Wittelsbach Castle

The early history of the castle is virtually unknown and is surrounded by numerous legends. According to a common version, the name of the castle is derived from Vitilo ( German: Vitilo ), or Vitilis - the ministers of the Counts Schejern , who also controlled Wartenberg Castle under Erding and the so-called New Castle near Aichach. ^[one]

In 1119, the castle chose Count Cheyern Otto IV as his residence ^[2] , since 1120 he officially called himself Wittelsbach ( German von Wittelsbach ). On the other hand, the name Witilinesbac is already found in 1115 in the letter of Emperor Henry IV , and is indicated as the birthplace of Otto IV.

According to another legend, in 1209 the castle was burned to the ground as a reaction to the assassination of King Philip of Swabia by the Bavarian palatine Otto VIII Wittelsbach , and was no longer restored. Archaeological surveys carried out in 1978-1980, however, could not unequivocally confirm this theory: for example, traces of a devastating fire were not detected, as a result of which several researchers are of the opinion that the castle was left for an unknown reason and then used for a long time as a quarry, including for the construction of a church building. ^[3]

At the beginning of the 15th century, the pilgrimage chapel of the Virgin Mary the Victorious ( German Katholische Filialkirche Maria vom Siege ), belonging to the German Order , which in Bavaria is considered to be a kind of “Wittelsbach church”, was erected on the castle hill, which, however, is also not finds documentary evidence in historical sources.

From the sixteenth century until the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was a small settlement of peasants and retired soldiers, liquidated to erect a national Bavarian monument designed by Joseph Daniel Olmüller ( German: Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller , 1791-1839). On August 25, 1834, the monument was inaugurated in the presence of a large public; according to some reports, about 20 thousand people took part in the celebrations. The neo-Gothic obelisk , symbolizing the cradle of the Bavarian royal house and replicated in numerous lithographs, has become one of the region’s favorite tourist destinations. In September 1857, he was finally visited by one of the Wittelsbachs - King Maximilian II .

In 1978-1980, during the preparation of the exhibition "Wittelsbach and Bavaria" extensive survey work was carried out here, probably the first of its kind on the castle hill. At the same time, a number of fragments of walls and foundations were excavated, which, for the sake of clarity, were strengthened and supplemented with modern brickwork, which should give visitors an idea of ​​the size of a non-existent more structure.

Since there are no historical descriptions or images of the castle, most of the information about its structure is the result of modern archaeological research and reconstructions, according to which the Wittelsbach castle consisted of an elongated “main” (main and probably older) castle in the eastern part of the hill and forburg in its western part, separated by earthen moats and ramparts, traces of which can still be observed, and had a length of about 200 meters and a width of up to 50 meters. The defensive wall, erected from sandstone blocks, had a thickness of about one and a half meters.

The outlines of the castle, basically, repeat the natural features of the hill and resemble a crescent elongated from west to east, gradually expanding to the east. At the same time, the steep slope of the main castle rises above the surrounding area by about 20 meters. From the south, the hill was additionally protected by a double moat, which is typical of early medieval defensive construction. It is therefore possible that the arrangement of the castle hill dates back to the fortified settlement of the era of the campaigns of the Magyars of the first half of the 10th century ^[4] ; in the vicinity of Augsburg , an exceptionally high number of such structures are known. Most historians, however, date the construction of the castle no earlier than 1000, and the connection with the defensive fortifications remains purely speculative, although the Bavarian palatine graphs, apparently, really used and renewed such fortifications relatively often. ^[five]

On the edge of a buried moat, approximately in the center of the “main” castle, there is a brick Late Gothic one oil chapel, whose facades were rebuilt in accordance with the tastes of the time at the beginning of the 19th century. At some distance from it is a monument to the Wittelsbach in the form of a neo-Gothic pinacle , decorated with a dedication inscription “Seinem tausendjährigen Regentenstamme das treue Bayern” ( Rus. The millennial ruling house is a loyal subject to Bavaria ).

• Koch, Robert: Ausgrabungen in der Burg Wittelsbach bei Aichach - Ein Vorbericht über die Ergebnisse bis Mai 1980. Augsburg, 1980.
• Koch, Robert: Die Ausgrabungen in der Burg Wittelsbach bei Aichach 1978-1979 // Grad, Toni (Hrsg.): Die Wittelsbacher im Aichacher Land. 1980.
• Lechner, Horst; Brandner, Wolfgang: Aichach bei Wittelsbach - Historische Ansichten aus vier Jahrhunderten. Augsburg, 1999. ISBN 3-89639-191-7
• Störmer, Wilhelm: Probleme der frühen Wittelsbacher im Aichacher Raum. Vorträge d. Arbeitstagung am 25./26. April 1980 geh. im Landratsamt Aichach im Auftr. d. Landkreises Aichach-Friedberg. (Altbayern in Schwaben, 1979/80), 1980.
• Weithmann, Michael W.: Inventar der Burgen Oberbayerns. München, 1995. S. 502-506.
• Weithmann, Michael: Ritter und Burgen in Oberbayern - Streifzüge ins mittelalterliche Land zwischen Alpen, Donau, Lech und Salzach. Dachau, 1999. ISBN 3-89251-276-0