Spangenberg Castle (german: Burg Spangenberg) is the partially rebuilt

ruin 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 ...

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 German 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 ...

. It lies in the Palatine Forest above the Elmstein valley near the village of Erfenstein, but is actually on the forest estates belong to the town of

Neustadt an der Weinstraße Neustadt an der Weinstraße (, formerly known as ; lb, Neustadt op der Wäistrooss ; pfl, Naischdadt) is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,300 inhabitants , it is the largest town called ''Neustadt''. Geography Location T ...

, or more precisely, the village of Lachen-Speyerdorf. Together with the neighbouring castle of Erfenstein, it is linked to the legend of the Leather Bridge.

History

Spangenberg Castle was probably built in the 11th century. In 1100 it came into the possession of the

Prince-Bishopric of Speyer The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Würt ...

as a castle in fee (''Lehnsburg'') granted by the

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

. The knight, Diether of Zoller, was entrusted with the castle in 1317 as its castellan (''

Burgmann From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...

''). In 1431, Eberhard of

Sickingen Franz von Sickingen (2 March 14817 May 1523) was an Imperial Knight who, with Ulrich von Hutten, led the so-called "Knights' Revolt," and was one of the most notable figures of the early period of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation. Sickin ...

became the vassal of the castle and Henry of

Remchingen Remchingen () is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, situated on the river Pfinz, 14 km southeast of Karlsruhe, and 12 km northwest of Pforzheim. History Older history * 1st millennium BC: Celtic ...

after him, in 1439. The historic background to the legend of the Leather Bridge is that both castles were always owned by different lords - to begin with the Spangenberg belonged to the prince-bishops of Speyer and Erfenstein, as mentioned, to the Leiningens - who were in competition with one another. In 1470 when their owners had subsequently changed, both castles were destroyed - first Erfenstein and then the Spangenberg - by their opponents during the Weißenburg Feud between Elector Frederick I of the Palatinate and his cousin, Duke Louis I of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Erfenstein has since lain in

ruins 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 ...

. In 1505 a stud "garden" (''Stutengarten'') was laid out in the nearby woods. Spangenberg Castle, made habitable again, acted for just under 100 years as the residence of the master of the stud. But in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

(1618–1648) the castle was destroyed in the very first year of the war by army commander, Ernest of Mansfeld. It was destroyed again at the start of the

War of the Palatine Succession The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarc ...

(1688) and finally again by troops of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, the King of France. Around 1900 the ruins came into municipal ownership. Today they are owned by the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße.

Description

Of the

inner ward 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 ...

(lower ward) on the sandstone rocks, the ruins of the fortified ''

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, ...

'', the castle gateway of the

(upper ward) and the

shield wall A shield wall ( or in Old English, in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation, but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder ...

have survived.

Legend

According to one legend, the castle was built by an evil knight, Caspar, whom the local population called "Wild Caspar". He and the daughter of the emperor were in love with one another and he wanted to hide her in the castle with him. Because no-one knew of the existence and location of the castle, he invited all the tradesmen who had built the castle to a feast in a hut. When they had all fallen asleep, replete and drunk, Caspar set fire to the hut. All those who knew of the construction of the castle died in the fire. He took the emperor's daughter to the castle and they lived there for years. One day a pilgrim was walking through the

Speyerbach The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...

valley and discovered the castle there. When he knocked on the door to ask for shelter for the night he paled on seeing the emperor's daughter when she opened the door. He was invited inside and treated royally. He and Wild Caspar complained about the emperor. The next morning the pilgrim wanted to be on his way, but Caspar blindfolded him and rode him himself out of the valley so that the pilgrim could not discover the way there. But the pilgrim was the emperor himself. He called up his army and marched up the Speyerbach valley to Spangenberg Castle. Just before could seize the castle, Caspar and the emperor's daughter threw themselves from the castle walls into the depths of the valley. They wanted to die together and escape retribution. As they fell their robes acted like parachutes and they landed uninjured. They were arrested by the emperor. Caspar was sentenced to death by hanging and his daughter was married by the emperor to another man.Tatjana Stegmann: ''Ein böser Ritter und des Kaisers Töchterlein'' in

Die Rheinpfalz ''Die Rheinpfalz'' is a German–language regional newspaper based in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The paper is one of the leading newspapers which serve the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History and profile ''Die Rheinpfalz'' was first published in ...

, Oma Nagutes Pfälzer Sagen, Sat, 7 July 2012

Literature

* Jürgen Keddigkeit, Ulrich Burkhart, Rolf Übel: ''Pfälzisches Burgenlexikon, Vol. 4.1: O-Sp''. Institut für pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 2007, , S. 505-519. * Alexander Thon (ed.): ''Wie Schwalbennester an den Felsen geklebt. Burgen in der Nordpfalz''. Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg, 2005, , pp. 146–151.

External links

Spangenberg Castle Society

at ''alleburgen.de'' {{Authority control Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Rock castles