Royal palace of Werla


The Royal Palace of Werla is located near Werlaburgdorf in Lower Saxony. The grounds of the royal palace cover about 20 hectares rising atop Kreuzberg hill, a 17 m high natural plateau overlooking the Oker river. In the Early Middle Ages the palace was an important place in the Holy Roman Empire, serving as an important base for the Ottonians in the 10th century in particular. Although it subsequently lost its political significance to the newly established Imperial Palace of Goslar at Rammelsberg, it developed into an independent settlement with a busy industrial quarter. In the 14th century it fell into ruin and was completely unknown until its rediscovery in the 18th century. The core fortress in particular was thoroughly excavated in the 20th century. Excavations carried out since 2007 have brought new understanding to the hitherto largely unexplored outworks. Since 2010 the palace complex with foundation and enceinte, as well as earthworks, has been partially reconstructed and is now open to the public as the Archäologie- und Landschaftspark Kaiserpfalz Werla.

Location

The palace is one of the five most important Ottonian and Salian palaces in modern Lower Saxony.
The palace complex is located about 15 km south of Wolfenbüttel and northeast of Goslar. It is located in the free lands between Schladen und Werlaburgdorf. There is no direct access for vehicles. However, there is a carpark on the road between the two places, on the right hand side as one travels from Schladen, from which the complex can be reached on foot in a few minutes. Alternatively, one can follow a trail along the Wedde and then left along the banks of the Oker. The heritage house Alte Mühle in Schladen is a convenient starting point. After two kilometres one is confronted with a 17m high plateau on which the palace is located.
The nearby town of Werlaburgdorf first acquired its name in 1958. Before that it was simply called Burgdorf.

Palace complex

The main fortress was a cross-shaped complex with a diameter of about 150 m. It sat on the Kreuzberg hill with two sides directly abutting on steep banks of the river Oker. This fortified area was surrounded by a metre thick enceinte and a 9-metre-wide and 4-metre-deep moat. The curtain walls linked two or more gates and several towers. Three baileys were connected to the donjon: the 1st and 2nd inner baileys and the outer bailey. Altogether, an area of around 20 hectares was enclosed within the fortifications. The baileys had similarly deep ditches, but with earthworks instead of a wall. There were further buildings within the main fortress:
A reconstructed model of Werla Palace is on display in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. It shows the complex in its 10th-century incarnation, with individual stone buildings and a stone ring wall. The model represents the state of research on Werla as of 1985. Subsequent excavations have altered the picture somewhat.

History



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Prehistory and Etymology

The raised area above the Oker was probably settled in prehistoric times as indicated by numerous finds from that period, mainly ceramic, but also stone and bone tools. In autumn 2010 a grave richly supplied with ceramic grave goods from the late Baalberg Culture was discovered. It contained the skeleton of an older woman and a small child.
The etymology of Werla is not entirely clear. In 1935 the etymologist Edward Schröder proposed the theory that Werla meant Männerwald. In his view, the name derived from the Latin or Germanic words for "man" and the rest of the name would be the suffix -la, an alternative word for "Forest". Schröder then suggested that the name referred to a "holy forest area" in the region of the later palace in which Gau officers met to discuss matters. Another view, advanced by W. Flechsig.
The most recent excavations revealed indications of a gap in habitation between the Roman Imperial period and the Early Middle Ages. The number of pottery finds from this time period proved very low and none of the buildings that were uncovered can be dated to this period.
Evidence for habitation on the surface is first apparent in the 9th century. A sort of fortified farmstead existed at this time. A ring wall encompassed several wooden buildings in the area of the later donjon.

Palatial period

At the beginning of the 10th century, the construction of the fortified palace complex occurred. The first documentary attestations also belong to this period. In his Saxon Chronicle the Saxon chronicler Widukind of Corvey records a stay by King Henry the Fowler which depending on the interpretation of the evidence occurred in either 924 or 926. The king took shelter there with his untrained army in the face of an attack by the Hungarians. At the same time a Hungarian leader was captured as well. This was probably Zoltán, son of the Hungarian Grand Prince Árpád. In exchange for freeing him, Henry was later able to organise a nine-year truce, which enabled him to strengthen the defenses of the Empire.
Under the Ottonians Werla experienced its first golden age, as shown by documents recording fourteen royal visits between 924 and 1013. All Ottonians visited the palace at least once; Otto the Great is recorded at Werla on five separate occasions. The visit of the Salian Conrad II in 1035 during a meeting of the Imperial Diet is doubtful, however. At least twice the royal succession was decided at the Palace. Thus, during the succession crisis in 1002, the Bavarian duke Henry IV was accepted at Werla as successor to Otto III, who had died without children. The chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg reports he had provoked an uproar when he wasted the time reserved for an audience with visiting Abbesses. Even before the election of Conrad II in 1024, the Saxons had held discussions at Werla. In total, four meetings of Saxon nobles are known; this is not evidence for a regularly occurring Landtag, however. During the palatial period, the ring walls and the most important public buildings within the main fortress were built. To the north an original bailey developed, which at first covered only three hectares, however.

Settlement

Already under Henry II Werla had begun to lose its political importance on account of the newly established palace at Goslar, which controlled the rich vein of silver at Rammelsberg. However, Werla's palace status was not abolished as the Sachsenspiegel would later claim. In 1086 Henry IV leased around 400 Hufen of the palace's estate to Udo von Gleichen-Reinhausen, Bishop of Hildesheim, probably a gift to secure the bishop's support in the Investiture Controversy. The loss of political significance did not cause the complex to fall into decay. On the contrary, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the first bailey was massively expanded to the west and strengthen with a new, secondary donjon. Later a second outer bailey was added as well. The palace complex thus grew to cover an area of almost 20 hectares. In addition, the fortifications were strengthened by new ditches and towers and major additions were made to the central buildings of the donjon. Numerous new finds in the baileys show that a permanent settlement developed at Werla. Metal and textile workshops seem to have developed in the pit-houses of the baileys during this time. In 1180 the palace was visited by an Emperor for the last time. Frederick Barbarossa ended his conflict with his enemy Henry the Lion here, close to Braunschweig, and issued an ultimatum to his followers calling for them to surrender. That Barbaroosa returned to the old palace after such a long period of time shows that it had retained an important symbolic role in the collective consciousness of the Saxons.

Decay & ruin

In 1240 the Bishop of Hildesheim gave the tithe of Werla to. The church of the old palace was taken over by the abbey as well, having been under the administration of Dorstadt Abbey for a little while. In the 13th century there is evidence of renewed building activity. Inside the donjon, graves and cellar buildings were built, whose purpose is not entirely clear. Into the 14th century it is still possible to detect signs of habitation, but Werla and its parish church seem to have fallen into ruin by 1550 at the latest. Some of the residents probably moved to Burgdorf to the east, which is now called Werlaburgdorf. The villagers and in some cases Heiningen Abbey made use of the building material as a cheap building material. In the following centuries, the name was used several times in reference to the fields on the hilltop in documents. Until 1817 a chapel still stood on the site, its origin no longer known to the locals. With the disappearance of the last visible walls, knowledge of the royal palace disappeared from the memory of man.
However, around 50 textual references to the palace's existence from the 10th to the 13th century remained, including royal documents and chronicles.

Archaeological investigation

Rediscovery and initial investigation

The first attempts to locate Werla palace took place in the 19th century. Suspected candidates included the Burg Werle in Mecklenburg and Werl in Westphalia. Hermann Adolf Lüntzel's study of the documents in the middle of the 19th century narrowed the location down to the neighbourhood of Schladen. Local farmers had reported that they had ploughed up stones on Kreuzberg. In 1875, the Bauinspektor of Goslar Palace, E. F. A. Schulze dug a small ditch and revealed some foundations which were seen as clear evidence of the palace. In commemoration a stone was set up inscribed Kaiserpfalz Werla and a linden tree was planted which can still be seen today. Further scholarly investigations were not undertaken, however. Around 1920 a teacher in Schladen, Franz Kaufmann, became interested in Werla and called archaeological interest to the palace. This led to a one-day test excavation under the leadership of the architectural historian Uvo Hölscher of the Technical University of Hannover. As a result of increased scholarly interest Goslar District bought part of the land in the area of the donjon in 1929 in order to protect it from further ploughing damage. In 1933 the Werla Commission was founded which consisted of scholars and representatives of Goslar District and the central government. They were to co-ordinate the excavations planned to follow.

Excavations between 1934 and 1939

In the year 1934 the first excavation campaign organised by the Werla commission began. It was led by civil engineer Karl Becker. Prehistoric finds were expected and Hermann Schroller of the Hannover Provincial Museum was consulted on these. For the first time, the surrounding area was subjected to scholarly investigation. Becker became ill in the following year and was no longer able to undertake excavations, so the architectural historian Heinrich Steckeweh was appointed acting head of excavations. But in 1937, for unclear reasons the Werla commission decided to put Hermann Schroller in charge of the whole excavation, even though he specialised solely in prehistory. At any rate, he endeavoured to further increase the high official interest in the excavations. Scholars, party officials and classes of school children were shown around the site and the latest discoveries were published in the press. A film was even produced for educational purposes. Through his numerous political contacts, Scholler who was an NSDAP member, was able to secure the support of the Reichsarbeitsdienst and even the Army Aviation School of Hildesheim for the excavation. In 1937 aerial investigation making use of stereophotography for the first time ever brought sensational revelations. Areas of soil discolouration were apparent from the photos which revealed the outlines of the palace and its baileys. The new evidence led to great interest among experts.
Also new and innovative was the use of modern chemical analysis and the interdisciplinary interaction between architectural historians, archaeologists and geologists in identifying the building remains. Despite the use of advanced techniques, the documentation of the excavations suffers from significant technical issues. Finds were constantly reinterpreted and published results corrected. The poor-quality and hasty interpretation of discoveries cannot be fully explained by Schroller's lack of professional training - an important factor was the strong ideological influence of Nazism. A specific idea of an Ottonian palace was imposed on Werla which was referred to as the "Cradle of the First Reich", which the Nazis considered to be the direct ancestor of their own Third Reich. Accordingly, attempts were made to date the finds to the Ottonian period as much as possible, and preferably to the reign of the so-called "Reich-founder" Henry I. Furthermore, there were vicious internal conflicts among the leaders of the excavations. The resulting interpretative errors have continued to trouble scholarly literature to this day. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the excavations came to an early end.

Renewed excavations: 1957-1964

At the resumptiuon of excavation in 1957, Hermann Schroller was once again appointed as the head of excavation. After his unexpected death in 1959, his students Gudrun Stelzer and Carl-Heinrich Seebach continued the excavations until 1964. A large part of the donjon was excavated; it is considered almost completely explored. Furthermore, traces of earlier structures were documented in detail for the first time and the significance of the renovations during the High Middle Ages to the development of the palace came to be recognised. During the excavations, thousands of individual finds were preserved, mostly pottery, but also iron and bronze items. The coins discovered came from Rostock, Göttingen, Bremen and other mints and mostly dated from the 13th century. Evidence for short visits by high-ranking individuals was lacking and the early royal presence was reflected only in the construction work at the complex. The two baileys were only patchily investigated. The approximate course of the fortifications was determined by large test trenches, in which remains of workshops and pit-houses were revealed for the first time. The theory that the baileys had served purely as "army-forts" was therefore disproven. On account of the new information historians were focused on the archaeological finds for many years. The role of the palace as a defensive fortificationa against the Hungarians increasingly retreated into the background. Instead, focus fell in particular on the role of the palace as an important reguional centre of government and economy.

Festival, 2005

On the 21 and 22 May 2005 a festival entitled Pfalz Werla – Leben vor 1000 Jahren was held on the palace grounds. 300 actors, 130 tents, a dozen horses and five guns entertained around 17,000 visitors with three time periods: "Europe around 1000 AD," "Welf and Staufen period in the Middle Ages" as well as "the Late Middle Ages" looking at the defensive techniques and crafts of an urban community. The festival was meant to support Braunschweig's application to be a European Capital of Culture for 2010. For the application Wolfenbüttel district also commissioned a study published in 2003 which proposed a lavish reconstruction of the palace. The project was cancelled in 2005 when Braunschweig's application was rejected in favour of Essen with Ruhr.2010, Pécs and Istanbul.

Excavation between 2007 and 2012

The excavations have not come to an end as of September 2012; a comprehensive publication is still pending. However, the latest results shed further light on the continual change and development of Werla, providing an insight into its economic life and providing important data for the projected reconstruction and visualisation.

Excavation in the donjon

In spring 2007, renewed excavations began in the donjon. The chapel, the buildings, gates and walls were uncovered until 2008 and re-surveyed. The evidence later provided the foundations for a reconstruction within the scope of the "Archäologie- und Landschaftsparks Kaiserpfalz Werla." Along with the sighting and checking of already known finds, new discoveries were also made. Thus, the wall plan of the earlier 9th century complex was accurately documented. In addition, new techniques in mortar analysis and comparison to similar buildings enabled individual buildings to be dated more accurately and certainly. A geological investigation of the building stone provided the foundations for determining the weight of the central buildings. The transport costs and workload associated with the construction of the building could therefore be roughly calculated for the first time. This indicated that the construction of the donjon would have taken many years and that the majority of the construction materials came from the surrounding region. The relationship of Werla with Schladen and Burgdorf also needs to be rethought. Schladen was hitherto understood as the location of the Curtis, the palace's economic centre. However, this may be contradicted by the new evidence which might show that the baileys were inhabited in several periods and were used for a much longer time than previously thought. With respect to Burgdorf, the 9th/10th century graveyard is important, since it was likely the burial ground of a village whose inhabitants probably worked in the palace's demesne.

Excavation in the bailey

Furthermore, a geomagnetic survey of the baileys was carried out. The resulting data enabled a new reconstruction of the palace's history. West of the north tower, a wall was discovered, which later excavations dated to the 10th or 11th century by means of ceramic finds. Surprisingly, this wall appeared to divide the inner bailey from north to south. Thus the construction of the bailey has to be divided into at least two phases. In the palatial period, then, the bailey was considerablyu smaller than it was later and was first expanded to the west and fortified with an additional ditch in the High Middle Ages. Part of this development is probably indicated by another ditch, which was discovered in the area of the so-called Chapel Hill. On this hill, the external remains of stone buildings were discovered which were probably built in connection with the foundation of another donjon. New aerial photographs and a systematic survey of the area helped to more closely determine the layout and arrangement of various workshops within the bailey. Some of these buildings may be examined more closely in the future. Through wide-scale excavations paved streets, pit-houses, waste pits and traces of a hay barrack were brought to light. Remains of looms and loom-weights in one spot indicate an area used for textile production, while clay nozzles of bellows and slag in another location indicate a metalworking area. Finally, the excavations focussed on the fortification system of the inner bailey. In the investigation of the walls and ditches, an embankment was discovered which was located immediately behind the walls.

Neolithic grave

In October 2010 the Braunschweig district archaeologists discovered three female skeletons dated to around 3700 BC in the course of a field school excavation with students. The women's ages at death were determined to be 4, 20 and 45 years old, with the child spatially associated with the twenty-year-old woman. More than thirty vessels from the Baalberge group were also discovered.

Archaeological and Wilderness park of the Imperial Palace of Werla

Building on the plans made when the 2007 excavations were begun, the remains of the palace were turned into a public park, the "Archaeological and Wilderness park of the Imperial Palace of Werla". Therefore, in 2008 the Lower Saxon Ministry for Scholarship and Culture purchased the surrounding fields. Meanwhile, around 1.5 million euro were invested in the project. Work was carried out with the advice of the Ostfalen Open-air and Experiential Museum and the Harz – Brunswick Land – Eastphalia National Geopark, beginning in autumn 2010. On 14 September 2012 the Minister-President David McAllister officially inaugurated the park.
Through the restoration of the earthworks and ditches, the impressive scale of the donjon and bailey complex has been made clear. For their protection the foundations of the original earthworks were covered over with the earth of the new earthworks. In the area of the donjon the walls of the buildings were partially reconstructed and the "West tower" was fully reconstructed to give an idea of the appearance of the buildings as a whole.