Alt-Wolfstein Castle

Old Wolfstein Castle is a ruined hillside castle on the eastern slopes of the Königsberg at the narrowest point in the Lauter valley near Wolfstein.

Old Wolfstein was probably built under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa around 1160/70 to guard and administer the Imperial Estate around Kaiserslautern. The castle is first recorded in 1275 as Woluistein. At that time it was occupied by imperial ministeriales.

In the 14th century the castle acted as security (Pfandobjekt), and, as an imperial pledge, ended up in the possession of the counts of Sponheim and counts of Veldenz. Baldwin of Luxembourg made several unsuccessful attempts to acquire the castle through an imperial mortgage.

Repeated raids on the castle defenders, who came from Sponheim ministeriales families, led to armed conflicts. In 1362 the Bishop of Speyer occupied the castle; in 1400 the Archbishops of Mainz and Trier, the Duke of Lorraine and Count Palatine Rupert III besieged the castle. As a consequence, Electoral Palatinate received a quarter of the castle.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Electoral Palatinate and the Duchy of Zweibrücken fought for possession of the castle. The dispute ended in 1504 with its destruction by Prince-Elector Philip of the Palatinate. After that, Old Wolfstein was allowed to fall into ruin.

In the 19th and 20th centuries the ruins came into the possession of the Kingdom of Bavaria and, since 1963, have been managed by the Castle Authorities of Rhineland-Palatinate (Schlösserverwaltung von Rheinland-Pfalz). The latter carried out safety work on the walls in the years 1979 to 1981 and 1985 to 1986. The remains of the castle ruins include a 20-metre-high bergfried.

Site

From the platform of the pentangular bergfried there is a very good view of the surrounding area. The walls of the small cast are a well preserved example of High Hohenstaufen architecture. Another feature of this design is the elongated tip of the side of the bergfried facing the likely direction of attack. To the north of the ruins on a steep hillside is rubble from an old wall, which is evidence of the formerly, lower lying outer ward of the castle. From 1961 to 1975 remains of a castle residence (Burghaus), a gate tower and a water well were uncovered.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Lauterstraße, Lauterecken-Wolfstein, Germany

Details

Founded: 1160-1170
Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Hohenstaufen Dynasty (Germany)