Falkenstein Castle () is a

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 ...

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles a ...

(

imperial castle An imperial castle or ''Reichsburg'' was a castle built by order of (or acquired by) the King of the Romans or the Holy Roman Emperor on land that was owned by the crown ''(Reichsgut)''. While in the early middle ages, in Francia, as well as in ...

) dating to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. It is situated above the eponymous village of Falkenstein on the

Donnersberg The Donnersberg (; literally: "thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate () region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after th ...

, the highest point in the

Palatinate region The Palatinate (; ; Palatine German: ''Palz''), or the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz''), is a historical region of Germany. The Palatinate occupies most of the southern quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Rheinla ...

, which rises within the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

History

''For the political history see County of Falkenstein'' Falkenstein is first recorded in 1135 as the castle of the lords of Falkenstein, a branch of the lords of Bolanden. It is mentioned again in 1233 in the possession of Philip I, the Lord of Falkenstein, the Imperial Chamberlain ('' Reichskämmerer'') and '' burgvogt'' at

Trifels Castle Trifels Castle () is a reconstructed medieval castle at an elevation of near the small town of Annweiler, in the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany. It is located high above the Queich valley within the Palatinate Forest on one peak of ...

, where the

Imperial Regalia The Imperial Regalia, also called Imperial Insignia (in German ''Reichskleinodien'', ''Reichsinsignien'' or ''Reichsschatz''), are regalia of the Holy Roman Emperor. The most important parts are the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, C ...

were guarded. After the death of the imperial chamberlain of

Münzenberg Münzenberg is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany. It is located 13 km north of Friedberg, Hesse, Friedberg, and 16 km southeast of Gießen. Münzenberg Castle is located outside the town. Population development B ...

Philip I took over the office. In 1255 he inherited the ''

Landvogtei 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 ...

'' in the

Wetterau The Wetterau (, ) is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter (river), Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda (river), Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mounta ...

Lich In fantasy fiction, a lich () is a type of undead creature with magical powers. Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's " The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), had used ''lich'' as a general term for any corpse, animat ...

was later the centre of the territory of Philip I of Falkenstein. In the mid-14th century the Falkensteins built New Falkenstein in the

Taunus The Taunus () is a mountain range in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located north west of Frankfurt and north of Wiesbaden. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg' ...

region of Germany. Around 1500 Uhland I acquired the castle rights and expanded the castle further. His descendants purchased Schloss Bertholdstein near the town of Fehring in the

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

in Austria and subsequently settled there. In 1647 Falkenstein was besieged by French troops, stormed and

slighted Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative, or social structures. This destruction of property is sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It ...

. In 1736, Falkenstein Castle and the County of Falkenstein went to the imperial House of

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 ...

. In 1794, it was destroyed once more by the French during the

Coalition Wars The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (sometimes called the Great French War or the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire) were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompas ...

, since when it has remained a ruin, albeit partially restored after 1979.

Description

Partly preserved are the ''

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 ...

'', remains of the outer walls of the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

(''Ritterhaus''), the

shield wall A shield wall ( or in Old English, in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation, but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder ...

, the

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 ...

and the

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

Gallery

File:Falkenstein Burg Südseite 02.jpg, South side File:Falkenstein Burg Gedenkstein Jahrhundertfeier.jpg, Stone recording its 850th anniversary File:Falkenstein Burg Amphitheater.jpg, Amphitheatre File:Falkenstein Burg heutiger Zugang.jpg, Present-day entrance File:Falkenstein Burg Innenansicht 02.jpg, Courtyard File:Falkenstein Burg Zisterne.jpg, Cistern File:Falkenstein Burg Innenansicht 01.jpg, Interior view File:Falkenstein Burg Ritterhaus Südwestansicht.jpg, Southwest view of the ''Ritterhaus'' File:Falkenstein Burg Treppenanlage.jpg, Staircase to the ''Ritterhaus'' File:Falkenstein Burg Wachtturm 01.jpg, Guard tower File:Falkenstein Burg Ringmauer.jpg, Enceinte

Literature

* Jens Stöcker, Alexander Thon: ''Falkenstein/Donnersberg''. In: Jürgen Keddigkeit, Alexander Thon and Rolf Übel (eds.): ''Pfälzisches Burgenlexikon''. Beiträge zur pfälzischen Geschichte Bd. 12/2, Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde, Kaiserslautern, 2002, pp. 46–59, . * Alexander Thon: ''Philipp I. von Falkenstein (1220/33 – 1270/71). Reichstruchsess und Reichskämmerer''. In: Karl-Heinz Rothenberger (ed.): ''Pfälzische Geschichte''. Vol. 1, 2., verb. Aufl. Institut für Pfälzische Geschichte und Volkskunde, Kaiserslautern, 2002, pp. 210−212, . * Alexander Thon (ed.): ''Wie Schwalbennester an den Felsen geklebt. Burgen in der Nordpfalz''. 1st edn. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg, 2005, pp. 48–53, .

External links

* {{Authority control Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Donnersbergkreis