Prägrad Castle (, from

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

for

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 bu ...

) is a ruined medieval castle in

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It is located near Feldkirchen on a hillside above the road to

Lake Ossiach Lake Ossiach (, ) is a lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is the state's third largest lake after Lake Wörth () and Lake Millstatt (). Geography Lake Ossiach is located in the southern Nock Mountains range of the Gurktal Alps along t ...

. The fortress was mentioned in an 1166 deed when the

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

burgrave Conrad II of Raabs sold it to the Franconian Bishops of Bamberg, who then held large estates in the

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (; ; ) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Car ...

. Prägrad served as an administrative seat of Bamberg ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

'', controlling the traffic on the road along the southern shore of Lake Ossiach to

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 61,887. Together wit ...

. The Carinthian dukes had acquired the premises by 1258. Temporarily owned by the Carinthian

Counts of Ortenburg The Counts of Ortenburg () were a comital family in the mediaeval Duchy of Carinthia. Though they had roots in Bavarian nobility, an affiliation with the Imperial Counts of Ortenburg, a branch line of the Rhenish Franconian House of Sponheim, ...

, the castle passed to the

Counts of Celje The Counts of Celje () or the Counts of Cilli (; ) were the most influential late medieval noble dynasty on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Risen as vassals of the Habsburg dukes of Styria in the early 14th century, they ruled the County ...

in the late 14th century. Upon the death of Count Ulrich II in 1456, it was seized by the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

emperor Frederick III who leased it to the Bishops of Gurk. From 1628 the estates were enfeoffed to Ossiach Abbey. Remnants of the

inner bailey 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 ...

, erected around 1200, and several outer walls are preserved. The remains of a ''

Zwinger A () is an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the medieval and early modern periods to improve the defence of castles and town walls. The term is usually left untranslated, ...

'' laid out about 1400 are visible to the southeast of the complex

References

Castles in Carinthia Hill castles {{Carinthia-geo-stub

See also

References