Burg Wolfach: A Medieval Hilltop Castle in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page5 sections
History
Burg Wolfach is a former hilltop castle in Germany, built by the Lords of Wolfach in Baden-Württemberg’s Ortenau district. Its exact construction date is uncertain: one tradition places it around 1030, while its Salian construction style, associated with the ruling dynasty of eleventh- and early twelfth-century German kings and emperors, points toward the late eleventh century. The castle is also known as Altwolfach, Schlössle, and Wolva.
The Lords of Wolfach
The name “Wolfacha” first appears in 1084. Around that time, Friedrich of Wolfach is said to have lived in the castle. The site then disappears from the surviving historical record until 1272, when an account describes a remarkable hen in the castle that laid two double-yolked eggs each day in its nest.
Between 1273 and 1291, Count Friedrich of Fürstenberg married Udilhild of Wolfach, described as the last member of the Lords of Wolfach. Through her inheritance, the entire lordship passed to the Fürstenberg family, a major noble house that thereafter controlled Burg Wolfach. A court or farmstead in front of the castle was recorded around 1380.
Fürstenberg Renovation and Decline
Heinrich VI of Fürstenberg undertook extensive renovation work at the castle above Wolfach between 1447 and 1449. The renewed stronghold later faced the wider upheaval of the Thirty Years’ War, the European conflict fought from 1618 to 1648. Burg Wolfach was apparently destroyed during the war, although a gradual decline may also have contributed to its ruin. Its military value was considered too low to justify rebuilding.
In 1778, the prince allowed local residents to take stones from the remaining masonry to reinforce the banks of the Wolf River. The ancestral castle of the Lords of Wolfach was then neglected for many years. The Wolfach Black Forest Association exposed and secured the surviving foundations during a two-year local heritage project completed in 1977.
Remains
Hilltop Foundations
Burg Wolfach stands as the ruin of a hilltop castle on a steep mountain cone at approximately 318 metres above sea level. It occupies a side valley of the Kinzig on the left bank of the Wolf River, between Wolfach and the Kirche district of Oberwolfach. The surviving physical remains consist of exposed and secured foundation walls together with other fragments of castle masonry. Stone removal in 1778 reduced the surviving fabric, and the site is now preserved as a ruin. The masonry’s Salian character provides the architectural basis for placing the castle’s construction toward the end of the eleventh century.
