The Frankenburg is a natural monument with the ruins of a rock castle in the county of

Südliche Weinstraße Südliche Weinstraße ( pfl, Siedlischi Woischdrooß; en, "Southern Wine Route") is a district (''Kreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Südwestpfalz, Bad Dürkheim, the district-f ...

in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies above the

Modenbach The Modenbach is a stream, just under {{convert, 30, km long, and a right-hand tributary of the Speyerbach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Course The Modenbach rises in the Palatine Forest east of the Palatine Watershed at a heigh ...

valley on a rocky outcrop of the ''Frankenberg'' called the ''Frankenfelsen'' and was built to guard the road opposite

Meistersel Castle Meistersel Castle is a ruined castle near Ramberg on the outskirts of the Palatinate Forest in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on a 492-metre-high hilltop that towers above the Modenbach valley near the Three Beeches pass ('' Drei ...

. Today, all that remains of the Frankenburg are a few wall remnants and manmade traces on the rock. The rocky outcrop on the Frankenberg lies at a height of 545 metres above sea level.

History

The first record of the castle dates to 1327, when James of Ruppertsberg opened the

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 ...

to Count Jofried of Leiningen on the occasion of an ''Urfehde'', a sworn agreement not to feud. Before 1353 the Frankenburg was under the rule of the lords of Dahn. In the 15th century it was presumably abandoned and fell into ruins.

Description

The castle stands on a rock whose sides have been vertically cut. Visitors may reach the castle using a rock staircase. The '' bergfried'' probably stood on the top of the rock with the '' palas'' below it.Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: ''Frankenberg''. In: ''Burgen des Deutschen Mittelalters. Grundriss-Lexikon''. Würzburg, 1996. and there appear to have been wooden huts on the castle rock, supported on beams that fitted into the putlock holes on the rock. A few small remains of a curtain wall can still be made out. Access to the castle is interrupted by a wide neck ditch. Behind this ditch, on the northwestern side is a moat hewn out of the rock. The

rusticated ashlar Two different styles of rustication in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and rough-faced below.">Florence.html" ;"title="Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence">Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and r ...

s are still visible and individual pottery finds suggest that the castle dates roughly to the 13th century.

Literature

* Jürgen Keddigkeit (ed.): ''Pfälzisches Burgenlexikon''. Vol. 2. Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde, Kaiserslautern, 2002, , pp. 111–115.

External links

Castle data bank of the European Castle Institute

References

{{Coord, 49, 16, 36, N, 8, 02, 19, E, type:landmark_region:DE-RP, display=title

Frankenburg Frankenburg is German for "Frankish castle" and may refer to: Places: * Frankenburg am Hausruck, a market village in the district of Vöcklabruck in Upper Austria * a hamlet in the municipality of Lilienthal in Lower Saxony, Germany Castles or ca ...

Buildings and structures in Südliche Weinstraße Buildings and structures in the Palatinate Forest Natural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate