Henneburg Castle

Henneburg is a Staufer-era hilltop castle of the Schenken von Limpurg, located on the right bank of the Main river in the municipality of Stadtprozelten, Miltenberg district, Bavaria, Germany. The extensive ruins of Henneburg are situated on the Maintal Höhenringweg, about 100 meters above Stadtprozelten (formerly Prozelten) on the right bank of the Main, on the southern edge of the Spessart forest, on a sandstone spur of the Kühlberg. Between Stadtprozelten and Henneburg, a 70-meter deep valley incision protects the western flank of the castle. To the north, the complex is protected by a neck ditch, and to the southeast, the Kühlberg slopes steeply down to the Main.

The Schenken von Limpurg

Timo de Bratselde, Vogt of the St. Peter and Alexander collegiate church in Aschaffenburg in 1127 and administrator of its properties in the Mainviereck, which included Prozelten, is considered the founder of the castle district there and the patron of a precursor building to Prozelten Castle, as Henneburg was initially called. It is certain that Conradus Colbo, one of the Schenken von Limpurg and cupbearer to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who resided at the nearby Clingenburg, became the immediate successor of Timo de Bratselde after his death. This presupposes that at this time Bratselde (later Bradshelden, then Prozelten) had come into Staufer possession.

Numerous Romanesque wall relics, found in the oldest parts of the castle from the 12th century, the large keep and the eastern palas, bear witness to the early existence of a predecessor building. Around 1260, a document mentions the brothers Albert Schenke, who later joined the Teutonic Order, and Walter Schenke, who moved to the Nuremberg-Hersbruck area after his marriage to Elisabeth von Königstein-Reicheneck, as lords of Bradshelden. Both brothers bequeathed parts of their Prozelten possessions to the Order. In 1272, Walter left two underage sons, Conrad and Walter, upon his death. Reinhart von Hanau was appointed as their guardian, and in 1272, he bought shares of Counts Poppo and Rudolf von Wertheim in Prozelten Castle for 600 Heller.

The Wertheimers, Hanauers, and Hennebergers

Only three years later, however, the Counts of Wertheim and Hanau were in joint possession of all properties, as can be read in a still existing document about a castle peace for Prozelten. Based on these agreements, the community of heirs seems to have primarily bequeathed their shares to the daughters. In any case, the Counts of Hanau did not reappear in connection with Prozelten in the subsequent period.

Count Heinrich von Henneberg, the husband of Kunigunde von Wertheim, began to assert claims to Prozelten in 1288 and again in 1291. In the same year, on the other hand, the widowed Elisabeth von Wertheim sold her Prozelten property to her brother-in-law Gottfried von Schlüsselburg. The dependence of the highly respected Elisabeth on the Teutonic Order became apparent when she first confirmed the rights of Poppo von Eberstein and Conrad von Vehingen to Prozelten in 1311, then bought back the inheritance of Gottfried von Schlüsselburg's widow in 1313, and finally acquired the Eberstein share in 1317. In 1319, she also succeeded in buying the share of Conrad von Vehingen. Thus, Elisabeth was the sole mistress of Prozelten, the associated lands, and the castle. Only a small part still belonged to Count Ludwig von Rieneck the Elder.

The Teutonic Order

A year later, in 1320, Elisabeth handed over all her possessions to the Teutonic Order. In 1329, Count Ludwig von Rieneck also renounced his claims in favor of the Teutonic Knights. Later donations rounded off the territory, so that according to documents from 1333 and 1440, the Order placed Prozelten, which now completely belonged to it, including the castle, under the Archbishopric of Mainz.

For 150 years, the Teutonic Order owned Prozelten Castle and carried out the great Gothic reconstruction during this time, which gave the castle its present appearance. The small keep and the western palas were built, as were the defensive structures and gun towers equipped for gunpowder weapons, which surround the entire castle, and an underground walkable battlement on the critical northwest flank.

Around 1480, negotiations between the Teutonic Order and the Archbishopric of Mainz began, recorded in countless documents, concerning an exchange of various properties, including the town and castle of Prozelten. These negotiations were concluded on April 9, 1483. The Grand Master of the Order, Reinhard von Neipperg, finally achieved the actual exchange of Prozelten Castle in May 1484 for the Scheuerberg castle complex, which was in Mainz possession, and the town with the city castle of Solme (today Neckarsulm). The last commander of Prozelten Castle was Count Georg von Henneberg, to whom the castle presumably owes its current common name.

Wars and Decay

As early as 1493, Mainz accounts for extensive repair work on Henneburg attest to the partial decay of the complex; some buildings were already dilapidated and had to be extensively renovated.

Henneburg seems to have been spared the ravages of the Peasants' War and the Thirty Years' War, as the annals only mention destruction by a storm, not by acts of war. The militarily and strategically insignificant castle probably offered no target for attack during the war years. Furthermore, Stadtprozelten, as the town was now called after gaining city rights, had joined the uprising in the Peasants' War and thus escaped destruction, but lost its city rights due to this tactic, which were only re-granted in 1528. That Henneburg was destroyed by French troops in 1688 cannot be proven, just as with the neighboring Collenburg and Clingenburg. Since the castle had been occupied for almost 200 years with only a few officials and soldiers, and a large part of the complex was unused, a slow decay can be assumed. In 1704, Henneburg was first described as ruined.

Securing and Preservation

100 years later, ownership changed at short intervals. From 1803, Stadtprozelten and Henneburg belonged to the Principality of Aschaffenburg, in 1810 to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt, and from 1814 to the Kingdom of Bavaria. King Ludwig I of Bavaria initiated the first repairs to the ruins in 1840 to preserve them from complete decline.

Part of the window front of the western palas collapsed in 1927 after a fireworks display, but it was not until a lightning strike on June 24, 1978, which cost three lives, that the complete renovation of Henneburg took place between 1982 and 1986. The towers were restored and fortifications added, the underground battlement was made accessible again, and a lockable gate was installed on the large tower. After removing the heavy vegetation, a visitor parking lot was created, accessible via a narrow road from Stadtprozelten.