St. Ruprecht Castle

The St. Ruprecht ruin is the ruin of a spur castle on a rocky 603.4 m above sea level high spur at the confluence of the Mariental into the Große Lautertal below the Monsberg castle ruin near the district of Erbstetten in the city of Ehingen in the Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg.

No documentary evidence is known to date about the castle, which was founded according to ceramic finds during the second half of the 11th century or somewhat earlier. On March 19, 1422, the name St. Ruprecht was first mentioned in a deed of sale as the name of a nearby parcel of land, "St. Ruprechts Acker", but this was not the name of the castle. The name St. Ruprecht indicates that the property probably belonged to a church; perhaps a monastic settlement of the St. Trudpert monastery, which is also attested as St. Ruprecht during the 13th century, was established on the castle grounds after its destruction. The name St. Ruprecht was, after the monastery also no longer existed, transferred to the ruins of the former castle, which were believed to be the remains of the monastery. In a map from 1721, a ruin was labeled as St. Ruprecht, but directly below it, a "Bürckplätzle" (small castle place) is also mentioned.

According to Schmitt, it could possibly have been Niederwartstein Castle, which was destroyed by the imperial city of Ravensburg in 1359; according to Bizer's ceramic analysis, the castle complex was already abandoned in the second half of the 12th century.

Of the former castle complex with a footprint of 80 x 50 meters, separated from the ridge by a large neck ditch, only remnants of walls are still visible.