Ruine Alt-Ehrenfels: Remains of a Thirteenth-Century Hilltop Castle
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
History
Ruine Alt-Ehrenfels is the ruin of a medieval hilltop castle in Germany, located near Hayingen in Baden-Württemberg and built in the thirteenth century by the Lords of Ehrenfels. The castle belonged to a medieval noble family whose members included Anselm of Ehrenfels, mentioned in 1257.
The Lords of Gundelfingen later became the castle’s owners. In time, the stronghold served as a refuge for robbers. Troops from Zwiefalten Abbey, a medieval monastic institution in Baden-Württemberg, destroyed it in 1516.
Remains
Ruine Alt-Ehrenfels stood 610 metres above sea level at the outlet of the Schweiftal, about 2,100 metres west of Hayingen and near Ehrenfels Castle. The surviving remains are centred on part of a circular bergfried, the principal defensive tower of a medieval German castle, set on a shield wall, a heavily fortified section protecting the castle’s vulnerable side. The tower has a diameter of 7 metres. Small sections of the neck ditch, a defensive ditch cut across the approach to an elevated castle site, also survive.
Nearby sites
