Prägrad Castle (german: Burgruine Prägrad, from Slavic for

outer ward An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

) is a ruined medieval castle in

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It is located near Feldkirchen on a hillside above the road to

Lake Ossiach Lake Ossiach (german: Ossiacher See, sl, Osojsko jezero) is a lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is the state's third largest lake, superseded only by Lake Wörth and Lake Millstatt. Geography It is situated in the southern Nock Moun ...

. The fortress was mentioned in an 1166 deed when the

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

burgrave

Conrad II of Raabs Conrad II of Raabs ( – ) was from about 1160 until his death Burgrave of the medieval Burgraviate of Nuremberg. Life Conrad was a count of Raabs, a family of edelfrei nobility, named after their first castle, Burg Raabs an der Thaya in ...

sold it to the Franconian Bishops of Bamberg, who then held large estates in the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial Sta ...

. Prägrad served as an administrative seat of Bamberg ''

ministeriales 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 ...

'', controlling the traffic on the road along the southern shore of Lake Ossiach to

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the po ...

. The Carinthian dukes had acquired the premises by 1258. Temporarily owned by the Carinthian

Counts of Ortenburg The Counts of Ortenburg (german: Grafen von Ortenburg) were a comital family in the mediaeval Duchy of Carinthia. Though they had roots in Bavarian nobility, an affiliation with the Imperial Counts of Ortenburg, a branch line of the Rhenish Fra ...

, the castle passed to the

Counts of Celje The Counts of Celje ( sl, Celjski grofje) or the Counts of Cilli (german: Grafen von Cilli; hu, cillei grófok) were the most influential late medieval noble dynasty on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Risen as vassals of the Habsburg dukes ...

in the late 14th century. Upon the death of Count

Ulrich II Ulrich II may refer to: * Ulrich II. (St. Gallen) († 1076) Abbot of St. Gall * Ulrich II, Duke of Carinthia (c. 1176 – 1202) * Ulrich II, Count of Württemberg (c. 1254 – 1279) * Ulrich II von Graben (before 1300 – about 1361) * Ulrich II, ...

in 1456, it was seized by the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

emperor Frederick III who leased it to the

Bishops of Gurk A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

. From 1628 the estates were enfeoffed to

Ossiach Abbey Ossiach Abbey (''Stift Ossiach'') is a former Benedictine monastery in Ossiach, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The site is one of the venues of an annual music festival called "Carinthian Summer". History In 878 the East Frankish king Ca ...

. Remnants of the

inner bailey The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer w ...

, erected around 1200, and several outer walls are preserved. The remains of a ''

Zwinger "" () is a German word for outer ward or bailey (castle), outer bailey. It represents an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the Post-classical history, post-classical and early ...

'' laid out about 1400 are visible to the southeast of the complex

References

''This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia.'' Castles in Carinthia (state) Hill castles {{Carinthia-geo-stub

See also

References