Location: Weiler, Baden-Württemberg Map
Constructed: 1109
Steinsberg Castle is located in Weiler, Baden-Württemberg region of Germany. Steinsberg Castle was constructed in 1109 and changed several owners over its long and brutal history. This included Counts of Oettingen in the thirteenth century, Counts of the Rhein and Lords of Venningen. Steinsberg Caste was badly damaged during German Peasants' War in 1524–1526. The final blow was dealt in 1777 when by some ironic twist of fate the damage to the castle came from heaven. Lighting struck the donjon and resulting fire badly damaged military fortifications. Part of Steinsberg Castle were restored since 1973 and it is open to the public.
The castle is located on the 333 meter high Steinsberg, a former volcano, the south side of which is planted with vines. Because it can be seen from afar, it has been called the “Kraichgau Compass” since the time of the Peasants' War.
The Steinsberg is first mentioned
in 1109 together with the noble Eberhard von Steinsberg. This is
probably identical to Eberhard von Hilresbach (Hilsbach), mentioned
twice around 1110 and 1123, and belongs to the noble Werinharden von
Steinsberg, who also built two castles in Michelbach near Gaggenau
before 1102 (Klarhof 1992 and 1997) and from 1109 to around 1180
Counts of Elsenzgau were. The Werinharde von Steinsberg are
considered to be the builders of the first castle complex, but there
are no ideas about its appearance.
Around 1180 the imperial
castle came to the Counts of Oettingen through an heir's daughter.
The extinction of the Werinharde and the transfer of ownership to
the Oettinger is documented in verses by the minstrel Spervogel from
around 1190. On behalf of the Hohenstaufen emperors Friedrich I and
Friedrich II. The Counts of Oettingen first had the twelve-sided
mantle wall made of reed sandstone around 1180/1200 (including Lutz
1977) and, from 1220, the magnificent octagonal keep (Gehrig 1979)
made of Keupersandstone, as a Hohenstaufen symbol of power to
protect important trade and escort roads in the vicinity of the free
imperial city of Sinsheim. The builder of the keep is believed to
have been Konrad von Oettingen, who is mentioned in 1223 and died in
1241/42 (Gehrig 1979). The many stonemason marks in the keep
indicate a large construction hut and a short construction period.
Octagonal castles and towers, as they were built in Alsace in the
last quarter of the 12th and first half of the 13th century, are
clear symbols of Staufer power and order (Salch 1994). The Staufer
Emperor Friedrich II had the Castel del Monte in Apulia built around
1240-1250, also in an octagonal shape.
Around 1310 Konrad
(IV.) Von Oettingen handed over his property to Count Palatine
Rudolf and Ludwig. According to a document dated March 29, 1310,
Konrad von Oettingen received the property back from the Count
Palatine, but he fell out of favor and died out of the country, so
that the Count Palatine pledged Steinsberg Castle in 1311 to the
Count of Hohenlohe. The pledge was quickly redeemed, but Ludwig,
elected Roman-German king in 1314, also transferred the Steinsberg
to the Hohenloher family in the following years.
In the house
contract of Pavia of 1329, Ludwig, who has meanwhile been elected
emperor, determined that the Steinsberg with Hilsbach should go to
the Count Palatine Rudolf and Ruprecht. With the Palatinate
partition contract of 1338, the Steinsberg and Hilsbach came to the
Count Palatinate Ruprecht I and Ruprecht II. From 1350 electoral
Palatinate bailiffs sat at the castle, which in 1369 included a
building yard, a wine press and over 250 acres of land. After
Emperor Charles IV had agreed to pledge the Steinsberg to the Counts
of Katzenelnbogen in 1353, the castle was under the administration
of these Counts in 1380/81. King Ruprecht documented several times
in 1403 and 1406 on the Steinsberg and pledged the castle to Hans d.
A. von Leuchtenberg, which is why in 1409 the Steinsberg castle man
Albrecht I was transferred from Berwangen to Bretten. In January
1410 the castle was temporarily pledged to Schwarz-Reinhard von
Sickingen, after the death of King Ruprecht, his executor allocated
the castle to Otto I, the founder of the Palatinate County of
Mosbach, in October 1410. With the end of this Palatinate sideline
in 1499, the castle came back to the main line. Elector Ludwig V
then sold the castle to Hans Ypolit von Venningen in 1517 in the
course of an exchange of goods. The Lords of Venningen had already
provided a bailiff from the Electorate of the Palatinate from 1422
to 1429 on the Steinsberg with Hans von Venningen. The seat of the
Electoral Palatinate Bailiwick for the possessions in the southern
Kraichgau then moved to Hilsbach, where the Hilsbach winery took
over this function.
On May 12, 1525 the castle was burned
down during the Peasants' War. The city of Eppingen, where the
rebellious farmers had come from, then had to pay 5,000 guilders in
damages. However, the entire sum did not go into the reconstruction,
since after the death of Hans Ypolit von Venningen in 1526
inheritance disputes broke out between Ludwig von Venningen and the
allodial heiress Katharina Ulner von Dieburg. Elector Ludwig finally
awarded the castle to Ludwig von Venningen in a document dated July
27, 1526, while Katharina Ulner von Dieburg received 2000 guilders
from the compensation. The reconstruction of the castle is
documented by dates and heraldic tablets from 1527 and 1556. A
relief stone that is now attached to the entrance to the castle
restaurant is a reminder of the reconstruction of 1527.
The castle was inhabited for around 200 years by
the Lords of Venningen until 1718, when Georg Friedrich von
Venningen, who accidentally shot himself on the Steinsberg, the last
representative of the Steinsberg line, died. The fiefdom over the
Steinsberg was then renewed in June 1719 by Count Palatine Karl
Philipp for Karl Ferdinand von Venningen, who, however, lived in
Eichtersheim.
In 1761 the nearby Anna chapel on the
Steinsberg was repaired. However, the castle seems to have been in
decay by this time, as images from 1759, 1762 and 1776 show the keep
without a roof. Another tower roof, probably one of the gate towers,
was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1777. After Karl Philipp von
Venningen had all roofs and beams removed in 1779, the castle fell
into disrepair for around two centuries. Construction work was only
carried out in isolated cases.
In 1972 the von Venningen
family sold the castle to the city of Sinsheim, who carried out
extensive restoration and security measures and had the castle ready
for gastronomic use. The keep, some farm buildings as well as two
surrounding moats with defense towers and battlements have been
renovated and can be visited.
From 2011 to 2016 the city of
Sinsheim invested 2.2 million euros in the castle. Since the end of
2015 there has been a viewing platform on the southern inner
defensive wall. Since 2017, the city of Sinsheim has invested around
1.5 million euros in the renovation of the masonry of the castle
keep, of which around 238,580 euros have been received from the
state of Baden-Württemberg's conservation program.
The central, 30-meter-high keep is unique, built from Keuper
sandstone around 1220. It is octagonal in plan and is reminiscent of
the octagons of Eguisheim, Guebwiller, Wangen and Kilchberg. The
heptagonal keep of Gräfenstein Castle, developed from an octagon,
should also be remembered, and last but not least, the Apulian
Castel del Monte. The original entrance to the tower was 11.80
meters high and could only be reached via a wooden walkway and a
drawbridge. Shortly before 1800 the tower was made accessible again
via a ground level entrance after there was no longer a footbridge.
Numerous medieval stonemason marks have been preserved on the outer
and inner walls of the tower. The keep can now be climbed via an
internal staircase as a viewing tower and offers a good panoramic
view of the Kraichgau.
An irregular polygonal circular wall
surrounds the keep. The tower and curtain wall are built all around
in regular humpback ashlar masonry. Even the loopholes are bordered
by humpback blocks. The residential and farm buildings of the castle
lean against the inside of the curtain wall in the style of a border
house castle. The buildings, which had been in ruins for a long
time, have now been restored in a simplified form and mostly reduced
to one storey. The original hall was converted into a workshop in
the 16th century, presumably during the reconstruction after the
destruction in 1525, from which its current name as the band house
(cooper's workshop) derives. The building, now called the Palas, was
built in the 16th century. Due to the major renovations and the
centuries of decay, the rooms of the buildings can no longer be
clearly assigned.
Twice to threefold castle walls are
spiraling around the main castle. Up to the main gate of the complex
you have to pass three front gates, the middle of which was built
under Count Palatine Otto I in 1436 and still has a two-storey
defensive tower with a battlement. The third gate shows a grimace of
envy, which is supposed to keep evil spirits away from the castle.
The castle has been owned by the city of Sinsheim since 1973,
which is investing a lot of money in the restoration of the castle
complex. The ring wall and the keep of the main castle are largely
preserved and renovated. A restaurant is now located in the modern
farm buildings within the main castle.
The Kraichgau-Stromberg Castle Tour runs around Steinsberg Castle, an approximately 52-kilometer regional cycle route that connects the castle ruins with the surrounding towns of Steinsfurt and Waldangelloch.