Bodfeld

Bodfeld was a small royal palace or lodge (German: Königspfalz) that was primarily established for hunting purposes and, when the town of Elbingerode emerged, for the administration of ore mining in the central Harz that underpinned the power of the Ottonian and Salian kings and emperors in medieval Europe.

In view of the place name Königshof (Königshütte since 1936 when it merged with Rothehütte) he wrongly believed it to be the Königsburg on a rocky hill above the confluence of the Warme and Kalte Bode.

Grimm now suspected Bodfeld to be on the other, northern side of the River Bode in the vicinity or on the site of the abandoned village of Lüttgen-Bodfeld, whose church, St. Andrew's, had been uncovered in the 19th century.

Other researchers, such as Friedrich Stolberg, author of the standard work first published in 1967, Fortifications in and around the Harz from Early History to the Modern Period, followed suit and wrote: "The Königsburg near Königshütte is not directly related to the royal hunting lodge of Bodfeld on the other side of the Bode"[9] It was only the most modern infra red aerial photographic technology and most recent archaeological analysis of excavated stone artefacts that confirmed the hitherto suspected presence of a royal lodge from the Ottonian period on the Schloßkopf by the upper reaches of the Teufelsbach in the Drecktal valley northeast of Elbingerode.

[10] This underscores the fact that resident monarchs in Bodfeld patently did not come here to celebrate an important church festival, whereas they always did in other places such as Quedlinburg, Magdeburg or Goslar.

In 1967, Friedrich Stolberg, however, pointed out that this site was related to Saxon hunting lodges like Siptenfelde and its proximity to the Königsstieg ("King's Path") suggests there is a connexion.

[11] From Heinz A. Behrens, historian and building archaeologist, who conducted the most recent research, we now have a reconstructed picture of the whole site thanks to archaeological and geo-electric surveys.