Güssenburg Castle

Güssenburg Castle (also Güssenberg) is a ruined castle on a hill near Hermaringen in Heidenheim County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was built around 1346, during the Late Middle Ages and much of the curtain wall and keep remain.

The ruin sits an elevation of about 500 meters (1,600 ft) above sea level and about 50 m (160 ft) above the floor of the Brenz valley. The castle hill, known as the Schloßberg, is very steep on the north, west and east sides which made it an ideal location for a fortification.

Berg Güssenburg was the ancestral seat of the House of Güssenberg (German: von Güssenberg), which was later known (around the 15/16th century) as the Güß von Güssenberg. The family was quite large and eventually ruled over many castles and communities in the region, including Brenz an der Brenz, Haunsheim and Leipheim. Because of the numerous branches of the family the entire Güssenberg family was generally known under the name of Güssen. The family ruled as Ministerialis or unfree knight in the service of another noble. Initially the Ministerialis ruled a fief for a noble, but could not inherit the fief. However, by the 13th century the fiefs had become much more heritable. The Güssen served as ministerialis for the Diepoldinger and later the Hohenstaufen families.

The first mention of the Güssen is from 1 and 7 May 1171 when Diepold Gusse is listed as a witness on two documents issued by Emperor Frederick I. Heinrich von Güssenberg is mentioned in 1216 as a witness to the peace settlement between the monastery at Ellwangen and Kaisheim.

In 1328 the fief went to the Counts of Helfenstein but the Güssen seem to have held the Güssenburg. Around 1346 the keep was expanded and the curtain wall was built. About twenty years later, the Güssen von Güssenburg line died out and the castle was taken over by the Güssen von Haunsheim family. A few years later, in 1372 the Haunsheim line sold the Güssenburg to the Count of Helfenstein. The Güssenburg was the administrative center of the Count's fief in the Brenz valley.

The count's vogt or bailiff was located at the Güssenburg until 1448. The central location of the castle made it an ideal location to administer the grafschaft or fief of the Count. In 1448 the fief fell to the House of Württemberg.

Text adapted from “Güssenburg Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Güssenburg Castle ranks #6,131 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #468 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1346, it is older than 60% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Stuttgart, 81 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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