Veste Landskron
Encyclopedia
Veste Landskron or Lanzkron is a Renaissance
water castle
in the municipality Neuendorf B
, Vorpommern-Greifswald
district, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
. Built between 1576 and 1579, it deteriorated in the 17th century. Its ruins are a tourist attraction and frequently the site of cultural events.
B 199, south of the village Janow
(part of the Neuendorf B
municipality) and west of the village Rehberg (part of the Spantekow
municipality). To the south is the Großer Landgraben
valley, marking the border between Mecklenburg
and Pomerania
. Made of boulder
s and brick
s, it is situated on an elevation of glacial till
surrounded by swampy meadows.
noble houses. The von Schwerin family was divided in about 24 branches in the 17th century, whose members lived in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg
, Poland
and Sweden
. Ulrich was the fifth son of another Ulrich von Schwerin
, Großhofmeister
at the Pomeranian ducal court. He financed the building, which cost about 40,000 gulden
, from pay received for military service for the duke of Mecklenburg. The castle was designed as a Renaissance
style water castle
.
The rectangular main building, a keep
about 25 metres (82 ft) long and 15 metres (49.2 ft) wide with three upper stories and a basement, was secured by four round towers attached to its edges, a wall and a moat
. One of the keep's towers (Hungerturm) was used as a dungeon to incarcerate abducted people held for ransom. Attached to the keep's eastern front was the entrance building (Vorschloß), about 10 metres (32.8 ft) long and 12 metres (39.4 ft) wide. In front of the entrance to the keep, which could be reached by a drawbridge
, laid the courtyard (Vorburg), and both the keep and the courtyard were surrounded by an outer wall and another moat.
In the west, the outer wall was immediately adjacent to the inner moat and comprised five small bastions. The castle was entered through a gatehouse in the northern outer wall, comprising a guardhouse west of the gateway that led to the courtyard, and the stables in its eastern part, where also a well was located. A second drawbridge, made from copper according to legend, spanned the outer moat in front of the gatehouse. Two other separate buildings stood on the courtyard - a chapel to the south and a kitchen to the east. The castle was finished in 1579.
, during which the villages around Landskron were burned down, and mismanagement.
When Georg Ernst died in 1651, Landskron was inherited by his daughter Anna, who married the Swedish noble von Anrieppe (see Swedish Pomerania
). Their daughter Agnes von Anrieppe married Jürgen von Pentz, who soon abandoned Landskron and in 1699 sold it to Philipp von Schwerin, a nephew of Otto von Schwerin, advisor of the Brandenburgian elector, for 13,000 thaler
s. Philipp von Schwerin did not rebuild the castle, which had further detoriorated during the Scanian War
, but moved his residence to nearby Rehberg.
According to local folklore, the nobles at Landskron and the neighboring castles Conerow, Klempenow and Spantekow
frequently engaged as robber baron
s holding up transports between the towns Anklam
, Demmin
, Friedland, Jarmen
and Teterow
. Legend tells that they used golden horns to communicate with each other, allegedly confiscated from "Turkish" guards in the age of Barbarossa
.
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
water castle
Water castle
A water castle is a castle or stately home whose site is entirely surrounded by moats or natural waterbodies. Topographically water castles are a type of lowland castle.There is a further distinction between:...
in the municipality Neuendorf B
Neuendorf B
Neuendorf B is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.-Geography:It comprises the villages of Janow and Neuendorf B. In south of Janow there are the ruins of Veste Landskron .-References:...
, Vorpommern-Greifswald
Vorpommern-Greifswald
Vorpommern-Greifswald is a district in the east of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by the districts Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, Vorpommern-Rügen, the Baltic Sea, Poland and the state Brandenburg...
district, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 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...
. Built between 1576 and 1579, it deteriorated in the 17th century. Its ruins are a tourist attraction and frequently the site of cultural events.
Geography
Landskron is southeast of the junction of autobahn 20 and federal routeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
B 199, south of the village Janow
Janów
Janów is a very common placenames in Poland. It may refer to:* Janów Lubelski - town in Poland* Janów Poleski - the Polish name for Ivanava, a town in Belarus...
(part of the Neuendorf B
Neuendorf B
Neuendorf B is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.-Geography:It comprises the villages of Janow and Neuendorf B. In south of Janow there are the ruins of Veste Landskron .-References:...
municipality) and west of the village Rehberg (part of the Spantekow
Spantekow
Spantekow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It comprises the villages Dennin, Drewelow, Fasanenhof, Japenzin, Rehberg, Rebelow and Spantekow....
municipality). To the south is the Großer Landgraben
Großer Landgraben
Großer Landgraben is a river of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.-See also:*List of rivers of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
valley, marking the border between Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
and Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
. Made of boulder
Boulder
In geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm diameter. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive....
s and brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
s, it is situated on an elevation of glacial till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
surrounded by swampy meadows.
Construction, buildings
Construction was started in 1576 by Ulrich II von Schwerin, member of one of the oldest PomeranianDuchy of Pomerania
The Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania ....
noble houses. The von Schwerin family was divided in about 24 branches in the 17th century, whose members lived in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg
Margraviate of Brandenburg
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Ulrich was the fifth son of another Ulrich von Schwerin
Ulrich von Schwerin
Ulrich von Schwerin, also spelled Huldrych von Schwerin or Huldricus Schwerinus was Hofmeister in the Duchy of Pomerania-Wolgast and one of the most influential men of his time. He was a member of the noble Schwerin family, who originally came from Mecklenburg.- Life :He was the son of Joachim...
, Großhofmeister
Hofmeister (office)
In medieval Europe, a Hofmeister was a house tutor, also responsible for the care of his students beyond their education....
at the Pomeranian ducal court. He financed the building, which cost about 40,000 gulden
Gulden
Gulden is the historical German term for gold coin Gulden is the historical German term for gold coin Gulden is the historical German term for gold coin (from Middle High German guldin [pfenni(n)c] "golden penny", equivalent to the Dutch term guilder...
, from pay received for military service for the duke of Mecklenburg. The castle was designed as a Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
style water castle
Water castle
A water castle is a castle or stately home whose site is entirely surrounded by moats or natural waterbodies. Topographically water castles are a type of lowland castle.There is a further distinction between:...
.
The rectangular main building, a keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
about 25 metres (82 ft) long and 15 metres (49.2 ft) wide with three upper stories and a basement, was secured by four round towers attached to its edges, a wall and a 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...
. One of the keep's towers (Hungerturm) was used as a dungeon to incarcerate abducted people held for ransom. Attached to the keep's eastern front was the entrance building (Vorschloß), about 10 metres (32.8 ft) long and 12 metres (39.4 ft) wide. In front of the entrance to the keep, which could be reached by a drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
, laid the courtyard (Vorburg), and both the keep and the courtyard were surrounded by an outer wall and another moat.
In the west, the outer wall was immediately adjacent to the inner moat and comprised five small bastions. The castle was entered through a gatehouse in the northern outer wall, comprising a guardhouse west of the gateway that led to the courtyard, and the stables in its eastern part, where also a well was located. A second drawbridge, made from copper according to legend, spanned the outer moat in front of the gatehouse. Two other separate buildings stood on the courtyard - a chapel to the south and a kitchen to the east. The castle was finished in 1579.
Name
The initial and still most widely used name of the castle was Landskron ("Land's Crown"). Legend tells that the name was frowned upon by the Pomeranian duke, who pressured Ulrich to rename it Lanzkron ("Lance's Crown"), which is also in use as an alternative name.Noble owners and deterioration
The date of Ulrich von Schwerin's death is unknown. Landskron was inherited by one of his sons, Georg Ernst, who later passed it to his son Ulrich Wigand. The castle deteriorated due to the impact of the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, during which the villages around Landskron were burned down, and mismanagement.
When Georg Ernst died in 1651, Landskron was inherited by his daughter Anna, who married the Swedish noble von Anrieppe (see Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts...
). Their daughter Agnes von Anrieppe married Jürgen von Pentz, who soon abandoned Landskron and in 1699 sold it to Philipp von Schwerin, a nephew of Otto von Schwerin, advisor of the Brandenburgian elector, for 13,000 thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
s. Philipp von Schwerin did not rebuild the castle, which had further detoriorated during the Scanian War
Scanian War
The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark-Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish provinces along the border with Sweden and in Northern Germany...
, but moved his residence to nearby Rehberg.
According to local folklore, the nobles at Landskron and the neighboring castles Conerow, Klempenow and Spantekow
Spantekow
Spantekow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It comprises the villages Dennin, Drewelow, Fasanenhof, Japenzin, Rehberg, Rebelow and Spantekow....
frequently engaged as robber baron
Robber baron
A robber baron or robber knight was an unscrupulous and despotic nobility of the medieval period in Europe, for example, Berlichingen. It has slightly different meanings in different countries. In modern US parlance, the term is also used to describe unscrupulous industrialists...
s holding up transports between the towns Anklam
Anklam
Anklam is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Stettin Lagoon. Anklam has a population of 14,603 and was the capital of the former...
, Demmin
Demmin
Demmin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It was the capital of the former district Demmin.- Name :...
, Friedland, Jarmen
Jarmen
Jarmen is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the southern bank of the river Peene, 20 km south of Greifswald. Founded during the Ostsiedlung in the medieval terrae Miserez and Ploth, Jarmen remained a rural town at an...
and Teterow
Teterow
Teterow is a town of Germany, in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Population: 9,535 .The Teterower See is to the north-east of the town.-History:The Stadtkirche St. Peter und Paul Teterow is a town of Germany, in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western...
. Legend tells that they used golden horns to communicate with each other, allegedly confiscated from "Turkish" guards in the age of 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...
.