Schilteck Castle

The Schilteck ruin is the ruin of a spur castle north above the town of Schramberg in the district of Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. The ruin is located at 520 m above sea level at the valley exit towards Schiltach in the Black Forest and was presumably part of a defense line to monitor the Schiltach valley, as Klingenburg in Schiltach-Lehengericht and Schiltach Castle were also built by the Lords of Teck.

The castle was built around the year 1200 by the Dukes of Teck. In 1225, the castle is mentioned for the first time in a document. The owner is Hug the Elder, Lord of Schilteck.

The Lords of Schilteck owned numerous farms in Schramberg and the surrounding area as feudal estates and sold extensive land in 1271/1381 from the Rottweil, Schwenningen and Tuttlingen areas, where they also had possessions.

The castle then changed owners several times. Among others, a Herter zu Dusslingen, von Wildenstein (in the Eschach valley), Count Rudolf von Hohenberg (Heuberg), the Lords of Ow and Neuneck in the Glatt valley, as well as the Counts of Württemberg were owners of the castle.

In 1496, Schilteck Castle fell to the Lordship of Schramberg and Ludwig von Rechberg. The Rechbergers did not own the castle for long; it had to be mortgaged again in the following generations. The recurring mortgages slowly led to the decay of the castle. When the castle was then used as a quarry, its fate was sealed.