Prunn Castle

Prunn Castle stands on a steeply sloping Jurassic limestone rock, about four kilometers southeast of the Lower Bavarian town of Riedenburg in the district of Kelheim.

The castle complex can be visited for a fee. From its courtyard, there is a good view over the Altmühl Valley with the Main-Danube Canal.

The oldest known owner was Wernherus de Prunne, who was first mentioned in a document along with his castle in 1037. In 1147, the castle passed to the Lords of Laaber from the Praiteneck side line, who initiated numerous construction activities. The oldest surviving building fabric, consisting of the keep and palas, dates back to them.

In 1288, the castle was sold to Duke Ludwig II of Bavaria, who returned it to the seller Wernherr von Praiteneck as a fief.

The mention of a Fraunberger zu Prunn house in 1311 suggests that Prunn Castle had changed hands in the early 14th century. In 1338, the complex was sold to the Fraunberger vom Haag family. They had the still visible "Gurrenwappen" (Gurren coat of arms) affixed to the southern facade facing the valley. Hans VI von Fraunberg had the complex extended in the late Gothic style between 1426 and 1476. When Wolf Fraunberger joined the Löwlerbund, Bavarian Duke Albrecht IV is said to have taken this as an opportunity to have his troops storm the castle in December 1491. If the storming actually took place, it must have happened without damage or even demolition of the castle, as there are no reports of reconstruction in the subsequent period.

In the 15th century, Prunn Castle was temporarily owned by the Gumppenberg family, but returned to the possession of the Fraunbergers. With the extinction of the House of Fraunberg vom Haag zu Prunn, the castle reverted to the Bavarian Duke, who sold it as early as 1570 for 18,000 guilders to Karl Köckh zu Mauerstetten and Bodenmais.

In 1567 or 1569, Wiguleus Hund, humanist and historian to Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria, found a manuscript of the Nibelungenlied, the so-called Prunn Codex, at the castle and presented it to his employer in 1575. The manuscript (BSB-Hss Cgm 31) is located in the Bavarian State Library in Munich.

The first surviving depiction of the castle complex dates from around 1600. Its south side can be seen on a border map of the Duchy of Pfalz-Neuburg. The Köckhs zu Mauerstetten extended the castle from 1604 with a new palace-like annex that connected the palas with the keep. The Romanesque curtain wall was used as the eastern outer wall of the new building.

Further renovation work followed in 1631 in the Renaissance style, with less emphasis on authenticity and more on comfort. An inscription and the alliance coat of arms of Christoph von Köckh zu Prunn and his wife Maria on the Gothic residential building bear witness to these works, which were mainly carried out internally. Prunn Castle increasingly took on a palace character during this period. Therefore, the name Prunn Palace is often used today, although the complex is clearly a castle due to its medieval origins and original building fabric.

The Thirty Years' War put an end to the financial prosperity of the Köckh family, and so the indebted Hofmark passed into the possession of Field Marshal Lieutenant Georg von Truckmiller in 1646, who had the damaged buildings repaired.

As early as 1672, another change of ownership took place: the Jesuits from Ingolstadt bought "castle and Hofmark". The order carried out further alterations and extensions to the existing buildings. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order in 1773, Prunn Castle was handed over to the Knights Hospitaller. However, their commandery was dissolved in 1822, whereupon the castle once again reverted to the Crown of Bavaria.

In 1827, King Ludwig I of Bavaria, in the era of Romanticism, championed the preservation of the castle complex as a historical monument by having safety work carried out. Further renovation measures followed at the end of the 19th century. Nevertheless, the complex fell into disrepair.

In 1919, a scout meeting took place, which, through the Prunn Vow of the New Scouts, became formative for the entire scout movement in Germany.

In 1946, the castle came into the possession of the Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes. They had restoration work carried out in 1950/51. Late Gothic features were restored, and numerous architectural elements from the 19th century were removed. Occasionally, traces of plaster with imitated mortar joints were discovered.