Laudert - Motte

To the north of Laudert, in the marshy Simmerbach valley is a well preserved medieval fort complex.
The fort is rectangular in shape and surrounded by a double system of ditches and ramparts.
Rising in the centre of the fort is a steep sided 5m high rectangular mound.
Traces of old excavations are evident on the top of the mound, one of them possibly from a robbery in the foundations of the tower, which had formerly stood on the site. When comparing this to similar sites it would seem that this mound, which was built up with soil and other material, would have had, on its levelled top surface a central multi-storey residential tower with an upper battle platform. The top of the mound was presumably enclosed by a palisade, likewise the ground below.  
The fortress mound is enclosed by an approximately 6 to 10m wide ditch, beyond which stands the first embankment- like rampart.
On the northern side of the rampart is the first fortification; within which were located the farmyard, stables for horses and productive livestock, workshops and accommodation.
Beyond the inner ditch and the rampart runs an external 15 m wide ditch which, to this day, bears water.
Along the ditch runs an embankment, which today stands 1,5 m high. The fort measures, externally, 75 by 60 metres.
Both the inner and outer embankments are too narrow to have supported an effective parapet and battlement. The embankments probably served to dam up and regulate the water in the ditches and the outlets located at their corners, which allow water to flow in and out, are a clear indication as to how they functioned.
Along with the water filled ditches the surrounding marshland offered natural protection.
The fort is not mentioned in any historical texts but a few shards of medieval pottery  date the fort to the 13th  or 14th century. Laudert itself is first mentioned as late as 1275.
In the late Middle Ages Laudert lay on the borderline between Kurtrier and Kurpfalz.
Important in this context is the roughly 800 m long embankment that runs 1 km distant in a westerly direction – the “Roman Embankment” or “Land Ditch” as it is known was probably a mediaeval borderline, a Landwehr or territorial marking.
The old Laudert fort is a particular type – known as the  “Motte”. The term “Motte” derives from the French and indicates a mound or hill. The characteristic criterion for a “Motte” is an artificially heaped up mound surrounded by a water bearing ditch. The first ‘Motte’ forts occurred in late 10th century France. Their heyday lasted from the 12th to 13th century and the “Motte’ was the favoured fort type of the gentry.
The  ‘Motte’ constructions in the eastern Hunsrück are situated in marshy areas..
In addition to the protection afforded by the marshland and the standard water filled ditches some of the complexes have a proper external  embankment system  in which water was accumulated or regulated. There are only scant references to the development of building methods.
Archaeological and historical datings are few but enable the  ‘Motte’ to be dated to the 11th or 12th century.
The fort mounds of the Hunsrück plateau were erected during the mediaeval settlement phase.
In Roman times the Hunsrück and the Rhine valley were consistently and intensively inhabited.
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century extensive areas turned into an unpeopled   wilderness. The river valleys though, with their good soil and climate, remained populated.
Between the 8th and  the 13th century, growth  in the size of the population made new settlement space necessary. In the Hunsrück a phase of deforestation was begun. Royal, but also ecclesiastical institutions and aristocratic families, were involved in this phase of deforestation.

The first forest clearance phase of the 8th century can be traced in today’s place-names; endings such as –weiler, -hausen, -bach or –hofen. (??)  The clearances were concentrated in the areas  south and east of Simmern.
In the second clearance phase, between the 10th and 12th century, which is marked by place-name endings like –schied and –roth further areas of the plateau were settled. This resettlement phase is thought to have been largely concluded in the 12th century.
The landed gentry were the driving force of the forest clearances and protected  the  newly settled areas with these  marshland fortresses.

[Martin Thoma]