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Founded: 1332Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
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The Rauschenburg Castle is the medieval ruin located above the Ehrbach stream in the parish of Mermuth. In 1332 the Archbishop of Trier, Baldwin of Luxembourg, built the Rauschenburg during the Eltz Feud. It acted as a counter castle designed to defeat his opponents, the joint tenants of the castles of Waldeck, Schöneck and Ehrenburg who were rebelling against their vassal status. Later tenants of the castle, which was enfeoffed by the Archbishopric of Trier, was divided among several families, including the Schönecks, von Eichs, Waldbott of Bassenheim and Boos of Waldeck).
The castles comprises a pentagonal enceinte. Almost the entire site was surrounded by a second lower defensive wall. On the uphill side was a neck ditch cuts across the saddle and would have formed the first obstacle to any attack. The remains of the gateway and foundations of the bridge may still be seen there. In the inner bailey are the ruins of residential buildings. In the centre of the western part of the enceinte are the remains of a tower, perhaps the old bergfried. In addition, the site is accessed via two surviving gates. A third gate in the southeastern section of the outer wall was probably wall up in the Middle Ages.
References:Château de Niort is a medieval castle in the French town of Niort. It consists of two square towers, linked by a 15th-century building and dominates the Sèvre Niortaise valley.
The two donjons are the only remaining part of the castle. The castle was started by Henry II Plantagenet in the 12th century and completed by Richard the Lionheart. It was defended by a rectangular curtain wall and was damaged during the Wars of Religion. In the 18th century, the castle served as a prison.
The present keeps were the central point of a massive fortress. The southern keep is 28m tall, reinforced with turrets. The northern tower is slightly shorter at 23m. Both are flanked with circular turrets at the corners as well as semicircular buttresses. Each of the towers has a spiral staircase serving the upper floors. The Romanesque architecture is of a high quality with the dressed stones closely jointed.