Blumenstein Castle is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

ruin in the Palatinate Forest in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. According to the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Blumenstein castle was probably constructed in the first half of the 13th century as part of a line of defensive castles along the Alsatian border.

History

The castle was first mentioned in 1332 in connection with Lord Anselm of

Batzendorf Batzendorf (; gsw-FR, Bàtzedorf) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin d ...

and

Blumenstein Blumenstein is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun, in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Blumenstein is first mentioned in 1305 as ' ...

. After a feud with the House of Fleckenstein in 1347, the knight was banished from the castle. About 1350, the counts of

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

had one fourth of the castle, the

House of Dahn Dahn, also Tan, Tann or Thann, is the surname of a noble family from the Palatinate region of Germany. Name The name Dahn, Tan, Tann or Thann often occurs in these variations as a surname. For example, there is also a Franconian aristocratic ...

owned the rest. Blumenstein Castle was probably destroyed during the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

in 1525. The ruin passed from the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg to the landgraves of Hesse, then to the Bishopric of Speyer and finally to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The State Office of Castles, Palaces and Antiquities installed safety measures (such as railings along stairways and around the cliff edges) in the 1970s.

Description

"Blumenstein Castle, situated in magnificent loneliness, at a height of about 500 meters ,600 ft presents, even today, one of the most unspoilt impressions of its kind." The castle sits upon the top of a narrow red sandstone pier about wide and long, about above the hilltop. Parts of the castle, including the narrow stairways, are carved directly into the red sandstone. "Prior to the invention of firearms, it was hardly possible to capture this picturesque castle hidden in the middle of the forest. It was necessary to siege it and starve its inhabitants out."''ibid'', p.32

References

Literature

* * * * Friedrich Knöpp: ''Territorialbestand der Grafschaft Hanau-Lichtenberg hessen-darmstädtischen Anteils''. Darmstadt 1962. n the Hessian State Archives, Darmstadt (''Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt''), Signatur: N 282/6 *

External links

* {{Ebidat, 105
Blumenstein Castle
at burgenparadies.de Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Landmarks in Germany South Palatinate Ruined castles in Germany