Sponheim Castle ({{langx, de, Burg Sponheim) is a

medieval 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 World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

ruin in Burgsponheim on the edge of the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

mountain range in

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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. From the 12th century it was the original residence of the Counts of Sponheim. Significant portions of the castle remain standing.

Site

The castle stands on a crag, approximately 250 meters long, around which the Ellerbach stream, a tributary of the Nahe, flows on the south and east sides. The ruin is on the peak of the crag, which is roughly 150 meters high.

History

The castle was probably already built in the 11th century and is first mentioned in two documents of 1127. In the 12th century it was extended and became the residence of the Counts of Sponheim. Upon the partition of the county in the early 13th century, the castle lost its importance, becoming the seat of comital '' ministeriales''. The existence of a castle

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

is documented in an

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

dated 1300. When the ruling male line of the Rhenish branch of the

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 ...

became extinct in 1437, the castle became a joint jurisdiction of the Margraves of Baden and the Counts of Veldenz, whose territories were inherited by Count Palatine Frederick I of Simmern in 1444 and held by the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. In 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 was besieged by Spanish troops under Ambrogio Spinola in 1620, which may have caused some destruction.

Layout

Within a ring wall, the castle comprised a residential section, a round tower, and a strongly fortified rectangular

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 ...

, provided for habitation purposes with privy, enlarged windows, and fireplaces. The keep was constructed of rough-hewn stone and dates roughly to the mid-12th century. Other towers with rough-hewn masonry are found only south of the River Nahe.

Sources

* Köhl, Stefan: "Burg Sponheim", in ''Burgen und Schlösser'' 1992 volume 1, pp. 6–19

External links

Burg Sponheim at burgenwelt.de
Sponheim Castles in the Hunsrück