Falkenburg Castle is a castle ruin overlooking the village of

Wilgartswiesen Wilgartswiesen is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Geography The municipality lies in the southern part of the Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau, in the middle of the Palatine Fo ...

in the Palatinate Forest in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Like almost all castles in this region it was built on sandstone.

History

The Falkenburg was probably built in the 11th century as a successor to the nearby

Wilgartaburg The Wilgartaburg, also called the ''Wiligartaburg, Wilgartsburg'' or ''Wiligartisburg'', is the heritage site of a ruined rock castle located at a height of near the German village of Wilgartswiesen in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Locat ...

and to protect the adjacent villages. In the documents of Archbishop Erkinbald of Mainz, letters dating to 1019 describe a rock outcrop called the Falkenstein considered as the most northerly border belonging to the principality of Kaiserslautern. Werner I of Bolanden is thought to have begun construction of the castle on this rock in 1125; he was a vassal of Duke Frederick II of Swabia. At the Bolanden family monastery in Hane were records of Sigbold of Falkenstein in 1135; he was one of the first to take the name of the castle for himself. Then in 1233 the imperial ''

ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minis ...

'', Phillip IV of Bolanden, was the first to clearly say that he was from Falkenstein in a legal document. A Werner of Falkenburg is mentioned among legal documents dating from 1290. From 1300 to 1313 the castle was enfeoffed to Frederick IV of Leiningen. Then in 1317 it was given in fee to Counts Palatine Rudolph II and Rupert I by

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor 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 ...

. In 1375, Emich V of Leiningen became the owner of the castle and in 1398 the fiefdom of Falkenstein became its own county. From 1420, the Bolanded/Falkenstein lineage died out and the counts of Virneburg took over the castle until 1456 when it went into the possession of the counts of Dhaun-Oberstein. In 1458, the Duke of Lorraine took over and became the high feudal lord. The Falkenburg survived 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 ...

of 1524–1525. In 1545, with the fall of the empire the House of Austria took over under the charge of the Austrian government in Freiburg. During the

30 Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

the castle was captured, first by Spanish troops in 1631, and then again by Swedish troops in 1632, before being finally retaken by troops from Lorraine. The castle was demolished by the French Marshal Schönbeck in 1638. The entire region of Frankenweide was administered from Falkenburg until the castle was destroyed, when it was then moved to

. Restoration work on the castle was carried out in the 1930s and 1970.

Location

The elongated castle is in two parts: a upper ward that was connected by a staircase to the lower ward with its gateway and

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

. The '' bergfried'' occupied an area of . Its walls were thick and its remains high. The ruins include a

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

, a gatehouse, a rock chamber, living quarters (a '' palas'') and further wall remnants on the castle rock.

References

Literature

* * Alexander Thon (ed.): „... wie eine gebannte, unnahbare Zauberburg“. Burgen in der Südpfalz, 2nd revised edition, Regensburg, 2005, pp. 44–47. * {{Authority control Landmarks in Germany Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Rock castles South Palatinate Ruined castles in Germany