Harburg Castle

Harburg Castle in Harburg, Bavaria, in the Donau-Ries district, is an extensive mediaeval complex from the 11th / 12th century. Originally it was a Staufer castle and was owned by the princely House of Oettingen-Wallerstein. Since 2000 the castle belongs to the Prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein Cultural Foundation, which has the mission to preserve this unique castle for the present and future.

The first written mention of Harburg can be derived from the mention of Cuno de Horburc (Kuno of Harburg) in sources on the foundation of the Benedictine monastery Berchtesgaden at the latest around the year 1100. Kuno of Harburg was half-brother of Berchtesgaden's founder Berengar of Sulzbach and apparently owner of the Harburg at the end of the 11th century.

The castle itself was first mentioned in 1150. At that time, the 13-year-old Staufer Henry Berengar, son and co-king of King Conrad III and Gertrude of Sulzbach, wrote a letter to Constantinople to his aunt, the Empress Berta of Sulzbach, and her husband Manuel Komnenos, in which he spoke of the Battle of Flochberg against Welf VI. He mentioned that at that time he was staying at Harburg Castle, which was at that time a Staufian imperial castle.

“On the 8th of February [1150], that lofty and unfaithful Welf, who did not want to remember all the blessings he had received from my father, entered our country with hostility. At the time when my father, being far away in state affairs, left me with a group of warriors in one of our castles. The castle against which Welf moved is called Flochberg Castle. But we were in another castle, Harburg Castle. [...] But when I had quickly received the news of this disgrace, I hastened to pursue the enemy, and we advanced against him with five large battalions. Having sent forward very mobile horsemen, who cut off their way of escape, we obtained such a great victory that, if it were to be We captured 300 knights and a considerable number of horses were killed, struck partly by spears, partly by swords.

In 1299 the castle was pledged by King Albert I of the House of Habsburg to the Counts of Oettingen. King Conrad IV lived on the Harburg Castle in 1239. Emperor Sigismund confirmed the property of the Counts of Oettingen in 1418. In 1530 the historian Hieronymus Wolf was a clerk at Harburg Castle.

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

Harburg Castle ranks #2,730 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #200 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded 1150, it is older than 81% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 563 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,283 times in the last 60 days, more than 82% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Munich, 97 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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