Burg Perchtoldsdorf is a castle in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

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 ...

. Burg Perchtoldsdorf is above sea level.Burg Perchtoldsdorf Altitude and Position
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Locaction

The mighty complex with a church and a castle is located on the north side of Perchtoldsdorf's market square on the slopes of the

Vienna Woods The Vienna Woods (, ) are forested highlands that form the northeastern foothills of the Northern Limestone Alps in the states of Lower Austria and Vienna. The and range of hills is heavily wooded and a popular recreation area with the Viennese ...

. Under

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

in 1795/96, the market fortifications from the middle of the 13th century, which ran around the entire market, were almost completely demolished.

History

The lords of Perchtoldsdorf

The origins of the castle probably date back to before the year 1000. It was built together with numerous other castles on the eastern edge of the

in order to protect the

Babenbergs The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from ...

' dominion from the ever-invading Hungarians. The castle originally only consisted of a brick tower and a few wooden buildings, which were protected by a

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

and a moat. However, as it soon became too small, it was only inhabited for defensive purposes. ''Heinricus de Pertoldesdorf'' is named as the first lord of the castle in 1138. Under his successor, the wooden buildings were replaced by brick ones and an outer bailey with a wall was built. In this state, it was once again a residence. The ', which still stands today, was also erected as a ''

Bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries an ...

''. The castle chapel on the second floor of the castle was elevated to a parish church in 1217 under Bishop Ulrich II of Passau. In 1232, Otto I of Perchtoldsdorf gave the castle as a freehold to

Melk Abbey Melk Abbey () is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river, adjoining the Wachau valley. The abbey contains the tomb of Saint Coloman of Stockerau and the remains of several member ...

, from which he received it back as a fief. Otto I was involved in the aristocratic uprising against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Frederick II, which is why the castle was destroyed by him in the course of a punitive expedition, leaving only the base and part of the south wall. It seems that Otto then lived in his newly built Burg Kammerstein. The ruins were converted into a church. Not far from the castle, on the south-eastern corner of today's market square, a new ''Stadtburg'' was built, which mainly served administrative purposes. It was Otto II, who later fought alongside Rudolf of Habsburg at the Battle of Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen, who had the ancestral castle rebuilt. The rebuilding of this castle was probably completed around 1270. Otto III of Perchtoldsdorf took part in another noble uprising. As a result, all three of his castles - the ancestral castle, the town castle and Kammerstein Castle - were destroyed by Duke Albrecht I of Austria, who later became King Albrecht I, around 1290. Otto presumably died in custody.

References

Castles in Lower Austria Mödling District {{Austria-castle-stub

Locaction

History

The lords of Perchtoldsdorf

See also

References