![[Hohenecken Castle]](hohenecken2.jpg)
Hohenecken Castle, less than an hour's walk from Vogelweh, may have been our very favorite place around Kaiserslautern. Students from Kaiserslautern American High School often walked up from Vogelweh to the castle.
Die Burg Hohenecken war vielleicht Kaiserslauterns beliebteste Stelle für die Schüler der Kaiserslautern American High School. Die Geschichte der alten Burg wußten wir aber nie.
In 1988 I wrote to the mayor of Kaiserslautern, Oberbürgermeister Theo Vondano, who sent me about ninety photocopied pages of historical information about Hohenecken, its castle, and its people, from a book written by the Kaiserslautern city archivist Heinz Friedel (Hohenecken: Geschlecht, Burg, Dorf - 1984) I learned such elementary facts as that the castle isn't called a "Schloss" (palace), but a "Burg" (fortification).
Ich danke Theo Vondano, damals der Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Kaiserslautern, der in 1988 um neunzig Seiten aus Heinz FriedelsHohenecken: Geschlecht, Burg, Dorf für mich photokopieren ließ.
There is archeological evidence (in the form of a sarcophagus found in 1895) that the mountaintop on which Hohenecken Castle was built was fortified even in Roman times. The final departure of the Romans in 406 C.E. left the area almost unpopulated for several centuries.
Schon in spätrömischen Zeiten stand eine Befestigungsanlage am "Großen Berg", wo um 1895 ein römischer Sarg gefunden wurde. Als im Jahre 406 endgültig die Römer sich zurückgezogen hatten, blieb die Umgebung jahrhundertelang fast menschenleer.
Soon after he was elected emperor (kaiser) in 1152, Frederick I (called Barbarossa because of his red beard) began to fortify the Palatinate, building a castle at Lautern (thus Kaiserslautern) and a number of surrounding fortifications of which Hohenecken was perhaps the largest. Construction was probably not completed until after 1210.
The Hohenecken family, which has been extinct for more than a century, further fortified the castle in the 1560's.Pictures of Hohenecken Castle include two aerial photographs, several color photographs lent to me by Steve Orchard, KAHS '78, taken by his friend David Narcisse, who returned there about 1988. I took the two black and white photographs in 1954.
Farbbilder der Burg um 1988. Die zwei kleineren Bilder um 1954. Zwei Flugzeugaufnahmen, um viellecht 1975.
Michael Brandstetter lives in the village of Hohenecken, and has two maps of Hohenecken on his Web site (the castle is designated "Ruine")
Michael Brandstetter wohnt im Dorf Hohenecken, und zwei Karten Hoheneckens sind auf seinen Webseiten zu sehen.
A fantasy role playing group called the "German Non-Profit Club for Medieval Culture and Fantasy-Roleplay" (their official English title) often stages events at Hohenecken Castle. Their Web site is partly available in English. Here's a picture of them at the castle.
Der Gemeinnütziger Verein für mittelalterliche Kultur und Fantasy-Rollenspiel besucht oft die legendäre Burg.
A famous German poem that was written about the time Burg Hohenecken was being built is Walter von der Vogelweide's Under der Linden. Here's the original with my English translation. It sort of expresses the Hohenecken spirit.