Stauf Castle (Palatinate)

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Burg Stauf
castellum Stoufenburc
Eisenberg-Stauf
Burg Stauf.JPG
Rhineland-Palatinate location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Burg Stauf
Germany adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Burg Stauf
Coordinates 49°33′0″N8°1′37″E / 49.55000°N 8.02694°E / 49.55000; 8.02694 Coordinates: 49°33′0″N8°1′37″E / 49.55000°N 8.02694°E / 49.55000; 8.02694
Type hill castle, spur castle
CodeDE-RP
Height327.1 m above  sea level (NHN)
Site information
Conditionruin
Site history
Builtc. 1000
Garrison information
Occupantscounts

Stauf Castle (German : Burg Stauf) is a ruined spur castle near the village of Stauf in the borough of Eisenberg in the county of Donnersbergkreis in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Contents

Location

Stauf Castle stands south of the village named after it on a hill ridge, 327.1 m high, which runs northwards above the valley of the Eisbach. It is accessible from Stauf on a woodland track.

History

The castle was probably built before 1000 AD and is mentioned as castellum Stoufenburc around 1012. [1] It is thus the oldest recorded structure of its type in the Palatinate region.

High Middle Ages

Late Middle Ages and Modern Times

Information board at Stauf Castle near Eisenberg (Palatinate) Inschrift-Tafel an Burg Stauf bei Eisenberg.jpg
Information board at Stauf Castle near Eisenberg (Palatinate)

Count Henry II of Sponheim-Bolanden bought the castle between 1378 and 1388. After the death of Count Henry II in 1393, the Barony of Stauf was bequeathed to the husband of his granddaughter, Count Philip I of Nassau-Saarbrücken. Until the end of the 18th century it remained together with the Barony of Kirchheim in the possession of the House of Nassau. [6]

In 1525, during the German Peasants' War, the castle, which consisted of an outer bailey (southern bailey), a middle bailey and the inner bailey (northern bailey), was destroyed.

From 1871, the Historische Verein Rosenthal owned the ruin until it was transferred to the town of Eisenberg in June 2000.

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References

  1. "Burgruine Stauf". www.hist-verein-rosenthal.de (in German). Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  2. Hermann Schreibmüller: Burg und Herrschaft Stauf in der Pfalz, Band 1: bis 1263, Kaiserslautern: Thieme, 1913. S. 10 (dilibri.de)
  3. Hermann Schreibmüller: Burg und Herrschaft Stauf in der Pfalz, Band 1: bis 1263, Kaiserslautern: Thieme, 1913. p. 34 (dilibri.de)
  4. Hermann Schreibmüller: Burg und Herrschaft Stauf in der Pfalz, Vol. 1: to 1263, Kaiserslautern: Thieme, 1913. p. 38 (dilibri.de). A different view from Schreibmüller's is that it is more likely that Kunigunde was the daughter rather than the granddaughter of Conrad of Hohenstaufen (born 1134/36). As granddaughter the age difference with Eberhard III (born 1144) would be considerable if not impossible.
  5. Hermann Schreibmüller: Burg und Herrschaft Stauf in der Pfalz, Vol. 1: bis 1263, Kaiserslautern: Thieme, 1913. p. 20 (dilibri.de)
  6. Wilhelm Fabricius: The Lordships of the Lower Nahe Area, Bonn: Behrendt, 1914, p. 404 (dilibri.de)

Literature