Eresburg

Eresburg Also referred to as Eresburg Castle, is know today as the community of Obermarsberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. This is the hill which overlooks the modern city of Marsberg on the Diemel, a tributary of the Weser, near Paderborn. The location was originally founded as an Iron Age hillfort, probably sometime before or during the era of the German-Roman Wars; including the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest (circa AD 4) and the Battle of the Weser River (circa AD 16) (see Arminius, aka Hermann der Cherusker, and Germanicus). Although it is unclear whether the surrounding area was territory of the Cherusci, Chatti, or perhaps Marsi (as described by Tacitus), no particular reference to Eresburg is known prior to the later Saxon Wars (AD 770 to 785) with Charlemagne (aka Karl der Grosse).

Eresburg played an important role in the Saxon Wars as it was a stronghold repeatedly occupied by Widukind (Wittekind), leader of the recalcitrant Saxons (those refusing to adopt Christianity and the overlordship of the Franks), and then abandoned to Charlemagne's forces as the Saxons retreated to what is today Denmark (the home of Widukind's in-laws). Local lore has it that as Charlemagne's forces approached, the common town's folk would move into the vast underground gypsum caves beneath Eresburg known as the Drachenholler (Dragon's hole or lair) where they would go unnoticed until Charlemagne's people left. Though this is probably unsupported legend, the caves can still be seen, along with several watchtowers that reportedly date to the same time period (circa AD 800).

Very near Eresburg is the hill known as Priesterberg (Priest's mountain), which overlooks the valley of the Diemel. This was reportedly the location of pagan sacrificial rites in the pre-Christian era and the home of Irminsul, a sacred tree or pillar which represented the Germanic central pillar of the world (this was at least one of possibly several Irminsuls). In the year AD 772 Charlemagne destroyed the Irminsul on Priesterberg (elsewhere reported as "near Paderborn" or "near Eresburg") one of the sacred places of the Saxons. The Irminsul was replaced by a stone tower, or structure of some kind, while a Christian church was first constructed in Eresburg proper around AD 800. Although the church in Obermarsberg probably dates in part to the 1200s, it is at least the second or third church which stands atop the remains of Charlemagne's church in Eresburg. The crumbling remains of the stone structure atop Priesterberg can still be seen however.