Gößweinstein Castle (German: Burg Gößweinstein), also called Schloss Gößweinstein, is a mediaeval hilltop castle in Gößweinstein in the county of Forchheim in the German state of Bavaria. It towers high above the market town and the River Wiesent and may have been the inspiration for Richard Wagner's grail castle in his opera, Parsifal. The castle is a Bavarian listed building, no. D-4-74-129-10.

The castle was probably named after its founder, Count Gozwin. He was killed in 1065, after he had invaded the territory of the Bishop of Würzburg. The first record of Goswinesteyn castle is dated to 1076. At that time, Emperor Henry IV had Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt, who had become embroiled in the Saxon Rebellion, incarcerated there, a fact which suggests it was already a strong fortress.

From the time of Bishop Otto of Bamberg there is evidence that the castle became part of the Bamberg estate. From 1348 to 1780 it was the seat of a vogtei under the bishops of Bamberg.

In 1525, during the Peasants' War it was destroyed and rebuilt. During the Second Margrave War in 1553 the castle was again destroyed and later rebuilt.

The castle became a Bavarian possession as a result of secularisation of the Bishopric of Bamberg in 1803. The Bavarian state sold the castle in 1875 to Pauline Rabeneck, a landowning widow from the Manor (Rittergut) of Aspach near Uffenheim. In 1890 Baron Edgar of Sohlern purchased the castle and had it remodelled in the Neogothic style. The castle chapel also has Late Gothic statues.

The castle is still in the hands of the von Sohlen family. It houses a medieval museum which may be visited for a small entrance fee and there is a beer garden and terrace with good views over the Wiesent valley and village of Gößweinstein.

Gößweinstein Castle

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Kohlstein Castle (German: Burg Kohlstein) is situated on a rocky hillock in the village of Kohlstein northwest of Tüchersfeld and is the most recently built castle in Franconian Switzerland. It is also one of the smallest and most romantic castles. Today it is in private ownership and may not be visited.

The hill castle stands at a height of 440 m above sea level (NN) and may have been built around 1486 by Conz of Hirschaid. It was probably originally an allodial estate of the Lords of Hirschaid. Later, feudal sovereignty passed to the Bishopric of Bamberg.

In 1525 was destroyed in the Peasants' War. It was immediately rebuilt. In 1607/1608 the Hirschaid family had to sell their barony as they were short of money. On 23 May 1608 Wolf Philipp Groß von Trockau zu Tüchersfeld was enfeoffed with the castle and lordship. During the Thirty Years' War the castle appears to have been destroyed because in 1636 a modest new structure was built. It was comprehensively renovated between 1707 and 1714.

A garden house was probably built at this time, which was converted in 1743 into a castle and village chapel.

The Groß von Trockau family, who called themselves from 1658 zu Kohlstein und Tüchersfeld, had to sell the castle in 1713 to Otto Philipp von Gutenberg. After his death, his niece, Maria Anna Groß von Trockau, inherited the castle and estate.

The current structure, a residential building with attached tower, dates mainly to the 18th century. The tower was renovated in 1890.

In 1961 the Groß von Trockau family sold the castle, but not its associated chapel. The castle has had several owners since then.

Today the castle is protected as listed building no. D-4-74-129-42 a "schloss, the core dating to 1486, rebuilt after destruction in the Peasants' War, three-storey main building, in 1636 with the core of the 15th/16th century, east side with irregular triangular end, covered, round staircase tower, renovated in 1890; covered passageway to a two-storey outbuilding, 18th/19th century" and as area monument no. D-4-6234-0175 "Subterranean structures of the Late Mediaeval and Early Modern schloss of Kohlstein" by the Bavarian State Officer for Monument Protection.

Kohlstein Castle

Lower Tüchersfeld Castle (German: Burgruine Niederntüchersfeld) was one of the two castles in the church village of Tüchersfeld in the region of Franconian Switzerland in Bavaria, Germany. The ruins of this spur castle are situated on a rock pinnacle in the centre of the village of Dorfes Tüchersfeld in the municipality of Pottenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Bayreuth. On the rock tower behind it are the remains of Upper Tüchersfeld Castle.

The castle was first built in the 13th century and mentioned in 1269. On 27 May 1262 the Bishop of Bamberg, Berthold of Leiningen, bought the castle.

In addenda to episcopal Urbarium B of 1348, the two castles at Tüchersfeld were first distinguished by name; the upper castle was the seat of a district or Amt established before 1323-27, the lower castle was a fief, owned by Groß of Trockau.

In 1430, the castle was destroyed in the Hussite wars and rebuilt by the fief holder, Groß. In 1525, the castle was razed during in Peasants' War, and, in 1636, it was finally destroyed in the Thirty Years' War. In 1691 it was designated in the official description as "totally desolate". Around 1700 a Jewish settlement was established in the remaining ruins and, in 1755, 44 Jews lived there. The Jewish settlement in the Lower Castle was destroyed by fire in 1758. the remains of the old buildings were included in the newly constructed buildings of 1758-1762,

In 1959, the remaining parts of the site, now called the "Jew's Court" or Judenhof, were sold to private individuals. After the site was completely renovated in 1981 to 1983, the Franconian Switzerland Museum opened in 1985.

Of the old castle only a few wall remains and a rock tower have survived.

Lower Tüchersfeld Castle

The ruins of Upper Tüchersfeld Castle (German: Burgstall Oberntüchersfeld) are all that remains of a high medieval castle that once rose high above the valley of the Püttlach in the church village of Tüchersfeld in Germany's Franconian Switzerland. It was built on a spur of the Mittelberg and was one of two castles in the village, the other being the Lower Tüchersfeld Castle.

The site or burgstall of the hill castle lies at a height of 455 m above sea level (NN) in the centre of the village of Tüchersfeld in the municipality of Pottenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Bayreuth in Bavaria.

Through the village of Tüchersfeld once ran a medieval road (Altstrasse), which wound its way from Gräfenberg via Hiltpoltstein and Obertrubach to Gößweinstein. In Tüchersfeld it crossed the Püttlach valley and then continued via Oberailsfeld and Waischenfeld to Hollfeld. The castles were probably built to control the road and river crossing.

The first historical records of the castles date to the 13th century, when a Friderici quondam de Thvchervelt was mentioned on 26 November 1243, they were probably built just before this.

The Bishop of Bamberg, Berthold of Leiningen, acquired one of the castles on 27 May 1262; from whom he bought it, is not known. It is likely that this was the castle of Frederick of Tüchersfeld. Seven years later, the bishop acquired the second castle there from Duke Louis of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine, as a gift. However, the Duke must first have had to redeem the castle from Count Frederick Truhendingen, who at the time held it in fief. Prior to Truhendingen, Burkhard of Ahorn was the fief holder. The lords of the castle were the dukes of Bavarian dukes whose possessions in Tüchersfeld and Pottenstein came from the estate of Counts of Schweinfurt.

Ownership of the second castle was disputed. Henry, Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine, laid claim to the fortress. In a treaty dated 26 February 1287, however, he renounced the castle in Tüchersfeld. From then on, both castles were in the hands of the Bishopric of Bamberg. In the episcopal Urbarium A of 1323/27 was added: "Tvchersuelt et Tvchersuelt ambo Castra sunt episcopi" (both castles in Tüchersfeld are the bishop's).

In the episcopal Urbarium B of 1348 for the first time a distinction was made between Upper Tüchersfeld, which stood on a narrow rock pinnacle, and Lower Tüchersfeld.

Even before the entry in Urbarium of A 1323/27 Burgoberbach Tüchersfeld was already the seat of a minor Bamberg office or Amt. No later than 1386, a court chamber (Kastenamt) was established at the castle and a Walter Hauger of Rattelsdorf was recorded as the Steward (Kastner) of Tüchersfeld. This office had moved by 1399 to Waischenfeld.

At that time, the castle consisted of two parts, an episcopal administrative castle (Amtsburg) that from 1442 was always referred to as a schloss, and the "Upper House" (Oberhaus), which probably stood on the northern part of the rock reef. The Upper House was an episcopal fief and was owned by the family Groß of Trockau. Eberhard Groß was mentioned in 1422, he owned half the castle estate at the Upper House. In 1429 a half of the Upper House was owned by Jorg Groß.

From 1445, the Upper House was apparently destroyed; an enfeoffment deed to the brothers, Sittig and Hans Groß, in that year talks about the "Upper House of Tüchersfeld called the burgstall. The castle was apparently destroyed during the Hussite wars in 1430, and subsequently referred to in documents as a burgstall, the name for a castle that had been virtually levelled. In addition, in other enfeoffments to Sittig Groß from 1461, reference is made to a house that he is supposed to have built; whether this house stood on the castle site is not known. Sittig Groß had to sell the ruins of the Upper House in 1480 to his nephews, the brothers Andrew, Fritz and Jerome of Seckendorff-Rinhofen. "for reasons and the needs of his body to pay for its nourishment". A year later, the flattened castle was back in feudal possession of Albert, James, Eberhard and Michael Gross; and it was owned by the family until 1628. The part of the castle called the Upper House was apparently not rebuilt after its destruction by the Hussites, only the site continued to be enfeoffed by the bishop.

The site of the old castle is covered in dense woodland in places; only the southern tip of the rock reef is free of large trees. This rock tower is now a viewing point and is accessible on a metal ladder. Very little of the original castle has survived. At the entrance to the southern tip of the reef, steps may be seen that have been hewn out of the rock in a small through cave. On the castle plateau a few foundation wall remains can be seen.

Described by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection (BLfD) as a "medieval burgstall", the protected monument bear the identity D-4-6234-0037.

Upper Tüchersfeld Castle

Gaillenreuth Castle (German: Burg Gaillenreuth) is situated high above the Wiesent river on its upper western perimeter in the village of Burggaillenreuth. The village belongs to the borough of Ebermannstadt in the county of Forchheim in the south German state of Bavaria. All that survives is the southern part of the hill castle. As well as parts of the outer ward there is a tower house from the post-1632 period.

The castle is one of six that the Bishop of Bamberg, Otto I of Mistelbach (1102–1139), procured for the Bishopric of Bamberg in 1122. Nothing is known of its previous occupants or who built it.

The next record of the castle comes from an appendix to the law book of the Bamberg bishop, Frederick of Hohenlohe (1342–1352). This notes that the Bishop of Bamberg, Leopold III of Bebenburg (1353–1363), paid 100 pounds of hellers to Conrad of Egloffstein for the maintenance of the castle.

Between 1353 and 1359 the castle appears to have been an episcopal fief fully occupied by the lords of Egloffstein, whereby in the course of time, part of the castle became their freehold property. In 1522, Conrad XI of Egloffstein transferred the allodial part of the castle to Bamberg bishop, Georg III of Limpurg (1505–1522), as a fief.

In 1525 the castle was razed during the Peasants' War, but was rebuilt by Conz of Egloffstein. On 8 July 1632, during the Thirty Years' War it was destroyed by Croatian troops. Exactly when it was rebuilt is not known. However, it is possible that only the southern part was rebuilt. In 1638 the lords of Egloffstein relinquished the castle from the episcopal fiefdom through an exchange. The Burggaillenreuther line of the lords of Egloffstein died out in 1682 with John (Hans) Philip II of Egloffstein.

In 1684 the lords of Egloffstein sold their allodial part of the castle to Freiherr Karl Friedrich Voit von Rieneck. In 1810 Anton Joseph Freiherr von Horneck purchased the castle. In 1847 it was described as derelict. A renovation of the surviving buildings was carried out at that time by August Horneck von Weinheim. The castles is now in private ownership.

The castle has nothing to do with the robber baron, Eppelein von Gailingen, who was hanged in 1381.

Gaillenreuth Castle

Pottenstein Castle (German: Burg Pottenstein) is one of the oldest castles in Franconian Switzerland, a region in the German state of Bavaria. It stands on a rock above the eponymous town of Pottenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Bayreuth. The castle is home to a museum and both may be visited for a fee.

The spur castle is located within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park at a height of roughly 410 metres on a west-facing hill spur between the valleys of the Püttlach and the Weihersbach, immediately southeast and above the town of Pottenstein, about 22 kilometres southwest of Bayreuth.

In the vicinity are other castles: to the west are Gößweinstein Castle, Kohlstein Castle and the ruins of the Upper and Lower Castles in Tüchersfeld, to the east are the ruins of Hollenberg Castle and sites of Wartberg and Böheimstein castles.

Around 1050, the village of Pottenstein belonged to Margrave Otto of Schweinfurt and, after his death in 1057, went to his third daughter, Judith. Judith's first marriage was to Duke Cuno of Bavaria. Cuno died in 1055 and in 1057 Judith married Boto, the younger brother of Count Palatine Aribo II of the edelfrei family of the Aribonids. In 1070 h referred to himself as comes de Potensteine , i.e. the Count of Pottenstein.

The castle that bore his name (Stein i.e. "rock" of Boto) must therefore have been built between 1057 and 1070 by Boto. It was probably originally established to guard the area between the Upper Main and Pegnitz to the southeast.

There is no clear documentary evidence for an alternative theory that the castle was built around 918 by King Conrad I.

Boto died in 1104 with heirs and was buried in Theres Abbey. Judith had died in 1066.

From the fact that the castle is not among the acquisitions of Otto I the Holy, who from 1102 to 1139 held the title of bishop, it can be concluded that Boto had sold the castle during his lifetime before or in 1102 to the Bamberg diocese. Around 1118 and in 1121, Bishop Otto I resided at the castle.

During the following centuries, Pottenstein Castle was entrusted by the bishops of Bamberg to a ministerialis family who renamed themselves after the castle. The oldest known members of the family was a Wezelo of Pottenstein around 1121; in 1169 there was a Rapoto of Pottenstein. He was followed by Erchenbert or Erchenbrecht of Pottenstein from 1185 to 1221, but from about 1207 he was also a truchsess or steward to the bishop. His brother Henry called himself von Pottenstein. Other members of the family followed, including a Conrad of Pottenstein in 1240-1248, who was a cathedral canon from 1242.

From 1227 to 1228 Pottenstein Castle served as a temporary residence for Saint Elizabeth, Landgravine of Thuringia.

Between 1323/1327 and 1348 the castle became the seat of an amt or administrative base for the Bishopric of Bamberg. In 1348 a Gebhard Storo was the amtmann in Pottenstein.

Pottenstein was the centre of an extensive judicial district. The administrative area of Pottenstein was enlarged by the incorporation of smaller episcopal offices: in 1492 the Amt of Tüchersfeld, in 1594 Amt Leienfels and in 1628-1636 Amt Gößweinstein.

From the beginning of the 14th century, the castle was managed by a vogt or advocate, who had his seat in the Vogteihaus in the lower ward. This Vogteihaus was referred to in 1728 and 1743 as the Old Vogtei, the vogt had meanwhile moved, probably in 1728, to a building in the town, at the latest in 1748 he moved into the Vogthaus, which was purchased in 1745 and rebuilt in 1748/1749. The reason for the move was the arduous climb up to the hill castle. The only known noble vogt was Walter of Streitberg in 1332, the later vogts, who held office in the late 16th century, were members of the bourgeois estate.

From 1500, the officers called themselves pflegers. They were based in the so-called cabinet in the upper ward. In 1750 the pfleger of the castle also moved into the Vogthaus in the town. The castle was abandoned as an administrative residence and served as a corn granary.

During bitter fighting in 1125 between King Lothair III and the Hohenstaufen anti-king, Conrad III, the town of Pottenstein was destroyed by fire but the castle survived.

During the Peasants' War, however, it was occupied and plundered by peasants in 1525 but for fear that plummeting and burning debris could also damage houses in the town below, it was not razed. In addition, without the castle, the peasants would have been without protection against the forces of the count Palatine, the margrave and the city of Nuremberg.

The Second Margrave War, in which Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Bayreuth launched numerous raids and looting, resulted in heavy damage and led to the destruction of many villages and castles in the Empire, especially in Franconia. On 18 May 1553, Pottenstein Castle was bombarded and occupied by margravial troops. Even the castle chapel in the upper ward was destroyed and was no longer mentioned after 1553. The cost of the damage, 20,000 guilders, indicates that it was not only the outer ward that was captured.

In 1634 during the Thirty Years' War a raid by the Swede, Colonel Cratz, failed to take the castle. A trumpeter who pretended to have been sent by the imperial troops, appeared before the castle. He was escorted over the drawbridge, but when the defenders noticed the enemy waiting outside, they quickly drew the drawbridge up. The captured trumpeter was executed after converting to Catholicism.

In 1703/1704, during the Spanish Succession War, a garrison was installed in the castle, and it was occupied by soldiers again in 1708 in 1712. In 1703, an oven was installed in the already dilapidated bergfried for the garrison troops.

After this time no further warlike events at the castle are recorded.

After the transfer of the diocese in 1803 to the Bavarian state during the secularisation period the castle fell into ruins. In 1878, the castle came into the possession of Nuremberg pharmacist, Dr. Heinrich Kleemann, to whom the preservation of the ruins, which were then threatened by demolition, is owed. He died in 1890 and his widow sold the castle in 1900.

In 1918, Pottenstein Castle was purchased by the father castellan Winzelo, Baron of Wintzingerode, who died in 2006 and whose noble family was seated at Bodenstein Castle in Thuringia. His life's work was the construction of the museum and the ongoing renovation of the castle complex. The castle is still owned by the family.

The castle is now a privately-run museum and residence where prehistoric and early historical objects are displayed along with a collection of weapons, books, autographs and three show rooms grouped as an ensemble.

The Elizabeth Room in the former tower house, the western part of the palas, commemorates the stay of Saint Elizabeth in 1227-1228. The accessible areas are the upper floor of the main building (great hall, Red Salon, Elizabeth Room), the remnants of the former bergfried, the well house (porcelain, glass, ceramics and ethnographic objects) and the tithe barn (with tithe exhibits, an exhibition on the recent history of castle and changing special exhibitions). In addition to the impression of a well-preserved castle of the 16th century with a medieval substance, visitors may also tour the castle gardens with their outstanding views over the town and countryside.

On 2 April 1866, Max Söhnlein, who had just been released from Bayreuth Gaol, killed the wife of the castle guard with a pick in the presence of her infant. Max Söhnlein was the son of a former castle guard and committed the murder to conceal a crime. He wanted to steal clothes and money, when he realized that his parents no longer lived at the castle. He was arrested shortly thereafter in Pegnitz and sentenced on 7 May 1866 to life imprisonment at a trial by jury in Bayreuth. Due to his youth - he was only 20 years old - the usual death penalty could not be imposed.

Pottenstein Castle

Rabeneck Castle (German: Burg Rabeneck) is a former high mediaeval aristocratic castle which stands high above the valley of the Wiesent in the Upper Franconian district of Bayreuth in the German state of Bavaria.

The castle is open to the public; however, there is an entrance fee.

The hill castle is located within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park on a rocky hill spur at a height of about 415 metres above the valley of the River Wiesent in the region of Franconian Switzerland, about three kilometres south-southwest of Waischenfeld.

Nearby are the ruins of Waischenfeld Castle and, to the east, Rabenstein Castle, which was probably the family seat of the Rabenecks, who belonged to the family of ministeriales the House of Rabenstein.

Further up the Wiesent valley on the gallows hill (Galgenberg) above the powder mill stood Schlüsselberg Castle, the ancestral castle of the lords of Schlüsselberg.

The family name, Rabeneck, first surfaces in 1217 in a list of fiefs of Tegernsee Abbey in conjunction with Ebertshausen Castle; then, in 1242, with Ulrich, a citizen of Munich; and subsequently in a 1257 document which mentioned the witnesses Siboto de Rabeneck and Chunrad de Rabenekke. A Nentwich of Rabenekke, presumably clergy, appeared in 1261 and 1296 in a document; and a Henry of Rabeneck (Heinrich von Rabenec) in 1276.

The Ravenecks of Babenberg probably come from the family of the lords of Rabenstein, as the word Raben ("raven") in both Rabenstein and Rabeneck and the close proximity of the two castles suggests. The suffix Eck ("corner") also indicates that the castle may have been built later that those whose names end in Stein ("stone"). In addition, both names suggest a connection with capital punishment. The Rabenstein with a site of a gallows, and Rabeneck with an executioner's sword.

A branch of the Rabensteins built Rabeneck before 1200 as an allodial castle, and named a cadet line of the family after it. Unlike Rabenstein, Rabeneck Castle was did not belong to the Barony of Waischenfeld, which the barons of Schlüsselberg occupied at that time, nevertheless they still had stakes in the castle. How they came to own these shares is not known.

After Conrad of Schlüsselberg had been killed defending Neideck Castle in 1347, his brother-in-law, Count Günter of Schwarzburg, his wife, Reichza, and her sister, Agnes, the wife of Henry of Plauen, sold the portion in 1348 "to which he had rights in the castle at Rebeneck" to the Bishopric of Bamberg. This agreement was confirmed in 1376 once more by Count John of Schwarzburg and his son, Günther. In 1360 Countess Sophia of Zollern, née von Schlüsselberg, petitioned in vain for the return of the family's part of the castle.

In 1353 the castle was wholly owned by the Rabensteins, so they had probably snapped up the part of the castle belonging to the Bishopric of Bamberg that was presumably in financial difficulties as a result of the purchase of the remaining Schlüsselberg estates. From 1360 Rabeneck was no longer mentioned as part of the Bamberg estate. In 1353, the Rabensteins granted access rights (Öffnungsrecht) to their allodial castle to the Burgraviate of Nuremberg for 12 years.

In 1388 Rabeneck Castle was an allodial possession of the lords of Stiebar, after Conrad Stiebar, Hofmeister of the Bishop of Bamberg, had presumably purchased it. They, too, granted the burgraves access rights for 700 guilders. In the same year Rabeneck was captured by the Bamberg knight, Ulrich of Aufseß and Hans Stiebar in the war of the cities, the reason was probably the access rights for the city of Nuremberg.

Cathedral dean, Friedrich Stiebar, instituted the castle chaplaincy in 1415, confirmed by Bishop Albert.

In the Peasants' War the castle fell victim in 1525 to rebellious peasants, who captured it and burned it out. Alexander Stiebar zu Rabeneck was given 485 guilders and Christoph Stiebar, who owned the other half of the castle, 554 guilders as recompense. Its rebuilding lasted until 1535.

Until 1530 Rabeneck remained in the hands of the Stiebars. On 28 January 1530 Alexander Stiebar turned his half of the castle into a fief of the Bishopric of Bamberg. 29 years later, Christoph Stiebar's share of the castle had also become a Bamberg fief, the bishopric now owning the whole castle. After the death of Christoph, who was in serious debt, his share went to his son, Endres, a Pfleger at Pottenstein, who died in 1572, and via William of Künsberg, who called himself Rabeneck in 1570, to Daniel Rabenstein. The latter was enfeoffed in 1577 with the purchased half. The second half of Rabeneck remained for longer in the possession of the Stiebars. After Daniel Stiebar, the last member of the zu Rabeneck line, had meanwhile become a cleric, his half went to the Stiebar line of Buttenheim and Ermreuth. In 1603 the Stiebars sold their half to their brother-in-law, George Werner of Rabenstein. At that tie Rabenstein Castle was already being described as dilapidated. The Rabensteins sold the castle in 1620 after the death of George for 36,000 guilders to the Bishopric of Bamberg. As a result of renewed financial difficulties in the bishopric, Bishop John Godfrey of Aschhausen had to advance the money on loan, the castle remained an inheritable possession until the bishopric could pay back the money. Rabeneck was still in the possession of the Aschhausens until 1682.

The guilders that the Rabensteins were paid, were of low value, so that Hans Dietrich and Hans Christoph of Rabenstein began a law suit against the bishopric in the second quarter of the 17th century, because they complained they had been paid worthless money. Not until 2 March 1716 was there an agreement between Bishop Lothair Francis of Schönborn and the Rabensteiners, with which the Rabensteins retrospectively became owners of the castle on 22 February. From Bishop Lothar they also received in 1717 a credit of 12,000 Reichstalers, which was raised in 1719 to 20,000 guilders, in order to repair the ruined castle. They certainly renewed the inner bailey; the outer bailey remained abandoned.

With the death of Peter John Albert of Rabenstein on 19 May 1742 the last Rabenstein at Rabeneck, the family died out and the Barony of Rabeneck reverted to the Bishopric of Bamberg. On 10 December 1742 Count Francis Rudolph Erwein of Schönborn, the brother of Bishop Frederick Charles of Schönborn was enfeoffed with Rabeneck Castle. However, after the death of Bishop Frederick on 26 July 1746 the cathedral chapter refused to recognise the enfeoffment to the Schönborns, and so a lengthy and costly court case was brought before the Reichshofrat. The Reichshofrat decided in favour of the Count of Schönborn, and on 1 October 1778 Bishop Adam Frederick of Seinsheim had to allow the counts to have possession again.

In 1975 the castle was sold to its present occupant, Norman Schiller. The castle may currently be visited and overnight stays are possible. Festivals may also be organised by prior arrangement.

Rabeneck Castle

The ruins of Bärnfels Castle (German: Burg Bärnfels) are the remains of a late mediaeval aristocratic castle on the southern edge of the village of Bärnfels in the municipality of Obertrubach in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in Bavaria. The ruins of the spur castle are freely accessible.

The ruins of the castle stand on craggy hill spur at a height of 515 m above sea level (NN), the so-called Bergschmidtsknock, above the eponymous village in the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park, about 2.2 kilometres north of the church at Obertrubach.

The ruins may be reached from the village of Bärnfels by climbing up a number of steps.

In the vicinity are several other castles. Towards the east are the ruins of Leienfels Castle, to the southeast is the site of Leupoldstein Castle and to the south is another burgstall in Obertrubach. To the north is the still inhabited castle of Gößweinstein.

The first record of the castle is dated 2 August 1389, when its occupants, Conrad Hans and Ulrich of Egloffstein zu Bärenfels had to concede their outer bailey, the so-called Lower Fortress (niedere Veste), as a fief following a feud with the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg. The castle had, however, been built much earlier, probably in 1330 by Siboto I of Egloffstein, progenitor of the Bärenfels line of this family.

In 1483 the fief went to the Gaillenreuth line of the Egloffsteins, who did not hold it for long however, because in 1495 the last enfeoffment was granted by the Leuchtenberg landgrave.

After the castle had been razed in the Peasants' War in 1525 by Egloffstein's subjects, it was never completely repaired again.

In 1580 the Barony of Bärnfels together with its castle ruins was sold to the Bishopric of Bamberg and was seized by the Bavarian state in 1802 as part of the secularisation in Bavaria.

Because large parts of the castle were in danger of collapse, it was demolished in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1877 Nuremberg chemist, Kleemann, bought the site and had the few surviving remains restored.

After a further renovation was carried out in 1969 by the municipality of Bärnfels it was able to be made accessible to visitors again.

Today the castle ruins of Bärnfels are once more owned by the Egloffstein family, whose ancestor probably once built the castle.

Bärnfels Castle

Rabenstein Castle (German: Burg Rabenstein) is a former high medieval aristocratic castle in the municipality of Ahorntal in the Upper Franconian county of Bayreuth in the German state of Bavaria.

The spur castle may be visited for an entrance fee.

History of the castle

The oldest parts of the castle were built in the first quarter of the 12th century as a residence in the Barony of Waischenfeld. At the same time the ministerialis family of Rabenstein,[4] who were the builders of the castle and bore the raven on their coat of arms, were recorded as being in the service of the barons of Waischenfeld.[5] In the early 13th century, the outer ward was expanded. During the following centuries ownership and occupancy of the castle changed hands several times. Its occupants included the House of Schlüsselberg and its lords, the burgraves of Nuremberg. In 1450 the castle was destroyed in the First Margrave War and in 1489 was rebuilt by Conz of Wirsberg.

In 1557 the castle went to the von Rabensteins who had ambitions for the nobility and bought back their family seat. Daniel of Rabenstein remodelled the castle in 1570, the old outer ward being merged with the inner ward.

During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was again completely destroyed by imperial troops, because its lord, Hans Christoph of Rabenstein, aligned himself with the Swedes. After the war between 1648 and 1728 a few small buildings and a farm were re-established.

In 1742 the von Rabensteins died out and the castle went to the counts of Schönborn-Wiesentheid, who revamped the ruins in 1829/30 for a royal visit by Ludwig I.

Present use

In the recent past the castle was converted into a hotel for events and conferences. As well as the castle there is a falconry used for research and education which has over 80 species of birds of prey and a café with a beer garden. The castle has been used as a filming location, most notably as Schloss Ritter, the home of Gabriel Knight in the video game Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within.




Rabenstein Castle (Upper Franconia)

Leienfels Castle (German: Burgruine Leienfels) was a late mediaeval aristocratic castle, immediately northwest of the eponymous village of Leienfels in the region of Franconian Switzerland in Germany. The village belongs to the borough of Pottenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Bayreuth in Bavaria.

The ruins of the hill castle are freely accessible and act as a viewing point.

The ruins lie within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park on the 590-metre-high hill of Leienfelser Schlossberg immediately next to the village of Leienfels, about 4.6 kilometres northwest of the church at Betzenstein.

The castle may be reached from the village of Leienfels by heading in a northwesterly direction. The site of the castle begins at the edge of the village.

In the vicinity, towards the west, lie the ruins of Bärnfels Castle, to the north, on the Bleistein near Graisch, is the site of Leuenstein Castle. To the southeast is the site of Leupoldstein Castle and, to the southwest, in the valley of the Trubach, were other castles, of which ruins or foundations (Burgställe) still exist.

The castle, whose name is probably derived from Löwenfels ("Lion Rock"), is one of the later castles to be built in Franconian Switzerland and may have been erected in the 14th century at the behest of Seibot I of Egloffstein, who is recorded between 1285 and 1332.

The castle itself is first mentioned in 1372. Lord Götz of Egloffstein had to give his part of the hitherto probably allodial castle to the Bishop of Bamberg after a feud.

In 1380 the castle was captured by troops of the Bishop of Bamberg and Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg. Götz of Egloffstein was taken prisone and incarcerated in Nuremberg. His successor was also frequently involved in feuds. The castle was destroyed in 1397 on the orders of Emperor Wenceslaus.

1In 502 Jobst I of Egloffstein sold the castle to the Bishop of Bamberg and it became the seat of a small episcopal Amt.

In the Peasants' War the castle was badly damaged in 1525, but its garrison under Otto of Mengersdorf was able to prevent it being taken. The restoration of the castle was carried out immediately. In 1553, during the Second Margrave War, it was again seriously damaged. Its reconstruction was carried out more slowly this time. In 1594, Leienfels was incorporated into the episcopal Amt of Pottenstein. By 1610, the site was already being described as uninhabitable. In 1643, during the Thirty Years' War the repair of the castle was no longer considered to be worthwhile. In 1646, the bricks were of the surviving buildings were carried off and the site left to decay.

Today, the ruins have been designated by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection as listed site D-4-72-179-83 "Leienfels, formerly an almost triangular site, remains of the enceinte and the main building with corner tower, the core 14th century; wall of the former outer bailey, 14th century.", as well as ground monument D-4-6234-0068 "finds from the Middle Ages and early modern period in the area of the castle ruins of Leienfels".

Leienfels Castle

Waischenfeld Castle (German: Burgruine Waischenfeld) is a ruined rock castle on a rocky plateau a few metres west of the town of Waischenfeld in the province of Upper Franconia in the German state of Bavaria.

History

The first clues to a castle in the village of Waischenfeld date to the year 1079, when Wirint von Waischenfeld was mentioned in the records as a member of an important noble family in the area of the middle Wiesent. The Waischenfelds were related to the dynastic family of the lords of Aufseß.

The hill castle was first recorded in 1122 as Urbs. Following the death of Ulrich of Waischenfeld, the last in the Waischenfeld family line, in 1216 the castle and lordship of Waischenfeld went to Eberhard III of Greifenstein, who built a new fortress south of Waischenfeld, Schlüsselberg Castle. After the death of Conrad II of Schlüsselberg, the castle and town of Waischenfeld went in 1348 into the hands of the Bishopric of Bamberg.

In 1430 the castle was badly damaged during the Hussite Wars; it was then re-enfeoffed by the bishopric to the nobility between 1438 and 1562. It was destroyed again between 1552 and 1553 during the Second Margrave War, in which Margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach fought mainly against the (Catholic) bishoprics in order to try and gain a supremacy in Franconia. During the conflict the castle was captured three times by the margrave's troops; after being plundered it was razed on 7 June 1553.

From about 1600, the old castle was used as a grain store and slowly fell into disrepair. The ruins were finally demolished in 1876/77 and 1889.

Description

The tower known as the Steinerner Beutel ("Stone Bag") is the symbol of the town of Waischenfeld. The Romanesque round tower is roughly 13 metres high and stands on a limestone crag. It belongs to the northernmost part of the castle, the Rüssenbach castle estate. The tower was originally a bergfried or bergfried-like watchtower with an elevated entrance.

