a silver ring brooch also point to use during this period.
Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Spehr, Silberfibel, Foto ©LfA 1992.
Written tradition
In the oldest documentary reference from May 12, 1379, the castle is mentioned as a "deserted stone house", which is why it is assumed that it was already in ruins at that time. On the oldest map of Saxony by Matthias Oeder († 1614) from 1586, it is referred to as the "old castle" near the ponds. Even then, it was apparently no longer known how old the castle was, what it had been built for and for whom. The unusual name of the deserted castle "Osterlant" has only been known since the 18th century. The name probably refers to Thomas Osterland, a pale burgher of the town of Oschatz who was guilty of manslaughter at the end of the 15th century. His exact connection to the ruin remains unclear.
Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Heynowski, Foto ©LfA 2006.
Excavation 1991/1992
On the occasion of the construction of a sewer across the complex, the castle was re-examined in 1989 as part of a construction supervision project. The archaeologist Reinhard Spehr discovered previously unknown structures in the area of the inner courtyard. As a result, in 1991/1992, the foundations, other parts of the interior and about half of the inner courtyard were systematically uncovered again. The excavations enabled the actual floor plan of the castle to be recorded for the first time and refuted all older plans.
Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Spehr, Übersichtsfoto ©LfA 1992.
Influences
The layout of the four-winged castle complex with the spring house in the eastern corner of the inner courtyard seems strange and has no real parallel, not only in Saxony but in the whole of Central Europe. Comparable buildings are, however, known from Staufer southern Italy or the Byzantine area of influence in the eastern Mediterranean. As a participant in the Third Crusade in 1197/1198, Dietrich the Oppressed, then Margrave of Meissen, may have seen such buildings in the Orient. Echoes of monastery complexes, such as those of the Cistercians, which were based on Byzantine buildings and castles of the Teutonic Order, could also have served as a model for the builder.
Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Heynowski, Foto ©LfA 2017.
The floor plan
The building complex was originally planned as a symmetrical, square, four-winged complex with an enclosed inner courtyard. Apart from the corner bracing, the entire building is made of quarry stone. The outer dimensions of the castle were 44.3 x 44.3 m, while the inner courtyard measured 18.7 x 18.7 m. The four corners of the building were formed by four tower-like porches. The outer wing walls of the building also had projecting wall pillars. Apart from a slight deviation of 9°, the long sides of the building are oriented according to the cardinal points. The foundations of a furnace for smelting iron were also uncovered, although they probably belonged to an earlier building on this site. They date back to the first half of the 12th century.
Annemarie ReckImage Source Archaeonaut 5, 14, Grundrissplan ©LfA 2006.
Structure of the lock
The desolate castle was apparently never completed. Although corner and wall pillars in the interior rooms indicate a planned vaulting of the lower floors, there is no evidence of vault parts in the rubble or attachment points on the walls. As a result, the entire north-west wing, apart from the inner wall to close off the inner courtyard, remained unfinished apart from the foundations, which is probably why Schmorl misinterpreted the floor plan. The south-west wing was also apparently only completed in a makeshift manner and built as a residential building up to the second floor. The north-east wing, on the other hand, even had two storeys, and both the north-east and south-east wings had basements. Only the south-eastern wing of the building was probably completed, as there is evidence of a roof at a height of 12.7 m above the cellar floor. Pillar foundations in the middle of the outer wall of the south-west wing indicate a staircase, which probably led to an entrance on the upper floor. There is no evidence of an entrance at ground level. The cellar rooms and chambers in the inner courtyard could therefore only be accessed from the upper floors or via a water house in the inner courtyard.
Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Spehr, Foto ©LfA 1991.
The spring house
The discovery of the square spring house in the eastern corner of the inner courtyard was probably the biggest surprise during the 1991 excavation. Its outer sides measured around 6 x 6 m and it enclosed a circular room 2 m below the level of the courtyard. There were eight niches in the wall, separated by columns. The center of the room was a circular basin 3 m in diameter. Concentric steps in it led down like stairs to a spring enclosure at a depth of around 1.2 meters. Even during the excavations, the basin was filled with water to a depth of 1.1 m. There were eight column bases on the profiled edge of the water basin, which corresponded with the columns along the walls. The walls of the spring house, which are still 1.8 m high, did not have any windows. The spring flowed into a stream, which was drained via a canal to the ponds outside the castle. An oak plank from the bottom of the canal yielded a date in the winter of 1211/1212.
Annemarie ReckImage Source A. Dietzel, Foto ©LfA 1991.
Literature
Wolfgang Ender/Steffan Robel/Cornelius Scherzer/Johann-Hinrich Walter, Wüstes Schloss Osterlant – Archäologie und Perspektiven für seine Erschließung. Archaeonaut 5(Dresden 2006).
Robert Schmidt, Jagdpalast oder Kapelle? Das Wüste Schloß Osterlant bei Oschatz (Oschatz 2003).
Reinhard Spehr, Vorbericht über die Bauforschungen im „Schloß Osterlant“ bei Oschatz. In: Historische Bauforschung in Sachsen (Dresden 2000) 18–46.
Reinhard Spehr, Das wüste Schloss Osterlant. Eine archäologische Betrachtung zur Baugeschichte (Oschatz 2005).
Note on monument protection
Archaeological monuments are protected by the Saxon Monument Protection Act. A permit under monument law is required for ground interventions or construction measures.
Permalink
https://archaeo-sn.de/en/ort/deserted-osterlant-castle/
Citation
Annemarie Reck, Deserted Osterlant Castle. In: Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen, Website archaeo | SN (02.08.2024). https://archaeo-sn.de/en/ort/deserted-osterlant-castle/ (Stand: 20.05.2025)
