The Château de Saint-Ulrich (also known as Château de Grand-Ribeaupierre or Ulrichsburg) is one of three

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 ...

s (with the Girsberg and the Haut-Ribeaupierre) which overlooks the '' commune'' of

Ribeauvillé Ribeauvillé ( is the French name of Ràppschwihr (), a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015. Geography The town is located around north of Colmar a ...

in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...

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. It is situated at an altitude of 528 m. The present name of the site is from the chapel dedicated to Saint Ulrich of Augsburg which is found in the castle. Medieval texts never gave the present name - the castle had the name of the Rappolstein dynasty (or Ribeaupierre in the French style).

History

From the 11th to the 16th centuries, the castle was the principal residence of the powerful lords of Ribeaupierre. There must have been another castle on the same site which belonged in 1114 to the Bishop of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. It was occupied militarily by

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor Henry V (; probably 11 August 1081 or 1086 – 23 May 1125) was King of Germany (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, i ...

, who used it as a strongpoint in his war against the

Eguisheim Eguisheim (; ; Alsatian: ''Egsa'') is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies in the historical region of Alsace (). The village lies on the edge of the Ballons des Vosges Nature Park, where the Vo ...

s. It was then returned to the Bishop of Basel who restored it to the Ribeaupierres. Anselme II de Ribeaupierre, who chased the other members of the family from the castle, successfully survived two

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

s, in 1287 by

Rudolph I of Germany Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany of the Habsburg dynasty from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which had begun after the death of the Hohenstaufen Emperor ...

and, in 1293, his successor

Adolf Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo, and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name with German origins. The name is a compound derived from the Old High German ''Athalwolf'' (or ''Hadulf''), a composition of ''athal'', or ''adal'', mean ...

. A celebrated criminal, Dame Cunégonde d'Hungersheim, was incarcerated in the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

and tried to escape with the aid of a guard. The castle is a very fine example of the military architecture 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 ...

in the Middle Ages, including a keep erected in the 12th century and a residence with chimney of the 12th century. In the 13th century, the ''salle des chevaliers'' (knights' hall) was decorated with nine beautiful windows in the Romanesque style which can still be seen. In the same period (1435), the chapel dedicated to Saint Ulrich, Bishop of

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, was built. The Ribeaupierre family left this castle in the 16th century for a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style mansion (the present school in Ribeauvillé). The castle was dismantled during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

The castle today

The visible remains date from several epochs: * 12th century : Square

and the

corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal or main block, or central building of a mansion, country or manor house, castle, or palace. It contains the rooms of principal business, the state apartments and the ceremonial or formal ...

* 13th century : Salle des chevaliers, and the residential tower * 14th century :

Barbican A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically b ...

and outer

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin ''incinctus'' "girdled, surrounded") is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the positio ...

* 15th century: Chapel (

Saint-Ulrich Saint-Ulrich () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The following is a list of the 366 Communes of France, communes of the French Departments of France, ...

) The Château de Saint-Ulrich has been listed since 1841 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 ...

. Châteaux de Guirsberg, de Haut-Ribeaupierre et de Saint-Ulrich Image:Chateau Saint-Ulrich 3.jpg, Entry to the outer enceinte Image:Chateau Saint-Ulrich 4.jpg, Castle entrance File:01 Ulrichsburg, Ribeauville.JPG, Aerial view Image:Chateau Saint-Ulrich 7.jpg Image:Saint-Ulrich et Girsberg.jpg, Château de Saint-Ulrich with Château du Girsberg in the background

The legend of the mortal arrow

Two Ribeaupierre brothers, one living in the château de Saint-Ulrich, the other in Girsberg, had agreed to go hunting the next day. They had arranged a signal: the first to wake would fire an arrow at the other's shutters. The Saint-Ulrich brother awoke first and shot an arrow towards his brother's shutters. But the latter, at the moment the arrow arrived, opened his shutters. He died, his heart pierced.

References

Bibliography

*Braun, Jean, ''Circuit des châteaux forts d'Alsace'' - Ingersheim : éd. SAEP, 1978 - collection ''Delta 2000''. *Carmona Christophe & Trendel, Guy, ''Les Châteaux autour de Ribeauvillé et Ricquewihr'' - Sarreguemines, éd. Pierron, 2001 - collection ''Les Châteaux des Vosges : histoire, architecture, légendes'' n°7. *Mengus, Nicolas, ''Au temps des châteaux forts en Alsace'' - Strasbourg, éd. Coprur, 2004. *Salch, Charles-Laurent, ''Nouveau dictionnaire des châteaux Forts d'Alsace'', Alsatia, 1991.

External links

Description of castle on the CRDP Alsace website

Description of castle on the ''L'Internaute'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Ulrich, Chateau Ruined castles in Haut-Rhin Monuments historiques of Haut-Rhin Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor