Epprechtstein Castle (german: Burg Epprechtstein) is a former

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles ...

on the mountain of the same name, the Epprechtstein, which rises above the village of

Kirchenlamitz Kirchenlamitz () is a town in the district of Wunsiedel, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated in the Fichtelgebirge, 13 km northwest of Wunsiedel (; Northern Bavarian: ''Wåuṉsieḏl'' or ''Wousigl'') is the seat of the Upper Franconia ...

History

An ''Eberhardus de Eckebretsteine'' was first mentioned in the records in a

deed of gift A deed of gift is a signed legal document that voluntarily and without recompense transfers ownership of real, personal, or intellectual property – such as a gift of materials – from one person or institution to another. It should include a ...

by Duke

Otto II of Merania Otto III ( – 19 June 1248), a member of the House of Andechs, was Count of Burgundy from 1231 and the last duke of Merania (numbered Otto II) from 1234 until his death. Family Otto was the only son of Duke Otto I of Merania and Countess Beatri ...

in 1248. In 1308,

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufo ...

of Germany enfeoffed the brothers Ulrich, Henry and Nickel, of the House of Sack, with the

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

of Epprechtstein; the Wilds were co-owners. In 1337 Emperor

Louis the Bavarian Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany in ...

enfeoffed ''

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

'' Henry of

Plauen Plauen (; Czech language, Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with around 65,000 inhabitants, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the larges ...

with a small part of the castle. In 1352, the

burgraves of Nuremberg The Burgraviate of Nuremberg (german: Burggrafschaft Nürnberg) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; almost two centuries pass ...

stormed the robber baron castle and were given it as a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

. Amongst the attackers was Henry of Kotzau with his two brothers. In 1355/1356 they purchased the castle, the office and the parish of Kirchenlamitz outright, whereupon Epprechtstein and Kirchenlamitz became part of Sechsämterland ("Six District Land") and the seat of its officials, the '' Amtmänner''. The castle tower was part of the defensive system of the "Wartordnung" of 1498. In the 16th century, the castle was destroyed by troops of ''Vogt'' Henry of Plauen and fell into ruin. The ruins were researched in the 18th century by local historian, Johann Theodor Benjamin Helfrecht, and cartographer, Johann Christoph Stierlein. The artist, Georg Könitzer, sketched a

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

of the ruins as part of his field of interest around the

Fichtel Mountains The Fichtel MountainsRandlesome, C. et al. (2011). ''Business Cultures in Europe'', 2nd ed., Routledge, Abingdon and New York, p. 52. . (german: Fichtelgebirge, cs, Smrčiny), form a small horseshoe-shaped mountain range in northeastern Bavaria ...

(German: ''Fichtelgebirge'').

Description

The

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of Epprechtstein Castle stand on the treeless summit on an elongated

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

ledge the sides of which drop away steeply. The ruins comprise the old

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

on which a staircase leads to a viewing platform. From the lookout is an all-round view of the Waldstein ridge, to the Großer Kornberg, to Schwarzenbach an der Saale and

Oberkotzau Oberkotzau is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe af ...

as far as Hof, south over the interior

Kösseine The Kösseine is a massif in the High Fichtel mountains in Germany, lying in northeast Bavaria south of Wunsiedel. The highest elevation of this granite massif is the summit of the Große Kösseine, . The border between the Bavarian provinces of Up ...

. 250 metres southeast is the service hut of the Kirchenlamitz mountain rescue organization.

Literature

* Werner Bergmann: ''750 Jahre Burg Epprechtstein - Die Geschichte von Burg und Amt Epprechtstein/Kirchenlamitz''. Verlag der Stadt Kirchenlamitz, 1998. * Werner Bergmann: ''Aussichtspunkt Epprechtstein''. In: ''Der Siebenstern''. Vol. 5/2010. pp. 223–226. * Bernhard Hermann Röttger: ''Landkreis Wunsiedel und Stadtkreis Marktredtwitz''. ''Die Kunstdenkmäler von Bayern, VIII. Regierungsbezirk Oberfranken, Band 1''. Munich, 1954, , pp. 104–107. * Hans Vollet und Kathrin Heckel: ''Die Ruinenzeichnungen des Plassenburgkartographen Johann Christoph Stierlein''. 1987.

External links

Castles ruins of Epprechtstein
on the websit
House of Bavarian History

at www.bayern-fichtelgebirge. {{Authority control Ruined castles in Germany Castles in Bavaria Hill castles Heritage sites in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Wunsiedel (district)