Wildenberg Castle (Kirchzell)

Wildenberg Castle (German: Burg Wildenberg), also called the Wildenburg, is a ruined, Hohenstaufen period castle in the Odenwald hills in Germany. It is located in the parish of Preunschen in the municipality of Kirchzell, in the Lower Franconian district of Miltenberg in Bavaria.

The ruins of the hill castle lie on a northeast-projecting hill spur, the Schlossberg, at a height of 365.2 m above sea level (NN) above the valley of the Mud, three kilometres southeast of Kirchzell and only a few hundred metres northeast of the centre of Preunschen, about 13 kilometres southwest of the district town of Miltenberg.

The lords of Dürn, meritorious members of the retinue of the Hohenstaufen emperor and Schutzvögte of Amorbach Abbey, had the castle built sometime between 1180 and around 1200. According to the Amorbach Abbey chronicles, however, his grandson Conrad I of Dürn (died 1258) started construction in 1216. This probably just refers, however, to the construction of the gate tower.

In 1271 and 1272 parts of the castle were sold, due to the Dürn's financial difficulties to the Archbishopric of Mainz and later to the Amt of the Mainz government, after the Barony of Walldürn had been purchased in its entirety in 1292 by Mainz. Its management was initially exercised by officiates (Offiziate), but later by a vogt or burgrave. In 1291, a certain Henry was the officiate, around 1320 it was Conrad Rüdt of Collenberg. In 1337 Archbishop Henry reconciled with his cathedral chapter and signed over Wildenberg Castle to the canons for a short period. In 1350 the Amt of the castle was enfeoffed to Eberhard of Rosenberg.

In 1354 Conrad Rüdt of Collenberg redeemed the fief. By increasing his borrowings from the Archbishop of Mainz, Conrad also received the offices of Walldürn and Buchen. In 1356 an earthquake is said to have seriously damaged the castle. In January that year Archbishop Gerlach enfeoffed the castle of Wildenburg, the town Amorbach and a free tenancy in Miltenberg, without the consent of his cathedral chapter, to Engelhard of Hirschhorn. One year later, he lent money to his Wildeburg burgrave, Conrad Rüdt of Collenberg.

From 1368 Wiprecht of Dürn, Eberhardt Rüdt of Bödigheim, Fritz of Dürn and Eberhard of Fechenbach were the Mainz castellans. In the later period up to the 15th century, members of these families were mentioned as Amtmänner.

Text adapted from “Wildenberg Castle (Kirchzell)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wildenberg Castle (Kirchzell) ranks #4,828 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #369 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded 1200, it is older than 77% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 564 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,443 times in the last 60 days, more than 58% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Heidelberg, 41 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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