Burgruine Ried, Sieghartskirchen: A Medieval Spur Castle in Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
Burgruine Ried is a medieval castle ruin in Austria near Sieghartskirchen, probably founded around 1200 as a hilltop fortress. Konrad von Ried, a Babenberg ministerial, or high-ranking service noble, may have established it around 1170. The castle occupied a strategic position in the medieval landscape and later passed through the hands of several powerful noble families and rulers.
From the Babenbergs to the Kuenringer
In uncertain circumstances, Ried passed to the Kuenringer, a powerful noble family of Lower Austria, at the beginning of the thirteenth century. On 22 May 1211, Hadmar II von Kuenring secured the separation of the castle chapel from the mother parish of Sieghartskirchen. This act established the chapel’s independent ecclesiastical position.
Around 1260, the Kuenringer brothers Leuthold and Heinrich exchanged Ried Castle with Ottokar II Přemysl, the thirteenth-century king of Bohemia, for the pledge of the city of Zwettl and the fief of Rossatz. A pledge was property held as security for an obligation, while a fief was a holding granted in return for service. Rudolf of Habsburg confirmed the exchange on 21 July 1280.
The Schenks of Ried
In 1281, Konrad von Tulln received the castle as a ducal pledge. He was a territorial scribe and financier of Rudolf of Habsburg, and the pledge secured the substantial costs of Rudolf’s campaign against Ottokar II Přemysl. In 1286, Konrad transferred Ried to his daughter Adelheid and her husband, Otto von Kahlenberg. Otto subsequently used the title Schenk of Ried. A Schenk was a court office-holder whose title originally referred to serving drinks, although the family also held administrative responsibilities.
The Schenks of Ried held ducal offices, including the position of forester at Vienna’s Hofburg, and remained associated with the castle until the beginning of the fifteenth century. In 1381, Hans Schenk of Ried converted the castle’s pledge into a fief in return for payment.
Desertion and preservation
Hans Schenk of Ried died childless in 1412, ending his family’s line. His widow, Walpurga, née Hauser, surrendered the castle in return for financial compensation, after which it returned to Duke Albrecht V. His son, Ladislaus Postumus, later confirmed in a deed that the castle was deserted. It probably remained a ruin before extensive stone quarrying almost completely destroyed it. Stone robbing over the following centuries reduced the surviving masonry to a few fragmentary remains.
Storm Kyrill damaged the site in 2007, followed in 2008 by Storm Paula and Hurricane Emma. Windthrow and uprooted trees affected part of the beech forest in the centre of the castle area. Since 2010, a preservation association has secured the protected ruin. From 2011, the association has also coordinated a citizen-science project involving interested researchers in the archaeological and architectural investigation of the castle. Burgruine Ried has protected cultural-heritage status in Austria and is included among the country’s listed heritage objects.
Remains
The castle remains occupy the summit of the approximately 320-metre-high Hausberg, northwest of Klosterberg and about 1 kilometre south of Ried am Riederberg in the Vienna Woods. The site lies at roughly 321 metres above sea level. Its approximately 3,000-square-metre core castle stands on a raised hilltop and is surrounded by a ditch, ramparts, and further ditches. The arrangement combines the characteristics of a spur castle with those of a motte-and-bailey castle, a fortified mound paired with an enclosed outer court.
Layout and defensive earthworks
The core castle forms the elevated centre of the complex. Several metres of rubble partly bury its surviving remains, while the surrounding ditch and rampart system extend beyond the central enclosure. An extensive outer bailey forms the principal surviving area beyond the core castle and preserves the broader defensive organization of the site.
The western side included an outlying defensive enclosure known as a zwinger, an outer passage or fortified space between the main defenses and an exterior wall. Its surviving wall preserves evidence of the castle’s layered defensive arrangement. A visible putlog hole, an opening that held temporary timber scaffolding, remains in this wall.
Standing masonry
Romanesque round tower
The most prominent standing masonry is the ruin of a Romanesque round tower, assigned to the first half of the thirteenth century. It is built of limestone rubble and survives only in fragmentary form. The tower belongs to the core-castle remains and provides a visible element of the medieval stone construction.
Western outlying wall
The western outlying zwinger wall also survives in limestone rubble. Its remaining masonry is fragmentary, and the visible putlog hole preserves a small detail of the construction process. Together with the round-tower ruin, it represents the limited above-ground fabric left after centuries of stone quarrying.
