Hohenecken Castle (german: Burg Hohenecken) ( MHG: ''buorch hônecke'') is the

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

spur castle A spur castle is a type of medieval fortification that is sited on a spur of a hill or mountain for defensive purposes. Ideally, it would be protected on three sides by steep hillsides; the only vulnerable side being that where the spur joins the ...

from the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

era on the Schlossberg hill above the Kaiserslautern ward of

Hohenecken Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

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 ...

, Germany. It is located at an elevation of .

History

The exact date of the foundation of the castle is unknown. Whilst older sources often plump for a construction date immediately following the building of the Barbarossaburg in Kaiserslautern in 1156, more recent sources tend to lean towards a date about 50 years later. The pentagonal ''

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under Germ ...

'' and the massive shield wall in particular point to a construction date of around 1200. In the first half of the 13th century the castle was

enfeoffed In the Middle Ages, especially under the European feudal system, feoffment or enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of ti ...

to a Kaiserslautern family of

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, ''Minist ...

, the descendants of Reinhard of Lautern, the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

. In 1214, they were awarded the

right of patronage The right of patronage (in Latin ''jus patronatus'' or ''ius patronatus'') in canon law (Catholic Church), Roman Catholic canon law is a set of rights and obligations of someone, known as the patron in connection with a gift of land (benefice). I ...

of Ramstein by the king, Frederick II, who would later become emperor. From then on the castle's owners called themselves ''von Hohenecken''. A barony belonged to the castle, which covered several villages: the valley settlement of

at the foot of the castle hill (''Burgberg'') as well as Erfenbach, Espensteig,

Siegelbach Siegelbach is located just northwest of the city of Kaiserslautern, in the heart of Germany's Rheinland-Pfalz. The village, with its 2,600 inhabitants, is included in the urban district (Stadtkreis In all German states, except for the three ...

and Stockweiler, today Stockborn. All have since become part of the city of Kaiserslautern. Castle and barony were an imperial fief for centuries. At the beginning of the early modern period, Hohenecken Castle went into decline. In the German Peasants' War of 1525 it was captured by rebellious peasants. In 1668 there was a lengthy siege by Prince-Elector Charles Louis of the Palatinate, which ended in the partial destruction of the castle. In 1689, during 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 ...

, the castle was blown up by French troops.

Layout

Including the

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 buil ...

, moat, upper and lower wards, the castle measures about 50 by 9 metres in area. It has a mighty shield wall (25 m wide, 11 m high) and a pentagonal ''bergfried''. The castle is considered by experts to be one of the best examples of castles from the Hohenstaufen period. Today it is a popular attraction and offers extensive views.

Literature

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External links

Hohenecken Castle at burg-lemberg.de

{{Authority control Ruined castles in Germany Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Kaiserslautern