The Wartburg lies on the north-western slope of the Thuringer Forest
at the top of a spur that commands an extensive view over the fruitful
fields and woody Thuringian ridges. If the traveller has enjoyed the
prospect during the ascent, he is engrossed by other feelings as soon
as he has passed through the gateway into the old stronghold and
mentally rehabilitates the entire castle as it was in days of yore.
For the Wartburg is not only memorable as having been the abode for a
century of the powerful landgraves of Thuringia who had their court
here from the time this hold was built by Ludwig II. at the end of the
Eleventh Century (1080 A. D. is usually considered the year
of its completion) to the extinction of his line with Heinrich Raspe
in the middle of the Thirteenth Century, but it has also acquired a
classic repute in German history by three important occurrences: the
famous Singer-war, the life of Saint Elizabeth, and Luther’s sojourn
here.
[Illustration: THE WARTBURG, GERMANY.]
The Singer-war, also called the war of the Wartburg, was brought about,
as is well known, by the Minnesong-enthusiast landgrave, Hermann I.
and his art-loving wife, Sophia. In 1206, they assembled six of the
most celebrated Minnesingers,--Walter von der Vogelweide, Heinrich von
Ofterdingen, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Heinrich (the virtuous writer),
Johann Bitterolff, and Reimer von Zwethin, partly native and partly
foreign,--and arranged a singing-contest among them. Heinrich von
Ofterdingen sang of the knightly qualities of the Archduke Leopold II.
of Austria; Eschenbach celebrated the fame of the King of France; and
Walter von der Vogelweide, the preëminence of the landgrave Hermann;
whilst the other singers extolled other princes. But this gave rise
to a serious strife, and the irritated contestants agreed (so it is
said) that the defeated singer should die by the executioner’s hand.
The landgrave strongly forbade such a bargain over his undertaking, but
nevertheless when Ofterdingen was declared the loser, the protection
of the landgravine, to whom he fled, was necessary to save him from
his adversaries. The landgrave adjusted the quarrel by arranging
a new contest, to which Ofterdingen had to fetch from Hungary the
world-famous meistersinger, Klingsor, to act as umpire. About a year
afterwards, therefore, the latter appeared with Ofterdingen and the
contest began again. Klingsor, however, would not decide in favour of
any one singer, but rather sought to reconcile the parties. In this he
was successful, and so the “War of the Wartburg” ended in feasting and
revels which the landgrave provided.
Although its original features have been destroyed, the Minnesinger
Hall in which the contest took place still stands, and might easily be
restored; but fragments of the poems of the Wartburg war are preserved
in the _Maneseichen_, _Docenschen_, and other collections. It
has been held, however, and not without good grounds, that the poems
still extant of that contest were first collected a century after it
was held. It seems certain, nevertheless, that the kernel of the matter
is largely contained in these collections.
Saint Elizabeth, the daughter of King Andrew II. of Hungary, became
the wife of the landgrave Ludwig VI., the Pious, in 1221; and resided
at the Wartburg with him. She was a model of simplicity, piety
and gentleness; and during a famine and accompanying pestilence
that ravaged Thuringia, she displayed these great virtues to the
highest degree, proving herself a true mother of her country by her
self-sacrifice in nursing the sick and dying.
Luther had left the Diet at Worms; he had been outlawed, and the
safe-conduct granted to him by the Emperor Charles V. was soon about
to lapse, for it was limited to twenty-one days. His friends and
protectors therefore feared for his life, and, in order to hide him,
Luther was snatched up by masked servants while passing through the
Thuringer Forest, and brought to the Wartburg. It is scarcely to
be doubted that this happened by the contrivance of the Kurfurst
Friedrich, although at first he may have avoided all knowledge of
Luther’s retreat, in order to be able to meet all official inquiries.
Luther arrived at the Wartburg in May, 1521, under the name of a knight
Görg. Here, for nearly a year, he lived in a little chamber, in a wing
to the right of the chief tower, very simply adorned and furnished only
with the barest necessaries. It still exists in its original condition,
and it is with awe that the visitor enters the little abode wherein the
great man partly accomplished his undying work,--the translation of the
Bible. The castle chapel in the landgrave’s quarters still contains
the pulpit from which Luther often preached to the inmates.
When we approach the castle from the east, where the carriage road
leading from the town of Eisenach first winds through a wooded valley
up to the tree-clad ridge, the Wartburg sits enthroned high above on
the top of the mountain. From this point we see the landgrave-abode,
and to its immediate right the residence built in 1791, and fortified
walls stretching to the gate-house, or knight-house (_Ritterhaus_).
The ridge on which the castle extends from north to south is long and
narrow and of very irregular form. It was formerly entirely covered
with buildings that surrounded the inner courtyard. The single main
entrance originally consisted of three or four gateways constructed
one behind another with intermediate spaces, on the north-east. The
outermost of these, supplied with a high tower, stood close to the
narrow and steep approach which is cut in the rock and leads to the
top of the mount. This outermost tower, it is conjectured, overhung
this steep path, so that in case of attack the foe might be more
easily repelled. The innermost gateway, which led into the stronghold
itself, is the only one now standing. Formerly it was furnished with a
drawbridge which recently has been changed to a strong bridge of stone.
Above the gateway, rises the so-called _Ritterhaus_ (knight-house)
which retains evidences of having been much higher formerly than it
now is. It probably formed the tower-gate which, in 1558, was partly
demolished and brought into closer relations with the other buildings.
The _Ritterhaus_ served as the dwelling of the knights whom the
landgrave assembled about him for the defence of the castle: it is
now the dwelling of the Castellan. The style of those buildings still
standing shows that they belong to the Fifteenth Century, and only
the lower part of the walls is of the date at which the castle was
founded, at the end of the Eleventh or some time during the Twelfth
Century. The relief carved on the wall over the gateway also belongs
to the same date. Its meaning cannot be solved. Popularly, it is
called the Jonah; but it represents a knight about to be devoured by
a dragon. The coat-of-arms hanging at the knight’s neck appears to
bear the imperial eagle. Another perhaps equally ancient relief, which
is found on the west wall not far from the square tower, is also to
be noted. It represents a man sitting on a lion and tearing its jaws
apart: it refers to the fact that the landgrave Ludwig the Good once
single-handed bound a lion that his father-in-law had sent to him, and
that had escaped from its cage in the courtyard.
Through the door under the _Ritterhaus_, we enter the courtyard
of the Wartburg, and see to the west one of the continuations of the
_Ritterhaus_. Adjoining this to the south, are other buildings;
among others, that containing Luther’s chamber. On the left, to the
east, runs a long high wall from the _Ritterhaus_ to the chief
building standing on that side. This wall is covered with a defence-way
of very simple form resembling those still occasionally found in old
city walls. The first chief building already mentioned on that side
was formerly called the _Musshaus_ (house of ease and leisure).
Between it and the above-mentioned wall at the end of the courtyard,
was originally a high wall with a wide doorway, so that the whole rear
part of the castle, the residence of the ruling family, was separated
from the front part where the knights and attendants dwelt. According
to ancient report, the _Musshaus_ was only a tall, plain block,
though the interior was not devoid of luxury, and here the landgrave’s
family dwelt.
Adjoining the south side of the _Musshaus_ was the _Landgravenhaus_
(landgrave-house), also called the great or high house, which was
devoted to ceremonials in the days of the landgraves. It is a stately
structure that originated perhaps in the time of Ludwig III. in
the middle of the Twelfth Century. In Germany it stands alone as a
princely private building of such dimensions that still preserves its
original form in the Byzantine or Roman style of architecture. In these
respects, there is no ancestral secular building that can compare with
it abroad also. On the west, it is connected with the Minnesinger Hall
which formerly formed the chief entrance to the above hall through
broad windows, divided up into round arches by little columns, for the
other three sides had no entrance. The columns rest upon a low sill, so
that people can look between them into the hall; so that it is to be
presumed that the passage thus formed was intended for spectators. The
little columns are ornamented with delicate capitals and volutes. They
have Attic bases. In the time of Friedrich I. this hall was adorned
with mural paintings of battles and other memorable occurrences of the
life of the period. Traces of these paintings were still visible at the
beginning of the present century.