Castle Map

Castle

Ortenburg

Germany · 10th century

Founded
1000
Heritage status
heritage monument in Saxony
Location
Bautzen
Coordinates
51.1831°, 14.4204°
Links
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia (DE) ↗
Ortenburg in Germany
Photo: Stephan M. Höhne · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Ortenburg, in Upper Sorbian simply Hród (castle), in Bautzen lies about 20 metres up on a rock spur above the eastern bank of the Spree. It was first mentioned in 1405 as “castrum Orthenburg in Budissin”. Scholars derive the name from a literal connection with the medieval term “ort” or “ert” for an advanced position in the terrain. It gained strategic importance from the nearby river crossings which, particularly favourably situated there between the wooded ridges to the south and the often marshy heathlands to the north, bundled important west-east routes.

The first embankments and ramparts are presumed for as early as the Bronze Age and Iron Age, but nothing reliable is so far known about the form and role of a castle complex in prehistoric times. That also applies to the presumed tribal castle of the Milceni. Thirty castles were attributed around 850 to this Old Sorbian tribe in the centre of present-day Upper Lusatia. Nevertheless none was specifically mentioned, as was otherwise usual, when Henry I (919–936), according to the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg (975/76–1018), forced the Milceni “from [Meissen]” into tribute, took possession of their settlement area on the upper Spree and incorporated it into the East Frankish Kingdom.

It can be gathered from chronicles that the building of a ring wall is said to have been begun already under Henry I and was finished under his son and successor Otto I (936–973), who founded the Margraviate of Meissen and the Bishopric of Meissen. In fact it was only with the power-political claims of Polish and Bohemian dukes, whose dominions lay east of “Milzane”, that secure connecting routes through Upper Lusatia increasingly gained importance for imperial politics after 970.

Machine-translated from “Ortenburg (Bautzen)” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Ortenburg ranks #6,481 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #674 of the 927 mapped in Germany. Founded 1000, it is older than 91% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 206 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,186 times in the last 60 days, more than 60% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Děčín, 48 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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