Epprechtstein Castle: A Medieval Hill Fortress in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page5 sections
History
Epprechtstein Castle is a ruined medieval hill castle in Germany, situated above Kirchenlamitz. It was probably built between 1150 and 1180, and the earliest recorded documentary reference connected with it dates from 1248, when Eberhardus de Eckebretsteine appeared in a deed of gift issued by Duke Otto II of Merania.
Medieval Ownership
In 1308, King Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg granted the fortress as a fief to Ulrich, Henry, and Nickel of the House of Sack. Members of the Wild family also held shares in the castle. In 1337, Louis IV, the German king and Holy Roman Emperor, granted Vogt Henry of Plauen, a medieval administrative and judicial official, a small part of Epprechtstein.
Nuremberg’s burgraves stormed the castle in 1352, when it was described as a stronghold of robber barons. Henry of Kotzau and his two brothers took part in the attack, after which the burgraves received Epprechtstein as a fief. In 1355 and 1356, Henry of Kotzau and his brothers purchased the castle, its administrative office, and the parish of Kirchenlamitz.
Administrative Role and Destruction
Epprechtstein and Kirchenlamitz subsequently became part of the Sechsämterland, a historical territory divided into six administrative districts. The castle served as a seat for its Amtmänner, officials responsible for administering those districts. In 1498, the castle tower was incorporated into the Wartordnung, a set of regulations governing a defensive watch and warning system.
Troops commanded by Vogt Henry of Plauen destroyed the castle in the sixteenth century. It then fell into ruin. The remains attracted attention in the late eighteenth century, when the local historian Johann Theodor Benjamin Helfrecht and the cartographer Johann Christoph Stierlein investigated them. The painter Georg Könitzer later produced a lithograph of the ruins as part of his work on the Fichtel Mountains. Epprechtstein Castle is recognized as an architectural heritage monument in Bavaria.
Remains
The ruins occupy a summit position on the 782.1-metre Epprechtstein mountain above Kirchenlamitz, in the Wunsiedel district of the Fichtel Mountains. The site stands on a treeless summit formed by an elongated granite ledge with steeply descending sides. Its surviving fabric consists chiefly of the former tower house, the castle’s principal residential tower, built with ashlar and rusticated masonry, in which the faces of the blocks were deliberately roughened or strongly jointed.
Former Tower House
The tower-house remains survive in a ruinous condition. A staircase connects the ruins with a wooden observation platform erected in 1982. The platform stands within the summit setting and looks across the Waldstein ridge, Großer Kornberg, Schwarzenbach an der Saale, Oberkotzau, Hof, the interior Fichtel Mountains, and Kösseine.
A hut belonging to the Kirchenlamitz mountain-rescue organization lies 250 metres southeast of the ruins. It is a separate modern structure associated with the site’s present physical surroundings.
