Guttenberg Castle (german: Burg Guttenberg, more rarely, ''Guttenburg'') is a

ruined 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 ...

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 ...

near the French border in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

part of the

Wasgau The Wasgau (german: Wasgau, french: Vasgovie) is a Franco-German hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle. It is formed from the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the north ...

, which in turn is part of the Palatine Forest in the state of

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 ...

Geography

The

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 ...

is located in the Upper

Mundat Forest The term 'Mundat Forest' refers to two forests that overlie the modern border between Germany and France near Wissembourg, Alsace. The ''Upper Mundat Forest'' is a small part of the mountainous Palatinate Forest. The smaller ''Lower Mundat Fores ...

about three kilometres west of the village of

Oberotterbach Oberotterbach is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. Geography The village is located between the Palatine Forest biosphere reserve and the Rhine river. The municipality of Oberotterbac ...

on the 503-metre-high ''Schlossberg'' hill. One kilometre away are the Hohe Derst (561 m) to the northwest and Hohe Kopf (497 m) to the south. The Otterbach, a left

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

River Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sourc ...

, rises on the northeastern slopes of the Schlossberg, below the castle.

History

The castle was possibly first mentioned in 1151 as an

imperial castle An imperial castle or ''Reichsburg'' was a castle built by order of the Holy Roman Emperor, whose management was entrusted to '' Reichsministeriales'' or ''Burgmannen''. It is not possible to identify a clear distinction between imperial castles an ...

of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

emperors which was managed by the ''

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 ...

'', Landolfo de Gudenburc, or it may have been connected with Ulrich of Guttenberg (''Udelricus de Gudenburhc'') who gifted it in 1174 to Eusserthal Abbey. The first confirmed record occurs in 1246 when Isengard of Falkenstein, on behalf of her husband, the imperial steward (''Reichstruchsess''), Philip I of Falkenstein, transferred the castle to King

Conrad IV Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II) up ...

.Rolf Übel: ''Guttenberg'' in ''Pfälzisches Burgen-Lexikon II F–H'', p. 253, Kaiserslautern, 2002, . In 1317, half of the castle was enfeoffed to the counts of Leiningen, whilst the other half went, a little later, to

Electoral Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

. In the division of the Palatinate of 1410 the castle was allocated to

Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken Stephen of Simmern-Zweibrücken (german: link=no, Stefan Pfalzgraf von Simmern-Zweibrücken) (23 June 1385 – 14 February 1459, Simmern) was Count Palatine of Simmern and Zweibrücken from 1410 until his death in 1459.Ludwig Molitor: Vollständi ...

. The Leiningens lost their share in 1463 when it went via the Hanau-Lichtenbergs to the

House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken The House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch of the Wittelsbach dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of Sweden from 1654 to 1720. By this point it had splintered into several different houses. The Royal House of Sweden was represented by the bra ...

branch of the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate o ...

dynasty. In 1525, 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 ...

Guttenberg Castle was destroyed by a Lorraine peasant mob. The ruins were never rebuilt and its associated office or ''Amt'' moved to Dörrenbach. With the extinction of the Heidelberg line in 1559, Palatine Zweibrücken also inherited the other half of the Barony of Guttenberg including the related part of the ruined castle. From 1680 to 1697 the region was under French hegemony as part of the successes achieved under France's policy of reunion. From 1792 to 1815 the region was part of the

First French Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

and was assigned to the département du Bas-Rhin (Department of Lower Rhine). In November 1815 the area between the rivers

Lauter Lauter may refer to: People * Lauter (surname) Places *Lauter, Saxony, town in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg, Saxony, Germany * Lauter, Bavaria, village in the district of Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany Rivers * Lauter (Baunach), tributary to th ...

and Queich, including the ruins of Guttenberg, came under the sovereignty of the

Empire of Austria The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

as a result of the agreements reached in the Second Treaty of Paris. Finally in April 1816 the region of the Palatinate was surrendered in the

Treaty of Munich The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...

to the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

, becoming the

Circle of the Rhine The Circle of the Rhine (german: Rheinkreis) or Rhine Circle, sometimes the Bavarian ( or ), was the name given to the territory on the west bank of the Rhine from 1816 to 1837 which was one of 15 (later 8) administrative districts of the Kingdom ...

. After the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the site became the property of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, but was under French administration from 1949 to 1986. From 1989 to 1995 safety measures were implemented with the support of the Advisory Board for the Preservation of the

(''Kuratoriums zu Erhaltung des Mundatwaldes'').

References

Literature

* * * *

External links

Entry to the castle
in the scientific castle databank of the European Castles Institute (EBIDAT)

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221163102/http://www.burgenparadies.de/html/burg_guttenberg.html , date=2014-02-21 (photos) Imperial castles Rock castles Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Electoral Palatinate