Herzogenstein Castle

Today, only a few remnants of the unfinished castle remain. The remains of a tower, a building between eight and ten meters wide, and some walls can be identified.

The ruin is freely accessible. Access is possible via Dörscheid, then via the farm track to the ruin.

The Rheinsteig and Rheinburgenweg hiking trails also pass by the ruin.

The acquisition of the town and castle of Kaub (Gutenfels Castle) with the villages of Weisel, Nieder- and Oberdörscheid (until 1640, today Dörscheid) brought the Palatinate its first possession on the right bank of the Middle Rhine in 1277. To secure this, Count Palatine Ruprecht I planned in 1359 the construction of a spur castle on a group of rocks - the Roßstein - on the Rhine heights northwest of Dörscheid, favorably and effectively located directly on the Urbach valley, the border stream to the County of Katzenelnbogen. The Archbishop of Trier, Boemund II, with the support of the city of Oberwesel, then still called Wesel, intervened against the construction plan, as they felt disadvantaged and cut off from Rhine traffic if the new castle were to become a toll station. Initially, Ruprecht I yielded through the mediation of Count Wilhelm II of Katzenelnbogen (construction halt on January 6, 1360), but continued work on the new castle complex. Armed conflicts and quarrels with Oberwesel dragged on throughout the year until Emperor Charles IV finally intervened and in the autumn of 1360 was able to convince the Count Palatine to abandon his construction project. In the following year, the planned Herzogenstein Castle was missing from the list of Palatine state castles in the right-bank possessions (Kaub, the Pfalzgrafenstein in the Rhine, the Sauerburg), which suggests that the construction of Herzogenstein Castle had been stopped, possibly the construction site was destroyed. The already appointed castellan took over Kaub Castle in 1362 or 1364.