Büdingen (DE)

History

An early Celtic settlement in the region is documented by burial mounds north of Büdingen. The original settlement of Büdingen was founded by the Franks around the Remigius Church, the oldest sacred building in the Wetterau.

The lords of Büdingen, followers of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, made their appearance from 1130. Their castle was built further east to secure the imperial forest (Büdinger Wald) against the expansion of the Landgraves of Hesse, the Prince-Abbey of Fulda and the Archbishopric of Mainz. Büdingen's old town was built as a settlement to the west of the moated castle and was given its first town wall. The von Isenburg dynasty established itself permanently in the Ganerbenburg of Büdingen. However, the prospering town soon became too small. The new town was built from the middle of the 14th century. In 1422, Emperor Frederick III declared the territory of the Counts of Ysenburg to be an imperial county.

During the long reign (1461-1511) of Ludwig II von Ysenburg-Büdingen, Büdingen's townscape, which still characterises the town today, was created. The count was responsible for the architectural protection of the town. He made the proud citizens of Büdingen responsible for their own protection. The county was divided among the count's heirs. As early as 1521, the Büdingen line and its subjects became Protestant.

Calvinism finally prevailed. This marked the beginning of a long and dark period of witch trials. More than 400 executions are documented between 1532 and 1699. It became necessary to counteract the depopulation and economic decline caused by war, epidemics and persecution. The suburb was created in front of the Jerusalem Gate as a result of the Edict of Tolerance issued by Ernst Casimir I von Ysenburg in 1712. Religious refugees of various origins and denominations settled here, in Büdingen mainly the Inspired, in the surrounding area also Huguenots, Waldensians and Herrnhuters, bringing their crafts and trades with them. The religious refugees, saved and relieved from persecution, gave the Lower Gate (also known as the Gate of the Cross) the name "Jerusalem Gate", which they named after the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Architecture

Today's Büdingen Castle developed from a moated castle from the 12th century. A settlement was built to the west of the castle, which was later called the old town of Büdingen. In the middle of the 14th century, the settlement was secured by a town fortification consisting of a town wall, gate towers, ramparts and moats. To the north of the old town, a new district was created through immigration. Around 1390, this new town was also fortified. For both settlements, care was taken to ensure that the streets ran at right angles. There was an undeveloped area between the two parts. The political merger to form the town of Büdingen took place in 1428 and from 1490 a new, double-shelled ring of walls, more massive ramparts and a moat were built around the town as a joint fortification for the old and new town. The Seemenbach stream was also moved to the south for this purpose. The front gate (Schlaghaus) became part of the outer ring of walls and the former stream bed became the Zwinger.

The new main entrance was formed by the characteristic lower gate (Jerusalem Gate) when it was completed. Later forced settlements took place from the early 18th century outside the gates of the city wall in the suburbs.

As Büdingen's fortifications did not suffer any significant damage as a result of military conflicts, they have been preserved as a complete historical complex. The Red Tower houses a model of the fortified town from around 1640.

While many fortified towns dismantled their fortifications to promote industrial and urban development, Ernst Casimir II von Ysenburg-Büdingen and his court architect Victor Melior decided against it around 1850.

Historic Büdingen is now a listed building in its entirety. Extensive renovations are helping to preserve this unique treasure of fortified cultural heritage piece by piece.