Rabenstein Castle (German:''Burg Rabenstein'') is the smallest

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

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 ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. It is located in the

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

suburb of Rabenstein and belongs to the Chemnitz Castle Hill Museum.

History

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 ...

Rabenstein was first mentioned in 1336 in a document from

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 which he promised it as a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

to his son-in-law

Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen Frederick II (; 30 November 1310 – 18 November 1349) was the margrave of Meissen from 1323 until his death. Early life Frederick was born on 30 November 1310 in Gotha. His parents were Margrave Frederick I of Meissen and Elisabeth von Lobd ...

, in case the line of Waldenburg were to die out without male heirs. At this time the castle was larger than the current. The castle walls consisted of a 180 m long wall, which enclosed an area of two hectares. {{Authority control Castles in Saxony Buildings and structures in Chemnitz Tourist attractions in Chemnitz