Burg Hollenburg () is a medieval castle located near Köttmannsdorf 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 ...

. Situated on a rock on the northern slope of the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

valley, Burg Hollenburg sits at an elevation of above sea level.Schloss Hollenburg Altitude and Location
/ref> Markus Pernhart - Hollenburg

One Swiker, Lord of Hollenburg 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 ...

, was initially recorded as a witness in the 1142 deed of the foundation of

Viktring Abbey Viktring Abbey (, ) is a former Cistercians, Cistercian monastery in the Austrian state of Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It is now a Roman Catholic parish, since 1973 a district of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt. History Viktring Abbey was est ...

. is believed to have been a vassal of the ducal

House of Sponheim The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval Germans, German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were Imperial immediacy, immediate Counts of County of Sponheim, Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Duchy of Carinthia, Carint ...

. His son, Reginher, is noted as the Lord of

Steuerberg Steuerberg () is a town in the district of Feldkirchen in the Austrian state of Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mounta ...

. Reginher accompanied King

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (; ; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in t ...

on the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

in 1147 and subsequently served as a

ministerialis 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 ...

of Margrave

Ottokar IV of Styria Ottokar IV (19 August 1163 – 8 May 1192), a member of the Otakar dynasty, was Margrave of Styria from 1164 and Duke from 1180, when Styria, previously a margraviate subordinated to the stem duchy of Bavaria, was raised to the status of ...

. The castle held significant strategic importance because of its location at a Drava river crossing and along the road to the

Loibl Pass The Loibl Pass () or Ljubelj Pass () is a high mountain pass in the Karawanks chain of the Southern Limestone Alps, linking Austria with Slovenia. The Loibl Pass road is the shortest connection between the Carinthian town of Ferlach and Tržič i ...

and the

March of Carniola March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

. Following the extinction of the Hollenburg dynasty in 1246, ownership transferred to the Styrian Lords of

Pettau Ptuj (; , ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, eighth-largest town of Slovenia, located in the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria (northeastern Slovenia). It is the seat of the City Municipality of Ptuj, Municipality of Pt ...

. In 1438, it was inherited by the House of Stubenberg. The structure suffered severe damage during the 1348 Friuli earthquake. In 1514 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 Maximilian I, stuck in the

War of the League of Cambrai The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...

against

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and highly indebted, sold Hollenburg to his son-in-law Lord Siegmund of Dietrichstein (1484-1533), elevating him to the rank of a ''

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

''. He was married to Barbara von Rottal (1500–1550), illegitimate daughter of Emperor Maximilian with Margareta von Edelsheim (d. 1522). The House of Dietrichstein had the castle rebuilt in 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, finished in 1588. The Dietrichsteins held the castle until the extinction of the branch in 1861, it was acquired by the

Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

family in 1913.

References

Hollenburg {{Castles in Austria

See also

References