The Château de Herrenstein is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in the '' commune'' of

Neuwiller-lès-Saverne Neuwiller-lès-Saverne (, literally ''Neuwiller near Saverne''; ; ) is a commune located in the historic and cultural region of Alsace and the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park in northeastern France. Neuwiller-lès-Saverne is within the B ...

in the

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of France.

History

The

seigneurie In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled ''signiory'' in Early Modern English (; ; ), is the lordship (authority) remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple. '' Nulle terre sans seigneur'' ("No land without a lord") ...

of Herrenstein, with the villages of

Dettwiller Dettwiller (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Dettwiller was historically known for shoe production. An Adidas factory was in operation between the 1960s into the 1980s. Population See also * ...

, Dossenheim, Hattmatt, Kleinwiesentau and Kugelberg, belonged to the

Bishop of Metz This is a list of bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Metz, which now lies in eastern France. To 500 * Clement of Metz (c. 280–300) * Celestius * Felix I * Patient * Victor I 344–346 * Victor II * Simeon * Sambace * Rufus of Metz * Ad ...

who entrusted it to his ''

advocatus An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

'' to protect the Neuviller Abbey (as the Grand-Geroldseck and Petit-Geroldseck castles protected the Marmoutier Abbey). Though the site has probably been fortified since the 9th century, the present castle was built at the start of the 11th century, by the Counts of Eguisheim-Dabo, then ''advocatus''. Around 1005, Hugues d’Eguisheim sided with the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

against the Bishop of Metz. His castle was ruined by the latter's troops. The castle was later rebuilt. Under the episcopate of Philippe de Florange (1261-1263), it was again ravaged, this time by Henri II de Lichtenberg and the

Bishop of Strasbourg Archbishops

*Charles Amarin Brand (16 July 1984 – 23 October 1997) (with rank of archbishop from 1988) *Joseph Doré (23 October 1997 – 25 August 2006) *Jean-Pierre Grallet (21 April 2007 – 18 February 2017) *Luc Ravel (18 February 2017 ...

. From the end of the 13th century, the castle was ceded by the Bishop of Metz, to Lichtenberg. Guillaume de Diest captured the castle around 1396.Dagobert Fischer
"Notice historique sur l'ancien bailliage de Herrenstein"
''Revue d'Alsace'', vol 2, July-Sept 1873, pages 399-415 The castle's domains were bought bit by bit by the free town of

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, which became dominant in 1480. The castle housed a garrison of six to twelve men. In the 16th century, it was modernised by

Daniel Specklin Daniel Specklin (or Speckle or Speckel) (1536 – 18 October 1589) was an Alsatian fortress architect, engineer, and cartographer. He was born and died in Strasbourg. Biography Daniel Specklin was born in 1536 in Strasbourg, which was then ...

, architect of the town of Strasbourg, to make it a fortress capable of resisting early artillery. Herrenstein protected the seigneurie where Protestants sought refuge, Strasbourg having adopted the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

.Dagobert Fischer
"Notice historique sur l'ancien bailliage de Herrenstein"
''Revue d'Alsace'', vol 2, Oct-Dec 1873, pages 532-575 During the French occupation of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

by the troops of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, as part of his ''politique des réunions'', Herrenstein was bought by

Reinhold de Rosen Reinhold is a German, male given name, originally composed of two elements. The first is from ''regin'', meaning "the (German)Gods" or as an emphatic prefix (very) and ''wald'' meaning "powerful". The second element having been reinterpreted as '' ...

(1604-1667), the king's lieutenant general, who modernised it and lived there. In 1673, the castle was destroyed by the French troops of

Joseph de Montclar Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

and it was used as a quarry for the fortification of Lichtenberg. A document dated 1778 describes Herrenstein as a "''vieux château partiellement en ruines avec une habitation pour le garde-chasse et le garde-forestier''" ("old castle partially in ruins with a house for the gamekeeper and forest keeper"). The castle is not classified as a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

, but does appear on the Ministry's database. Chateau_du_Herrenstein.jpg Chateau_du_Herrenstein_en_1987.jpg Château du Herrenstein 21.jpg Château du Herrenstein 22.jpg

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrenstein, Chateau de Buildings and structures completed in the 11th century Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Ruined castles in Bas-Rhin Monuments historiques of Bas-Rhin