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The Frankenburg is a natural monument with the ruins of a
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 ''
Castle data bank of the European Castle Institute
The Frankenburg is a natural monument with the ruins of a rock castle
A rock castle (german: Felsenburg) is a type of medieval castle that directly incorporates natural rock outcrops into its defences to such an extent that the rock formations define the structure of the castle. Topographically, rock castles are c ...
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 thecastle
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
A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval ''Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson, ...
'' 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 hole
Putlog holes or putlock holes are small holes made in the walls of structures to receive the ends of poles (small round logs) or beams, called putlogs or putlocks, to support a scaffolding. Putlog holes may extend through a wall to provide staging ...
s 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