Schweppermannsburg Castle

As Schweppermannsburg (also called Pfaffenhofen Castle) is a castle ruin in Kastl-Pfaffenhofen in the Upper Palatinate district of Amberg-Sulzbach, Bavaria (Germany). The outer bailey of the spur castle is freely accessible at all times, the main castle with the keep is not accessible.

The castle ruin is located directly east above Pfaffenhofen (approx. 16.5 km southwest of Amberg) on a mountain spur of the Pfarrberg that projects northwest into the Lauterach valley. The ruin can be reached from Pfaffenhofen, which is located directly on federal highway 299.

Downstream in the Lauterach valley, the Kastl Monastery Castle is also very close, a little further are the castle ruins of Hohenburg and the castle ruins of Roßstein. In a southwesterly direction on the Dietrichstein, near Lauterhofen-Nattershofen, lies the Schweppermannsberg castle site, formerly probably called Thierenstein, in a southerly direction the Thürsnacht castle site near Lauterhofen-Thürsnacht, the Habsburg castle site and the Lützelburg castle site near Velburg-Unterwiesenacker. Near Mühlhausen-Wappersdorf is the Schweppermann castle ruin.

The construction period of the complex is undated. Excavations in 2004 revealed extensive construction activities in the 13th century, and a few ceramic finds from the castle area point to settlement activity as early as the 9th/10th-11th/12th centuries. Pfaffenhofen already belongs to the initial endowment of Kastl Monastery and has a settlement continuity probably dating back to the 8th/9th century. Pfaffenhofen Castle is first mentioned in a document in the Treaty of Pavia in 1329, when half of the complex went to the Duke of Bavaria, Louis the Bavarian.

From 1335 to 1352, Hartung der Schweppermann, a son of Seyfried Schweppermann, can be proven as a (partial) owner of the castle. At the end of the 14th century, a Ulrich der Sweppermann finally appears as the lord of the castle. The Schweppermann family subsequently gave the castle its name.

In the 17th century, the complex was destroyed by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War and then hastily rebuilt. From the early 19th century, the castle complex fell into disrepair and was only integrated into a renovation concept towards the end of the 20th century.

Since October 24, 2007, the castle has been owned by the chairman of the Amberg section of the German Alpine Club, who acquired it from the Free State of Bavaria.