Thuisbrunn Castle () is located centrally within the parish of Thuisbrunn in the municipality of Gräfenberg in the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n province of

Upper Franconia Upper Franconia (, ) is a (administrative 'Regierungs''region 'bezirk'' of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia, wh ...

. After having been destroyed and rebuilt several times, the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

is now in private ownership.

History

The

spur castle A spur castle is a type of medieval fortification that is sited on a spur (mountain), spur of a hill or mountain for defensive purposes. Ideally, it would be protected on three sides by steep hillsides; the only vulnerable side being that where t ...

was first mentioned in 1348 and Lord Hiltpolt of Mayenthal named as the castle lord (''

Burgherr A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

'') of Thuisbrunn. In 1388, during the South German War of the Cities, it was destroyed by Nuremberg troops and thereafter given to the burgraves of Nuremberg as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

. In 1420 the castle was again wrecked during the Bavarian War by troops of Duke Louis of Ingolstadt. However, when the village of Thuisbrunn was destroyed in July 1449 by Nuremberg soldiers and again in 1460 during the Princes' War, the castle remained undamaged. In 1553, during the

Second Margrave War The Second Margrave War () was a conflict in the Holy Roman Empire between 1552 and 1555. Instigated by Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth, who was attempting to form a Duchy of Franconia under his ru ...

, the castle was once more destroyed by Nuremberg troops. By 1558 only the district office (''Amtshaus'') and 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 ...

'' had been rebuilt. During 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 ...

and thereafter, Thuisbrunn and the castle were plundered seven times by Imperial, Swedish and Bavarian soldiers. In 1667, the ''

Vogt 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 ...

ei'' office was probably built in place of the old district office; apart from this house and the ''bergfried'' the castle remained a ruin. In 1816, the cartographer, Johann Christoph Stierlein, made for the first time a very precise map of the castle area and its surviving buildings. Following the seizure of the estates by the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

in 1806 during the

Napoleonic Era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

, the ''Vogtei'' office was used as a forestry office. Towards the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the castle was shelled by American troops. In 1961 it was sold into private ownership.

Gallery

File:Die Fränkische Schweiz in Stahlstichen (Mayer) 004.jpg, Thuisbrunn and its castle. 1858

steel engraving Steel engraving is a technique for printing illustrations on paper using steel printing plates instead of copper, the harder metal allowing a much longer print run before the image quality deteriorates. It has been rarely used in artistic printmak ...

File:Burgruine Thuisbrunn 2009.jpg, View of the ruins from the north. On the rocks, the wall remains of a castle building are visible (Apr 2009)

Literature

* Walter Heinz: ''Ehemalige Adelssitze im Trubachtal''. Verlag Palm und Enke, Erlangen and Jena, 1996, , pp. 99–112. * Björn-Uwe Abels, Joachim Zeune, et al.: ''Führer zu archäologischen Denkmälern in Deutschland. Band 20: Fränkische Schweiz''. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 1990, , p. 224. * Hellmut Kunstmann: ''Die Burgen der südwestlichen Fränkischen Schweiz''. Kommissionsverlag Degener & Co., Neustadt/Aisch, 1990, pp. 229–235. * Gustav Voit, Walter Rüfer: ''Eine Burgenreise durch die Fränkische Schweiz''. Verlag Palm und Enke, Erlangen, 1991, , pp. 184–187. * Toni Eckert, Susanne Fischer, Renate Freitag, Rainer Hofmann, Walter Tausendpfund: ''Die Burgen der Fränkischen Schweiz: Ein Kulturführer''. Gürtler Druck, Forchheim o. J., , pp. 148–151.

External links

* Burg Thuisbrunn be
Burgenwelt.de

Historical artist's impression
{{Castles in the county of Forchheim Castles in Bavaria Hill castles Gräfenberg, Bavaria