Falkenberg Castle

Falkenberg Castle is the ruin of a medieval hilltop castle at 330 m above sea level on a mountain spur on the southeastern edge of the Volkenberg, high above Erlabrunn to the west in the Würzburg district of Bavaria.

The castle on the Volkenberg was founded around 1170–1180 by the Lords of Falkenberg, a Staufer ministerial family and vassals of the Lords of Ravensburg, a Würzburg ministerial family. The Ravensburgers' castle, Ravensburg Castle, was located opposite on the right bank of the Main. From both castles, the Falkenbergs and the Ravensburgers dominated the Main valley north of Würzburg and held a powerful position in the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg. After Bodo von Ravensburg and Heinrich von Falkenberg murdered the Würzburg bishop Konrad von Querfurt on December 3, 1202, both castles were razed according to Lorenz Fries' chronicle, and the lords of the castle and their helpers were excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. Despite a later lifting of the ban, the castles were not rebuilt. In 1426, the brothers Fritz and Hans Hund von Falkenberg received a "burgstal Valckenberg" as a fief from Bishop Johann of Würzburg. The Falkenburg, previously presumed to be near Gerolzhofen, was proven by Peter Rückert in 1992 to be on the Volkenberg.