The Château de Rothenbourg is a ruined castle in the commune of Philippsbourg. The castle, built on a hill called Rothenberg or Rodenberg, dates back to the 9th century. Around 912, the Bishop of Strasbourg, Otbert, pursued by rebellious subjects, took refuge at Rathburg which is perhaps Rothenburg, and was assassinated there shortly after.
The castle was certainly built by the Duke of Lorraine in the 13th century, and is constructed of dressed sandstone. At the end of the 13th century, it passed to the Counts of Zweibrücken-Bitsch. In the 14th century, Rothenburg partly belonged to Count Walram of Zweibrücken-Bitsch who gave it as a fiefdom in 1353 to Gerhard Harnasch von Weisskirchen.
In 1368, Rothenburg was taken and destroyed by the Strasbourgeois.
The castle seems to have given its name to the Blick de Rothenburg family, who held several fiefs from the Lords of Bitche, and who died out in 1749.
References:The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.