Grevenburg was a castle in

Traben-Trarbach Traben-Trarbach on the Middle Moselle is a town in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'' and a state-recognized climatic spa (''Luftkurort''). The city lies in the ...

in the federal 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 ...

in Germany. It was the residence of the Rear County of Sponheim and today is a ruin following its destruction by the French in 1734.

History

The castle was built in 1350 by the Count Johann III of Sponheim-Starkenburg and replaced Castle Starkenburg as the residence of the Rear County of Sponheim. With the extinction of the ruling male line of the Rhenish branch of the

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 ...

in 1437 the castle became seat of the bailiff of the new Counts to Sponheim (

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

and

Palatinate-Simmern The House of Palatinate-Simmern (german: Pfalz-Simmern) was a German- Bavarian cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The house was one of the collateral lineages of the Palatinate. The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach was divided i ...

or Palatinate-Zweibrücken or Palatinate-Birkenfeld). In 1680 it was conquered by

Louis XIV of France , 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 ...

and was extended, together with the fort of Mont Royal in the horshoe bend of the Mosel north of the town of

as a part of the fortifications. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

(1701–1714), in 1702 it was taken by the French under Tallard and in 1704 on the express orders of the commanding officer

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

it was overpowered by Friedrich of Hesse-Kassel. The badly damaged castle was then occupied by the Dutch. In 1730 it was repaired by the Electorate of Trier for the defence of Koblenz and the

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

river. In the

War of the Polish Succession The War of the Polish Succession ( pl, Wojna o sukcesję polską; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II of Poland, which the other European powers widened in pursuit of thei ...

it was taken after three weeks' siege for the fourth and last time by the French who destroyed it in July 1734.''Ruine Grevenburg der Sponheimer Grafschaft'' brochure published by Tourist information Traben-Trarbach (German) The castle was blown up, huge chunks of it have plunged into the valley beneath. Of the castle, although only the western wall of the former keep remains, the foundations are largely intactBrochure published by the Gräfin Loretta Foundation (Titelpage)
(German)

Gallery

File:Hofmann, Johann - Grevenburg and Trarbach.jpeg, Johann Hofmann, 1669 File:Trarbach, Traben und die Gräfinburg by Karl Bodmer.jpg, Traben-Trarbach and Grevenburg on the Mosel (

Karl Bodmer Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Swiss-French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draughtsman, painter, illustrator and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in literature and paintings, as a Swiss and French c ...

, 1841) File:Mosel2004 005 Grevenburg.jpg, Ruins of the keep File:Mosel2004 008 Grevenburg.jpg, Ruins of the keep File:Grevenburg-Lageplan.JPG, Plan, 1734

Notes

{{commons category Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Buildings and structures in Bernkastel-Wittlich Ruined castles in Germany Castles on the Moselle