Asseburg (castle)

Asseburg
Wittmar
Ruins of the Asseburg
Asseburg
Coordinates	52°08′37″N 10°38′35″E
Type	hill castle
Code	DE-NI
Site information
Condition	ruin
Site history
Built	between 1218 and 1223

The Asseburg is a ruined hill castle on the narrow, southern crest of the Asse ridge in the Harz Mountains of Germany, not far from Wolfenbüttel. The castle was built around 1218 by Gunzelin of Wolfenbüttel and other nobles as a so-called Ganerbenburg, or castle managed and occupied by more than one family or branch. Based on its dimensions, this elongated fortification was the largest hill castle in North Germany and was considered impregnable. In 1492 it fell into ruins when it was abandoned and set on fire by its garrison during the course of a feud.

Literature

• Hans Adolf Schultz (1980) (in German), Burgen und Schlösser des Braunschweiger Landes, Brunswick, ISBN 3-878840128 
• Ulrich Schwarz, ed. (2003) (in German), Auf dem Weg zur herzoglichen Residenz Wolfenbüttel im Mittelalter, Brunswick: Appelhans, ISBN 3-930292-86-6 
• Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe (1996) (in German), Burgen des deutschen Mittelalters, Augsburg, ISBN 3-86047-219-4 
• Ernst Andreas Friedrich: Die Ruine der Asseburg, S.116-117, in: Wenn Steine reden könnten, Vol. III, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover, 1995, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1.

External links

• Location description and photographs on the website of the Braunschweig-Ostfalen region
• Photographs of the castle
• Description at burgenwelt.de
• Description at Heimat- und Verkehrsverein Asse
• Historic artist's impression
• Description at Braunschweigische Landschaft website.