49298
Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg (Haut-Koenigsbourg castle), in Orschwiller, the Bas-Rhin département of Alsace, France.
It is not known when the first castle was built. However, a Burg Staufen (Castrum Estufin) is documented in 1147, when the monks complained to King Louis VII of France about its unlawful construction by the Hohenstaufen Duke Frederick II of Swabia.
In the early thirteenth century, the fortification passed from the Hohenstaufen family to the dukes of Lorraine, who entrusted it to the local Rathsamhausen knightly family and the Lords of Hohenstein, who held the castle until the fifteenth century.
As the Hohensteins allowed some robber barons to use the castle as a hideout, and their behaviour began to exasperate the neighbouring rulers, in 1454 it was occupied by Elector Palatine Frederick I.
In 1479, the Habsburg emperor Frederick III granted the castle ruins to the Counts of Thierstein, who rebuilt them with a defensive system suited to the new artillery of the time. in 1462 was set ablaze by the unified forces of the cities of Colmar, Strasbourg, and Basel.
In 1633, during the Thirty Years' War in which Catholics forces fought Protestants, the Imperial castle was besieged by Protestant Swedish forces. After a 52-day siege, the castle was burned and looted by the Swedish troops. For several hundred years it was left unused, and the ruins became overgrown by the forest. Various romantic poets and artists were inspired by the castle during this time.
The castle was left abandoned until 1899 when it was given to Kaiser Wilhelm II von Hohenzollern by the town of Sélestat. He commissioned the architect Bodo Ebhardt, a specialist in medieval fortifications, to restore the castle. Its renovation satisfied his passion for the Middle Ages, whilst he dreamed of a return to the old German Empire.
The political ambition of this huge renovation project, undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century, was to legitimize the newly forged Hohenzollern imperial dynasty, and create a symbol for the world of the power held by this new empire. Today, the restoration is admired more for its educational potential: although it is not altogether perfect, the result is undeniably authentic.
Information Sources:
www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en/the-castle
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_du_Haut-Koenigsbourg
49298
Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg (Haut-Koenigsbourg castle), in Orschwiller, the Bas-Rhin département of Alsace, France.
It is not known when the first castle was built. However, a Burg Staufen (Castrum Estufin) is documented in 1147, when the monks complained to King Louis VII of France about its unlawful construction by the Hohenstaufen Duke Frederick II of Swabia.
In the early thirteenth century, the fortification passed from the Hohenstaufen family to the dukes of Lorraine, who entrusted it to the local Rathsamhausen knightly family and the Lords of Hohenstein, who held the castle until the fifteenth century.
As the Hohensteins allowed some robber barons to use the castle as a hideout, and their behaviour began to exasperate the neighbouring rulers, in 1454 it was occupied by Elector Palatine Frederick I.
In 1479, the Habsburg emperor Frederick III granted the castle ruins to the Counts of Thierstein, who rebuilt them with a defensive system suited to the new artillery of the time. in 1462 was set ablaze by the unified forces of the cities of Colmar, Strasbourg, and Basel.
In 1633, during the Thirty Years' War in which Catholics forces fought Protestants, the Imperial castle was besieged by Protestant Swedish forces. After a 52-day siege, the castle was burned and looted by the Swedish troops. For several hundred years it was left unused, and the ruins became overgrown by the forest. Various romantic poets and artists were inspired by the castle during this time.
The castle was left abandoned until 1899 when it was given to Kaiser Wilhelm II von Hohenzollern by the town of Sélestat. He commissioned the architect Bodo Ebhardt, a specialist in medieval fortifications, to restore the castle. Its renovation satisfied his passion for the Middle Ages, whilst he dreamed of a return to the old German Empire.
The political ambition of this huge renovation project, undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century, was to legitimize the newly forged Hohenzollern imperial dynasty, and create a symbol for the world of the power held by this new empire. Today, the restoration is admired more for its educational potential: although it is not altogether perfect, the result is undeniably authentic.
Information Sources:
www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en/the-castle
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_du_Haut-Koenigsbourg