Schloss Hundshaupten is a quadrangular castle in the village of Hundshaupten in the municipality of Egloffstein in the German county of Forchheim.

History

The castle is recorded for the first time in 1369 in the ownership of the Lords of Wiesenthau. It was, like almost all castles in Franconian Switzerland, built on a hill spur of the Franconian Jura plateau jutting out into the valley. Following its destruction in 1388 by Nuremberg during the War of the Cities, in 1412 by Burgrave Frederick VI of Nuremberg and in 1525 during the Peasants' War, then it was rebuilt in 1561.

In 1613, when the Wiesenthau line at Hundshaupten died out, the fief reverted to Michelsberg Abbey in the city of Bamberg. In 1661, after the Thirty Years' War, the abbey sold the castle to Hieronymus Christopher, Freiherr of Pölnitz, town commandant of Forchheim, who resided in Aschbach, now a village in the municipality of Schlüsselfeld. In the years that followed, work was carried out, but its castle character was not changed.

In 1991, part of the estate was gifted by Gudila, Freifrau of Pölnitz to the county of Forchheim, including Hundshaupten Wildlife Park.

Hieronymus Christopher Heinrich Freiherr von Pölnitz, great nephew and adoptive son of Götz Freiherr von Pölnitz and Gudila Freifrau von Pölnitz continue to live there.

Meaning of the placename

The meaning of the placename of Hundshaupten can no longer be explained with certainty today. There are several possibilities that have been suggested and compared by Dorothea Fastnacht.

The names of the neighbouring villages of Hundshaupten and Hundsboden should be seen as connected. The suffix, '-haupten' probably refers to the hill spur on which, initially a castle and, later, the present schloss were built. By contrast the suffix, '-boden', suggests a level field of fertile soil on the plateau that was cleared in the High Middle Ages as part of the expansion of cultivated land. The prefix 'Hund-' probably refers to the owner of the clearance and the castle with the office of a Hunno (chief of a Hundertschaft). With the firm establishment of feudal lordship this office had become hereditary during the High Middle Ages and filled by local nobility. Originally, during the Migration Era and in the Early Middle Ages the leader of a community of free farmers was called a Hunno.

Schloss Hundshaupten

Account

by category

Login

Name

by region

Title

Name in English

Egloffstein Castle (German: Burg Egloffstein) is a former high mediaeval, aristocratic castle, that stands immediately west of the eponymous village of Egloffstein in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in the German state of Bavaria.

The castle may be visited for an entrance fee.

The spur castle is located within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park at a height of 443 metres on a rocky, eastwards-pointing promontory of the Rabenstein, about 80 metres above the village in the Trubach valley in the hill region of Franconian Switzerland.

In the vicinity are also the castles of Thuisbrunn, Hundshaupten and Wolfsberg. Other castles not far from Egloffstein include the Altes Schloss on the Altschlossberg hill near Affalterthal, the ruins of Dietrichstein near Lützelsdorf and the ruins on the Zaunsbacher Berg and Thüngfelderstein as well as the former castle by Heidhof on the Schlossberg.

The earliest record of the lords of Egloffstein dates from 1180. The castle was first mentioned in 1358, when Albert II of Egloffstein and his brothers founded a chaplaincy there, but it is probably older than that. The lords of Egloffstein initially owned the castle as an allod.

In 1372, during a feud with the Bishop of Bamberg, Götz von Egloffstein returned to his family castle at Egloffstein after the destruction of Leienfels Castle, which also belonged to him. In order to avoid Egloffstein Castle being besieged by the Bishop of Bamberg, Götz was excluded from the family association in 1374.

In 1376 the Bishop of Bamberg, Lamprecht of Brunn (1374–1398) forced Seybot II von Egloffstein to grant Öffnungsrecht to the Bishopric in the majority of the castle.

During the First Margrave War in 1449/50 the castle was attacked unsuccessfully by troops of Margrave Albert Achilles on 8 April 1450, but it was nevertheless badly damaged. From 1482 to 1493 it was considerably remodelled.

In 1509, Jobst I of Egloffstein gave up his portion of the castle to the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg as a fief. In 1516 Wolf I of Egloffstein gave up the last remaining freehold element of the castle in family hands to the Prince-Bishopric as a fief. The reason was probably to do with the financial plight of the lords of Egloffstein.

In spite of the constant reinforcement of its defences the castle was conquered by Nuremberg troops during the War of the Succession of Landshut in 1504 and partly razed. Scarcely had it been rebuilt when, in 1525, it became a victim of the German Peasants' War. Its rebuilding thereafter was only partial and very slow.

During the conflict between William III of Egloffstein and the Bishop of Bamberg, Veit II of Würtzburg (1561–1577), the latter had the castle occupied and ravaged in 1563.

When the village of Egloffstein was raided by the Swedes in 1632 and 1645 during the Thirty Years' War, the castle suffered severe damage necessitating comprehensive rebuilding work. In 1664, Albert Christopher of Egloffstein had a large battery tower (Geschützturm) built.

In 1703, the castle survived its last warlike occupation during the War of the Spanish Succession without great damage. Likewise, the castle suffered no destruction in the succeeding decades.

In 1750 the brothers, Albert Christopher Charles and Louis I of Egloffstein built the present parish church of St. Bartholomew in place of the lower cabinet and its old castle chapel. In 1800, the great battery tower collapsed and was carried away.

The so-called patrimonial courts (Patrimonialgericht) at Egloffstein Castle over which its free nobles presided continued until 1848. Today, the castle still belongs to the lords of Egloffstein.

Of the original castle site, only the main or upper ward remains. It mainly comprises the Old Cabinet (Alte Kemenate) and the Long Cabinet (Lange Kemenate). In the former are probably the oldest parts of the castle, which may date back to the 12th century. The parish church of St. Bartholomew was built in 1750 to replace the castle chapel.

Egloffstein Castle

Thuisbrunn Castle (German: Burg Thuisbrunn) is located centrally within the parish of Thuisbrunn in the municipality of Gräfenberg in the Bavarian province of Upper Franconia. After having been destroyed and rebuilt several times, the castle is now in private ownership.

The spur castle was first mentioned in 1348 and Lord Hiltpolt of Mayenthal named as the castle lord (Burgherr) of Thuisbrunn. In 1388, during the South German War of the Cities, it was destroyed by Nuremberg troops and thereafter given to the burgraves of Nuremberg as a fief. In 1420 the castle was again wrecked during the Bavarian War by troops of Duke Louis of Ingolstadt. However, when the village of Thuisbrunn was destroyed in July 1449 by Nuremberg soldiers and again in 1460 during the Princes' War, the castle remained undamaged. In 1553, during the Second Margrave War, the castle was once more destroyed by Nuremberg troops. By 1558 only the district office (Amtshaus) and the bergfried had been rebuilt. During the Thirty Years' War and thereafter, Thuisbrunn and the castle were plundered seven times by Imperial, Swedish and Bavarian soldiers. In 1667, the Vogtei office was probably built in place of the old district office; apart from this house and the bergfried the castle remained a ruin. In 1816, the cartographer, Johann Christoph Stierlein, made for the first time a very precise map of the castle area and its surviving buildings. Following the seizure of the estates by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806 during the Napoleonic Era, the Vogtei office was used as a forestry office. Towards the end of the Second World War the castle was shelled by American troops. In 1961 it was sold into private ownership.



Thuisbrunn Castle

Schloss Wiesenthau stands on the northeastern edge of the eponymous municipality at the foot of the Ehrenbürg in northern Bavaria. The Renaissance building is a three-winged country house with 4 mid-16th century corner towers and the remains of an enceinte.

The village is first recorded in 1062 in connexion with the royal palace (Königshof) in Forchheim. The lords of Wiesenthau appear from 1128 onwards as ministeriales of the Bishopric of Bamberg. Whether at that time a castle already existed is not clear. The castle itself is first recorded in 1379.

Originally an allodial possession of the lords of Wiesenthau, on 25 June 1379 part of the castle was sold to the Bishopric. In the period that followed the whole castle became a fief of Bamberg. The lords of Wiesenthau remained, however, in charge of the castle as Bamberg vassals.

In 1430 the castle was badly damaged by the Hussites. It suffered destruction again in 1525 during the Peasants' War. In 1566 it was fully rebuilt. Apart from a short period of time, the castle, or at least a part of it, was continuously owned by the lords of Wiesenthau until they died out in 1814.

After a comprehensive renovation lasting from 1985 to 1992, the castle became an inn and hotel.

Schloss Wiesenthau

The ruins of Wolfsberg Castle (German: Burgruine Wolfsberg) are the remains of a former high mediaeval, aristocratic, castle which stands high above the Trubach valley over the eponymous village of Wolfsberg. The village is part of the municipality of Obertrubach in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in the German state of Bavaria.

The upper bailey is permanently open to the public and serves as a viewing point; the lower bailey is partly in private ownership and is not accessible.

The ruins of this spur castle lie within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park on an eastwards-pointing hill spur at a height of 449 metres. The spur is separated by a natural saddle from the plateau to the west. The spur sits between the Trubach valley to the south and a dry valley on the northern side of the spur that opens into the Trubach valley.

The ruins may be reached from the village of Wolfsberg.

Egloffstein Castle can be seen below in the Trubach valley; in the opposite direction is a burgstall in Obertrubach, the ruins of Bärnfels Castle and Leienfels Castle. To the south stands Hiltpoltstein Castle.

Wolfsberg Castle was probably built around 1150 by the free knights of Wolfsberg. The lords of Wolfsberg are first recorded in 1169 when a certain Gozpold de Wolfesperch is mentioned. It is thought that they were descended from the family of free nobles of Schönfeld-Gößweinstein.

With the extinction of the lords of Wolfsberg around 1204 the castle went to the lords of Stein, ministeriales of the Bishops of Bamberg, who named themselves after the castle from 1244. Around 1333 the castle was sold to the lords of Egloffstein. In the deeds a Siboto of Egloffstein is mentioned as the occupier of the castle in 1358.

From 1383 the castle is mentioned among the estates of the Bishopric of Bamberg. It is unclear how this came about. The castle became the seat of an episcopal administrative office and was repeatedly enfeoffed from the 15th to the 17th centuries.

The castle was first destroyed in 1388 during the South German War of the Cities and was not rebuilt until 1408 under Amtmann Albert of Egloffstein. In the Peasants' War of 1525 the castle was wrecked again and rebuilt in 1547 under Philip of Egloffstein.

The last enfeoffee of the castle was William of Wiesenthau in 1568. Under him the castle became very neglected so that, at its reversion to the Bishopric in 1609, it was uninhabited and run down.

During the Thirty Years' War, further destruction was wrought by the Swedes in 1631 and 1632, and also in 1633 by Tilly's cavalry and Electoral Bavarian troops.

In 1803 the castle was seized by the Bavarian state, who let it stand empty. In 1823 it was sold for 50 guilders to the stonemason, Müller, from Brunn. He donated it to his son-in-law, who demolished the castle and sold it piecemeal.

Wolfsberg Castle (Obertrubach)

Schloss Kunreuth is situated on the northwestern edge of the eponymous village of Kunreuth which is part of the collective municipality of Gosberg in the county of Forchheim, in the province of Upper Franconia in the south German state of Bavaria.

The village of Kunreuth had probably been mentioned in the founding document (Gründungsbuch) of the church of St. James at Bamberg which dates to 1109. Lords of Kunreuth are first recorded in 1308. What is unclear is whether there was already a castle in existence at that time.

The first record of a castle dates to 1409. At that time, the castle was a fief of the Bishopric of Bamberg, owned by the lords of Egloffstein.

In 1420 the castle was conquered and plundered during a feud between Margrave Frederick I of Brandenburg and Duke Louis VII of Bavaria-Ingolstadt.

In 1525, during the Peasants' War the castle was destroyed. It was immediately rebuilt by the lords of Egloffstein. In 1553 the castle was wrecked again: during the Second Margrave War by Margrave Albert Alcibiades. Despite the promise of free passage, the troops of the garrison were hanged on the trees around the castle.

From 1558 the castle, now a Ganerbenburg of the House of Egloffstein, was rebuilt as a schloss, whilst largely retaining its military character.

During the Thirty Years' War the schloss suffered severe damage during its frequent use for billeting soldiers.

This damage was repaired over time. The schloss is still owned by the counts and freiherren "von und zu Egloffstein", who have used it to house their family archives.

The village of Kunreuth had probably been mentioned in the founding document (Gründungsbuch) of the church of St. James at Bamberg which dates to 1109. Lords of Kunreuth are first recorded in 1308. What is unclear is whether there was already a castle in existence at that time.

The first record of a castle dates to 1409. At that time, the castle was a fief of the Bishopric of Bamberg, owned by the lords of Egloffstein.

In 1420 the castle was conquered and plundered during a feud between Margrave Frederick I of Brandenburg and Duke Louis VII of Bavaria-Ingolstadt.

In 1525, during the Peasants' War the castle was destroyed. It was immediately rebuilt by the lords of Egloffstein. In 1553 the castle was wrecked again: during the Second Margrave War by Margrave Albert Alcibiades. Despite the promise of free passage, the troops of the garrison were hanged on the trees around the castle.

From 1558 the castle, now a Ganerbenburg of the House of Egloffstein, was rebuilt as a schloss, whilst largely retaining its military character.

During the Thirty Years' War the schloss suffered severe damage during its frequent use for billeting soldiers.

This damage was repaired over time. The schloss is still owned by the counts and freiherren "von und zu Egloffstein", who have used it to house their family archives.

The former water castle – some of the moats were laid dry in 1827 – has a rectangular plan. It consists primarily of a west and a south wing. The south wing probably houses the oldest parts of the castle, which go back to the 14th century. The west wing was given its present appearance mainly in the period from 1611 to 1613. The gateway on the east side of the schloss was built in 1624. In 1746 the drawbridge was replaced by a stone bridge. On the north side is a wall with buttresses. Until its destruction in the Second Margrave War the so-called rear cabinet (Kemenate) was located here.

In the forecourt of the schloss is a monument to the first Count of Egloffstein, Count Albert Dietrich Godfrey of Egloffstein.

Schloss Kunreuth

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

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

Feuerstein Castle (German: Burg Feuerstein) lies at the edge of the so-called Lange Meile near Ebermannstadt in the county of Forchheim in the south German state of Bavaria. It was built in 1941 by Oskar Vierling as a laboratory for researching High Frequency technology and electroacoustics and was used until 1945 by 250 employees for research into weapons and communication technology as part of the German armaments programme during the Second World War.

At the end of the war the castle was seized by American soldiers, from 1946 it was rented by the Archdiocese of Bamberg under Jupp Schneider and sold in 1949. Since then the castle and the entire estate have been in use as a Roman Catholic youth and conference centre.

History

Oskar Vierling was looking for a central location for his laboratories. The choice fell on a hill called the Feuerstein. Its design as a castle blended well into the countryside of Franconian Switzerland and was chosen for camouflage reasons. During the war it was disguised as a hospital and had tiles in the form of a red cross on the roof, but actually housed a laboratory for secret Nazi armament projects. After the end of the war it was abandoned and construction plans and documents were destroyed. Nevertheless, in 2011 a document came into the hands of cryptographer-historian, Norbert Ryska, from the American special unit, Ticom (Target Intelligence Committee), which described the work of Vierling at Feuerstein Castle in more detail. According to this, Vierling worked for the Nazis on speech encoding methods, acoustic torpedo control, acoustic detonation of mines, anti-detection technology for U boats and in the fields of radio and electrotechnology.

A relict of its construction period is the present wine cellar, formally a walk-in safe with a ten-centimetre-thick steel door. The charm of the castle comes not from any medieval origin, but from its wartime history and its young age.

The castle has been expanded by dormitory accommodation, a dining hall, leisure facilities (Kegelbahn, table tennis, volleyball, hard court, sports field), conference rooms, camping sites, agriculture, a riding stable and a glider airfield. Today Feuerstein Castle is a modern youth facility owned by the Diocese of Bamberg.

In 1999 Feuerstein Observatory was founded, 500 metres south of Feuerstein Castle Airfield. The observatory took the name of the castle. The tower of the castle is used by the observatory as a microwave radio relay relay station to link it to the town of Ebermannstadt in the valley. In this way the tower built by Vierling to test the first radio relay link continues to fulfil its original purpose.

The churches

In 1961 the Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus was opened. It consists of three spaces: the crypt, the lower church and the upper church. The crypt is accessed by steps from the lower church and only dimly lit. It houses the eternal flame and the tabernacle. On the sides of the tabernacle are twelve candlesticks which represent the twelve apostles.

The lower church is dedicated to Mary, the "Mother of Wisdom". It has an altar, behind which is a mural portraying the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The glass windows are kept dark and portray on one side the head of a beast of prey, fire, broken ears of corn and the reaper, and on the other side, people, a rainbox, the sun and angels' wings. Both the mural and the window are works by the artist, Alfred Heller, from Bamberg. After leaving the lower church, the path runs past windows that portray the fundamental attitudes of Christian spirituality: Oratio – Meditatio – Contemplatio ("prayer - meditation - contemplation").

The upper church was designed by the architect Heinzmann and cathedral master builder Schädel. It was consecrated in 1961 and constructionally anticipated the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council a year later: the altar is positioned in the nave so that the priest can celebrate mass with the congregation. The large glass wall portrays on its right-hand side, the Burning Bush and on the left the sacrifice of Elijah. The glass wall is a work by glass artist, Georg Meistermann. The stations of the cross were created in 2005 by a youth group.


Feuerstein Castle


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

Hiltpoltstein Castle (German: Burg Hiltpoltstein) was originally a high mediaeval aristocratic castle dating to the 11th or 12th century. It stands in the centre of the market village of Markt Hiltpoltstein in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in the south German state of Bavaria. Its present appearance as a triple-winged building goes back to renovations carried out at the end of the 16th century.

The hilltop castle stands on a dolomite crag (530 m above sea level (NN)) and forms the heart of the village of Hiltpoltstein (518 m above sea level (NN)). The roughly 20-metre-high rocks are - like most other examples in Franconian Switzerland – the remains of fossil sponge reefs of the White Jurassic. In the vicinity there are other hilltop castles which have been built on exposed rock formations: to the east is Wildenfels Castle and the burgstall of Strahlenfels Castle, to the northeast are the ruins of Stierberg Castle, to the north are Egloffstein Castle and the ruins of Wolfsberg Castle.

Below the castle, on a plateau, is the pfleger mansion from the early 17th century (north wing, Am Schlosshof 4), which housed the offices and courtrooms of the Hiltpoltstein Pflegamt until 1806. The inner courtyard is reached via the archway of the pfleger castle. Here there is a second, east, wing in front of the castle rock. This 'modern' building (c.f. copper plate by Johann Alexander Böner) with its southwards-oriented gable was added in the second half of the 17th century, it was here on the upper storey that the pfleger had his residence. The house opposite, with a gable roof, dates to the 17th century (Am Schlosshof 6) and was first described, erroneously, as the Neues Schloss ("New Palace") on a copper plate by Christoph Melchior Roth. This name was, however, constantly used by locals to refer to the pfleger house in contrast to the castle (the Altes Schloss or "Old Palace"). To the southwest the courtyard was bounded by a low extension off the chancel to St. Matthew's Church, and, even on the copper plates by Johann Alexander Böner of 1696 and 1699, a surrounding wall can be made out east of the church. Thanks to this enclosing wall, this courtyard was used by the village population as a fortification during the course of several sieges in the Thirty Years' War. Since the 19th century, a small house has stood on the southern side of the courtyard (Am Schlosshof 8).

The only approach to the castle runs through the gateway in the 'new' pfleger house. A passageway, which has several embrasures and smoke exhaust holes facing south, runs on the right hand side on the level to the stables. The building to the south with the hip roof was last remodelled in 1712 as the date over the entrance indicates. The hall was also used to stable coaches and is appropriately decorated with a cross vaulted ceiling and surrounding ornamentation. The beginning of the ascent to the castle which is in the same direction, leads up to a terrace at the top of the first flight of steps. From here there is a descent to a rather, lower terrace with the zwinger, whilst the route to the castle continues to the left up a further flight of steps.

The hilltop castle may only be accessed via a hexagonal staircase tower, which was built in 1595. A spiral staircase with 35 steps opens onto a wooden footbridge to the castle at the point where, until about 1800, there was a drawbridge. The present fixed wooden bridge was built following a survey in 1807, in order to enable the villagers to get to the cistern in the cellar of the south wing.

The three-winged castle has an open north side, the gable ends of the east and west wings flanking a courtyard. The south wing, together with the other two wings, forms an continuous outer wall. Up to what height the Hohenstaufen foundation walls have survived has not so far been investigated. The cross vaulting of the old castle chapel in the south wing and level with the courtyard, indicates that this part of the castle was extended in the 15th century. The vaulting covers the passageway from the staircase tower into the courtyard and the present chapel, reduced in size by an internal dividing wall.

A 1553 survey report mentions three cabinets in the castle. The present appearance of the east and west wings with their typical half-hipped roofs dates to around 1595. Since then their interiors have been altered several times, for example, in 1728 the floral paintings of the hall in the east wing were executed.

In the courtyard, which opens to the north, are the foundations of the octagonal bergfried with a diameter of roughly 9.30 metres. This partially collapsed in 1611 when it was hit by lightning and was then reduced to the height of the first floor together with its link to the east wing. The remaining, initially single-storey stump of the bergfried is recorded in a pen-and-ink drawing made during the Thirty Years' War. Later it continued to decay. The remaining wall stones of the tower were rebuilt to a height of about a metre during its renovation in the 1960s. A roughly metre-high shaft in the courtyard, below the eaves between the south and west wings serves to collect rainwater and feed it into the cistern which is formed by a large cavern in the castle rock. The 1807 construction survey report mentions that this cistern was still important as a supply of drinking water around 1800. When the castle fell into ruins in the first half of the 19th century, the cistern became filled with rubble which has still not been cleared out.

Nothing is known about any settlement on the castle rock in pre-mediaeval times. During the renovation of the castle at the end of the 1960s, a late Ottonian disc fibula made of bronze was discovered; its style dating to the end of the 10th century or first quarter of the 11th century. There is a high probability that it originated from the workshop of Egbert of Trier. Because the ornamentation of fibulas soon fell out of fashion with the advent of the Salian dynasty, its was probably lost on the plateau of the zwinger prior to 1030. The brooch is displayed today in the Franconian Switzerland Museum in Tüchersfeld and is the oldest find from the castle hill. Although it is plausible that the castle rock was thus used as early as the early 11th century, no predecessor structures or remains of last Ottonian or Salian foundation walls have been found. What is certain is that the earliest record of the fortress occurred during the Hohenstaufen era, in an 1139 deed. Architectural and radiometric investigations of the foundation walls have not been carried out in sufficient detail to be able to date the castle more precisely than the sparse written records have indicated. Thousands of pieces of pottery, uncovered during the renovation of the castle in the 1960s in the courtyard and in the ground layers of the zwinger, date mainly to the Late Middle Ages (c. 1250 to 1500); older shards of pottery are the exception. The majority of surviving pottery pieces date to the period of the establishment of the Nuremberg pfleger office in the 16th century. A selection of these finds is displayed in a glass cabinet in the east wing of the castle.

The first record of the castle and village of Hiltpoltstein appears in connexion with Weißenohe Abbey, founded in 1100, when the castle is reported as the seat of the associated Vogt. An authentic transcript of the privilege of Pope Paschal II to Weißenohe Abbey from the year 1109 is housed in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Two transcripts, dating to around 1150, in the archives of Bamberg and Amberg, by contrast, contain not only the text of the Papal Bull, but also a list of all monastic estates, including Hilteboldesdorf cum castro (Hiltpoltstein and castle). These properties were apparently not added until the preparation of the transcripts. The document in Amberg also contains a copied signature of the pope as well as a real papal seal. In spite of the deliberate backdating of the Weißenohe estates in these two examples, it may be assumed that the expansion of Hiltpoltstein Castle as a likely vogt seat occurred at the same time as the abbey was founded.

The imperial ministerialis family of Hiltpoltstein-Rothenberg is first recorded in 1139 as Odalricus quidam de Hilteboldestein ("Ulrich of Hiltpoltstein") in a document from Bamberg's Michelsberg Abbey. In connexion with this name, the castle rock (the "Stein") (the "stone") is also confirmed as the seat of his office. In documents originating in the period between 1246 and 1276, a ministerialis called Hiltpold is named after the three associated lordly estates of Lauf, (Wenzelschloss), the castle on the "Alter Rothenberg" hill and Hiltpoltstein. In 1251 he was called Hilteboldus de Hilteboldestein; in 1254, Hiltepoldus de Rotenberge. The "lead name" (Leitname), Hiltpold, was preserved throughout the Hohenstaufen period. After the execution of the last Hohenstaufen, Conradin, in 1268, the estate went to the Bavarian Duke Louis the Strict of the House of Wittelsbach. The family of the castellans of Hiltpoltstein-Rothenberg finally emerged at the end of the 13th century with the marriage of the last Hiltpold to Dietrich of Wildenstein. The old castle of Rothenberg, which had meanwhile become the seat of the Wildensteins, was intervisible with Hiltpoltstein Castle. It was abandoned in the first third of the 14th century in favour of the new fortification on the Rothenberg near Schnaittach.

When it was abandoned as the family seat at the end of the 13th century, for several decades, trances of the castellans of Hiltpoltstein disappeared from the records. It is likely, however, that it became a common fief with the nearby Winterstein Castle as the same lead name of Neidung is used in connexion with both castles. For example, in 1305, a Nendunch von Hilpolstein is mentioned; in 1326 a Neydungk von Winterstein. When in 1329, Emperor, Louis the Bavarian, on inheriting from his brother, divided the estate of Wittelsbach in the Treaty of Pavia, Hiltpoltstein went to Count Palatine Rupert and, thus to the Electorate of the Palatinate (until then Nordgau, later Upper Palatinate).

On 29 October 1353 a deed of sale for over 12,000 marks of silver was concluded between the financially straitened Count Palatine Rupert and the Bohemian king and later Roman-German emperor, Charles IV, according to which Hiltpoltstein, along with Sulzbach, Rosenberg, Hartenstein, Neidstein, Thurndorf, Hohenstein, Lichteneck, Lauf, Eschenbach, Hersbruck, Auerbach, Velden, Pegnitz and Plech were sold to the Kingdom of Bohemia. Under Bohemian ownership a Pflegamt with high judicial court was established at the castle, which was initially subordinated to the administrative seat of Sulzbach and then, from 1373, the Landgericht of Auerbach. Next to Erlangen Hiltpoltstein was thus in the second half of the 14th century one of the northwesternmost outposts of the territory known as New Bohemia. The village was recorded in the Bohemian Urbarium (Böhmisches Salbuch) of 1366/68 as Hilpoldstein.

Charles IV's successor, King Wenceslas enfeoffed the castle in 1397 to the Bohemian mining managers, Herdegen and Peter Valzner. These wealthy brothers were elevated in 1403 to the status of Nuremberg patricians. The fee was 1,000 Schock Groschen Prager Münze, in addition 400 guilders were pledged for the extension of the castle. Even after the widespread loss of Neo-Bohemian territories around 1400 to the Electorate of the Palatinate, Hiltpoltstein remained under Bohemian sovereignty and Bohemian kings. Frederick of Seckendorff, a representative of Frankish knighthood, was enfeoffed with the village and castle through his marriage to Regina Valzner, daughter of Peter Valzner, in 1408, who gave the estate as part of her marriage dowry. In 1417, Septendorff was given market rights and the privilege to build town defences by King Sigismund. The estate was inherited in 1432 by his son, Frederick, called Ernfried of Seckendorff, who was the guardian of his younger brother Hans von Seckendorff. The Seckendorffs lived in Nuremberg and appointed vogts there. A number of court rulings indicate that Hans von Seckendorff held the office of Landrichter ("state judge") in Nuremberg from 1454 to 1455. In 1460 he again handed over the enfeoffed estate to his brother, Frederick. His son, Frederick, inherited the castle in 1483.

With great prescience prior to the Bavaria-Palatine succession conflict, Puotha of Riesenberg, the most senior state judge (Landrichter) in the Kingdom of Bohemia, enfeoffed the castle in June 1503 on orders from King Vladislaus II for 3,600 Rhenish guilders to Fritz of Seckendorff. At the same time, he entered into negotiations with the Imperial City of Nuremberg, which was interested in acquiring Hiltpoltstein in order to rationalise its territory. Unlike Palatinate villages such as Hersbruck, Lauf and Altdorf, which were conquered by or surrendered to Nuremberg during the imminent War of the Succession of Landshut, Hiltpoltstein had to be acquired by Pfandbrief, a deed of fief. This was issued on St. Gall's Day in 1503 at Raudnitz, its price amounted to 6,000 Rhenish guilders. The castle became the seat of a Nuremberg pfleger, but remained formally under Bohemian sovereignty, including the right of access by the King of Bohemia and the possible redemption of the Pfandbrief at any time. The imperial city was interested in this strategically important office despite its freely revocable possession: on St. Vitus' Day in 1509 King Vladislaus of Bohemia and Hungary raised the value of the Pfandbriefe by a further 2,000 florins, since Nuremberg had invested this sum in the expansion of the castle site. The Pflegeramt was established in 1513 and the pflegers, appointed by Nuremberg and resident in the castle, sent annual reports back to the imperial city. In the period 1530–1531, there are reports of repairs being carried out. However, there is disagreement about whether and to what extent the castle was damaged during the Second Margrave War. On 21 May 1552, the castle was captured by the margravial field commander (Kriegshauptmann), William of Stein and, four weeks later, retaken by troops of the imperial city under Martin Schrimpf. The castle was probably ravaged by fire in May or June 1553 and this may well have been part of the numerous attacks on castles by peasants in the area around Nuremberg during this period. Official bills indicate that the castle was not being used again until the 1560s. During excavations of rubble at the end of the 1960s by the then castle owner, Josef Weber, a layer of burnt material was discovered that has been associated with the Second Margrave War. The documentation, however, does not meet archaeological standards; for example, no 14C dating was done. Other authors doubt these attacks on the castle during the peasant unrest and date the burning to the time of the margravial war. In 1560 a treaty was signed between Emperor Ferdinand I, who was also King of Bohemia, and the Nuremburg City Council, that extended the enfeoffment of the castle estate to the imperial city for a further 25 years in return for a payment of 1,500 talers. In 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II devolved Nuremberg's Hiltpoltstein fief to Bohemia.

In 1774, architect and former archaeologist, Carl Haller von Hallerstein, was born in the castle, the son of the then pfleger. In a short biographical interlude as Nuremberg's Building Inspector (Bauinspektor) he published in 1807 a report on the structural condition of Hiltpoltstein Castle.

In 1806 Hiltpoltstein was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria. From 1808 to 1810 it was part of the Landgericht of Gräfenberg in the county of Pegnitzkreis; from 1810 in the county of Rezatkreis and from 1817 in the county of Obermainkreis.

The new Landgerichte replaced the former Pflegämter and the pfleger castle of Hiltpoltstein was vacated at the end of 1807 as an administrative office. The castle and mansion were initially sold to a local master bricklayer (Maurermeister); later, it was acquired by the publican, Georg Schmidt. As a result of a lack of investment, the castle meanwhile became completely derelict; even entire roofs were missing. In 1841 the dreadfully neglected castle was depicted in the Korrespondent von und für Deutschland as ripe for demolition, something that was only prevented by the personal intervention of King Ludwig. After its return to royal Bavarian ownership in 1843 it was repaired at the expense of the state and then became the head office of the local forestry commission. In the second half of the 19th century Hiltpoltstein benefited from the rise in "castle romanticism" and received many foreign visitors, something that is recorded in a castle guest book running without a break from 1843 to 1965 and which is now in private hands in Hiltpoltstein.

The castle is historic monument no. D-4-74-138-6 in the Bavarian list of Monuments, the pfleger castle is D-4-74-138-3. The centre of the village of Hiltpoltstein is protected as "historic ensemble" (Denkmalensemble) E-4-74-138-1, the whole castle area with its underground structures is area monument (Bodendenkmal) D-4-6333-0217. In the 1960s, the Free State of Bavaria was interested in divesting itself of the castle as state property for reasons of cost. In 1966 it was sold for DM 81,500 to Nuremberg businessman, Josef Weber. He carried out extensive renovation that lasted until 1972, such as the uncovering and reinforcement of the foundations of bergfried, the restorations of the large hall and the cabinet in the east wing and the chapel in the south wing. He also cleared the cellars of metre-thick rubble.

Since the 1970s the castle and pfleger mansion has changed hands several times without major changes to its structural condition. Following the bankruptcy of the owner in 2006 the castle was managed by the receiver. The Society for the Preservation of Hiltpoltstein Castle (Förderverein zum Erhalt der Burg Hiltpoltstein e. V.) operated monthly guided tours between 2010 and 2013. In the upper floor of the pfleger mansion the society runs a café and organises exhibitions of local artists. In 2013 the castle and pflegschloss were sold to a private owner again for € 400,000. Since then, there has been no public access. In 2013 and 2014 the castle was only open on the Historic Monuments Open Day (Tag des offenen Denkmals). In November 2016 a further sale was announced to a new private owner who intended to use it as a holiday home.