Mitterberg Castle

The name of the castle is first documented in 1165. The builders and first owners were most likely the Lords of Perg. It fell to the Babenberg sovereign at the latest after their extinction in 1191. The castle probably belonged to those estates that were confiscated by the Babenberg Duke Leopold V in 1180 and later again granted as a fief to Friedrich II of Perg. In 1208, Gumpold and Marquard von Mitterberg resided at the castle. A relationship with the Lords of Perg and Machland is rather unlikely.

Other noble families at Mitterberg included in particular the Kapeller, Wallseer, Zelkinger, and Prüschenk.

In 1277, Ulrich II von Kapellen received Mitterberg Castle as a princely fief from King Rudolf I, Duke of Austria, and a little later also the Machland regional court. In 1279, he became captain of the Enns region. Duke Albrecht I of Austria renewed the enfeoffment of the Kapeller. The regional court was pledged to the Lords of Kapellen in 1318 and 1386.

Hans I von Kapellen (also known as Janns von Capellen) built a Marian chapel in the inner courtyard of Mitterberg in 1351, in which context the parish of Pergkirchen had to be compensated with estates in Kreuzen and Mitterkirchen. The spiritual feudal lord of the parish church of Pergkirchen, the abbot of Melk Abbey, then granted the Kapeller a chaplain for their castle chapel.

Since one of the daughters of the last Kapeller (Eberhard II von Kapellen († 1406), Dorothea von Kapellen († around 1426)) married Hartneid V von Liechtenstein († 1427), Mitterberg initially passed to them and later to the Wallseer and Zelkinger, remaining in their possession until the end of the 15th century.

In 1491, a smaller part of the Mitterberg dominion, with the castle already partly dilapidated into a ruin, was separated from the Machland regional court and annexed to the newly created Windhaag regional court by Emperor Friedrich III, which at that time belonged to the Prager family. The larger part of the Mitterberg dominion and the regional court fell to the brothers Sigmund and Heinrich Prüschenk, the later Counts of Hardegg and in Machland. From 1491 to 1493, they had built Greinburg Castle, originally called Heinrichsburg. A caretaker remained in Mitterberg for the time being. Finally, the castle was completely abandoned and fell into increasing disrepair. Around 1560, parts of it were demolished.

The Machland regional court was established around 1227 by the Babenberg Duke Leopold VI; the neighboring Riedmark regional court also likely originated around this time. The border between the two regional courts can no longer be clearly determined, but it was probably formed by the Aist, Waldaist, and Weiße Aist rivers.

The seat of the regional court was initially Arbing Castle, later Klam Fortress, and after 1278, Mitterberg Castle. In 1485, the regional court passed to the Prüschenk family, who moved the regional court from Mitterberg Castle to Greinburg Castle (Heinrichsburg) and named it thereafter. In 1491, the Windhaag regional court was formed from a part of the Machland regional court. The market town of Perg and the parish of Pergkirchen initially remained with the Machland or Greinburg regional court.

In 1591, the regional jurisdiction over the market town of Perg (and the parishes of Tragwein and Schwertberg) passed to the Schwertberg dominion or regional court, and in 1661, that of the Pergkirchen parish to the Windhaag bei Perg dominion or regional court.

Documented regional judges in Machland were:

• 1227 Wenzel von Arbing
• 1240 Dietmar von Stein
• 1241 Heinricus de Friethalmdorf;
• 1281 Ulrich von Kapellen
• 1304–1313 Marchart von Osterberg;
• 1314–1334 Janns von Kapellen (supreme regional judge as pledge holder)
• 1314–1322 Weichart (von Pernau)
• 1332 Albrecht der Schreiber
• 1342 Wetzlein von Arbing
• 1344–1350 Lorenz Öder
• 1331–1356 Otto Öder
• 1357 Heinrich Fleischess von Stein
• 1338–1359 Leutold Stainreuter
• 1360 Konrad von Au
• 1365 Jans der Weigl
• 1367 Heinrich der Schaffer
• 1370–1379 Albrecht der Öder
• 1381–1383 Ulrich der Weezl
• 1383 Heinrich der Schaler
• 1390–1406 Stefan Piber
• 1409 Thoman Tanpek, administrator of Windeck
• 1412–1415 Ulrich von Rorbach
• 1416 Ernst Prehafen, administrator
• 1427 Lienhart Stetthaimer, administrator of Reichenstein
• 1433 Heinrich Ternperger, administrator of Klingenberg

Administrators of Mitterberg:

• 1409 Stefan Piber
• 1416–1424 Wilhelm Frodnacher
• 1486 Christof Graaber

The court seat of the Machland regional court was Ruprechtshofen (parish of Naarn).