Herrenfluh Castle: A Medieval Fief and Mountain Ruin in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page5 sections
History
Herrenfluh Castle is a medieval castle ruin in France, above Wattwiller, whose origins reach back to the thirteenth century. It was built as a fief, a landholding granted in return for service, of the Counts of Ferrette on territory controlled by the Prince-Abbey of Murbach, a powerful Benedictine institution with religious and territorial authority in Alsace. Administratively, it belonged to Murbach’s Wattweiler office within the Gebweiler bailiwick.
Thirteenth-Century Origins
The earliest surviving reference dates to 1250, when the castle appeared under the name Herflu as a fief held by Hemelins Nortwind. This record places Herrenfluh within the feudal network surrounding the Counts of Ferrette and Murbach.
Rebuilding and Habsburg Renunciation
A charter issued by Murbach in 1312 names Johan of Saint-Amarin, known as Nortwind, as the owner of Herfluh, its mountain, the castle site, and the castle itself. The castle was apparently already ruined by then, but it was rebuilt. In 1324, the Habsburgs, who had inherited the rights of the Counts of Ferrette, renounced their claim to the fief.
Destruction and Wartime Damage
Armagnac forces burned Herrenfluh Castle in 1376 during the Hundred Years’ War, the prolonged conflict between the English and French crowns from the fourteenth to the fifteenth century. Swiss troops finally destroyed it in 1468.
The ruin later stood near the front line at Hartmannswillerkopf during the First World War and suffered severe damage. It is listed in the French inventory of monuments and included in the French Ministry of Culture’s Mérimée architectural-heritage database.
Remains
Herrenfluh Castle occupies a rocky platform at approximately 858 metres above sea level, near the Route des Crêtes and the Col de Herrenfluh, above Uffholtz on the boundary with Wattwiller. The small rock castle was about 15 metres long. A neck ditch, cut across the narrow connection between the rocky projection and the surrounding mountain, separates the platform from the larger landform.
The surviving masonry belongs to a residential tower or keep, the principal fortified tower of a medieval castle. Only the rubble-stone infill of the wall remains visible, while the outer facing walls have fallen away. A substantial section collapsed around 1990. A pre-First World War postcard shows the wall when it was considerably larger and still retained part of its outer facing. Herrenfluh therefore survives as a fragmentary ruin whose present form reflects both its earlier destruction and later structural losses.
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