Burg Wilhering: An Abandoned Medieval Castle in Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Burg Wilhering is an abandoned medieval castle site in Austria, probably established in the second half of the eleventh century by the high-free Wilhering-Waxenberg lords. It was first mentioned as a castrum, a fortified settlement or castle, around 1146–1149. The castle stood on the Wilhering family’s domain during a period of intensified land clearance north of the Danube and formed the original seat of their lordship.
Origins and the Wilhering Lords
Aribo of Wilhering is associated with the early clearance of land in the region, while Ulrich I expanded this activity after 1100. In 1110, Ulrich I and his wife Otilia founded the parish of Gramastetten. Ulrich II and his brother Cholo II later established a Cistercian monastery at Wilhering, a monastery belonging to a medieval Catholic order known for disciplined communal religious life. The monastery was completed around 1146.
The family’s connection with Wilhering changed as the monastery was founded. The Wilherings transferred their seat of lordship to Waxenberg Castle, which stood within the territory they had cleared and offered substantially greater security. Burg Wilhering was probably abandoned after this transfer. Its stone was later quarried for construction of the monastery church in 1195.
Crusade, Inheritance, and Dynastic Change
Ulrich II left for the Second Crusade in 1147 with Bernhard of Trixen and did not return. Cholo II died on 25 September 1154, ending the male line of the Wilhering-Waxenberg family. His daughter Elisabeth inherited the family property and married Wernherr of Griesbach around 1170.
Their sons became involved in the succession in turn. Walchun died after being pierced by an arrow around 1209, and Cholo died in 1214. Heinrich, who had originally been intended for an ecclesiastical career, entered lay status and reunited the Griesbach possessions with those of the Wilhering-Waxenberg family. Before this change, he had served as parish priest of Gramastetten and as a canon of Bamberg. Heinrich died around 1221, bringing the male line of the Griesbach family to an end.
After Heinrich’s death, both the bishop of Passau and the Babenberg dynasty claimed the inheritance. The Babenbergs were a medieval ruling dynasty whose possessions and influence included territories that later formed part of Austria. Their settlement assigned the Griesbach properties west of the Great Mühl to the diocese of Passau and transferred the Wilhering-Waxenberg lordship to the Babenbergs.
Later Identification and Archaeological Investigation
In the nineteenth century, Burg Wilhering and Alt-Wilhering were still treated as separate sites. Alt-Wilhering was considered to be a Roman structure and was excavated in 1935. The former castle lies in the Ufer district of the municipality of Wilhering, in Upper Austria’s Linz-Land district, at about 265 metres above sea level.
Remains
Burg Wilhering occupied a hilltop on a rocky promontory high above the Danube, beside an old river crossing. Its central fortified area measured approximately 25 by 35 metres. Within this core, archaeological investigation exposed substantial foundations between 1.10 and 1.30 metres thick. The castle is now an abandoned site represented by ground remains, including a visible earth substructure between the Wilflingseder bakery and the former Donaualm inn, now called Dionysos.
Archaeological Evidence
The excavated deposits preserve evidence from several periods of activity. Beneath one castle foundation lay the remains of a prehistoric hearth, while pottery fragments indicate prehistoric, Roman, and medieval use of the area. Finds also included an eleventh- or twelfth-century plate decorated with a wave-band motif and modern-era stove tiles. Together, the foundations and recovered material reveal a long sequence of occupation and activity at the castle site before its surviving remains were reduced to the ground-level landscape.
