Burg Hollenburg ( sl, Humberk) is a medieval castle near Köttmannsdorf 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 on a rock of the northern slope of the

Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...

valley. Burg Hollenburg is above sea level.Schloss Hollenburg Altitude and Location
/ref> Markus Pernhart - Hollenburg

Köttmannsdorf Hollenburg Burganlage S-Ansicht 14092006 07

One Swiker, Lord of Hollenburg 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 ...

was first documented as a witness in the 1142 deed of the foundation of

Viktring Abbey Viktring Abbey (german: Stift Viktring, sl, Opatija Vetrinj) is a former Cistercians, Cistercian monastery in the Austrian state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia. Stift Viktring is now the name of the Roman Catholic parish in Viktring, since 1973 a ...

. He may have been a vassal of the ducal

House of Sponheim The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were immediate Counts of Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269. Its cadet branches ruled in the Imperial C ...

; his son Reginher is mentioned as Lord of

Steuerberg Steuerberg ( sl, Šterska Gora) is a town in the district of Feldkirchen in the Austrian state of Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is not ...

, he accompanied King

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (german: Konrad; it, Corrado; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III and from 1138 until his death in 1152 k ...

on the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...

in 1147 and later appeared as a

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 ...

of Margrave

Ottokar IV of Styria Ottokar IV (19 August 1163 – 8 May 1192), a member of the Otakar dynasty, was Margrave of Styria from 1164 and Duke from 1180, when Styria, previously a margraviate subordinated to the stem duchy of Bavaria, was raised to the status of an ...

. The castle was of strategical importance due to its location at a Drava river crossing and the road to the

Loibl Pass The Loibl Pass (german: Loiblpass) or Ljubelj Pass ( sl, prelaz Ljubelj) is a high mountain pass in the Karawanks chain of the Southern Limestone Alps, linking Austria with Slovenia. The Loibl Pass road is the shortest connection between the Cari ...

and the

March of Carniola The March (or Margraviate) of Carniola ( sl, Kranjska krajina; german: Mark Krain) was a southeastern Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages, the predecessor of the Duchy of Carniola. It corresponded roughly to the c ...

. Upon the extinction of the Hollenburg dynasty in 1246, it passed to the Styrian Lords of

Pettau Ptuj (; german: Pettau, ; la, Poetovium/Poetovio) is a town in northeastern Slovenia that is the seat of the Municipality of Ptuj. Ptuj, the oldest recorded city in Slovenia, has been inhabited since the late Stone Age and developed from a Roman ...

, in 1438 it was inherited by the House of Stubenberg. The structure had been severely damaged by the

1348 Friuli earthquake The 1348 Friuli earthquake, centered in the South Alpine region of Friuli, was felt across Europe on 25 January. The earthquake hit in the same year that the Great Plague ravaged Italy. According to contemporary sources, it caused considerable ...

. In 1514 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 Maximilian I, stuck in the

War of the League of Cambrai The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...

against

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and highly indebted, sold Hollenburg to Lord Siegmund of

Dietrichstein The House of Dietrichstein was the name of one of the oldest and most prominent Austrian noble families originating from Carinthia. The family belonged to the High Nobility, the Hochadel. The Nikolsburg (Mikulov) branch was elevated to the rank of ...

, elevating him to the rank of a ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

'' (Baron). The House of Dietrichstein had the castle rebuilt in a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style, finished in 1588. The Dietrichsteins held the castle until the extinction of the branch in 1861, it was acquired by the

Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrians, Austrian-British people, British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy o ...

family in 1913.

References

''This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia.'' Hollenburg {{Carinthia-geo-stub

See also

References