Treis Castle

Treis Castle, also known as Treisburg, is a castle ruin in the municipality of Treis-Karden on the Moselle in the Cochem-Zell district (Rhineland-Palatinate). It is located 30 kilometers as the crow flies southwest of Koblenz.

The ruin of the hilltop castle stands on a mountain spur surrounded by the two streams Flaumbach and Dünnbach coming from the Hunsrück, and is located about 70 meters above the confluence of both streams. On the same mountain spur, separated only by a hollow, is the Wildburg, located a few hundred meters away. The castle complex is situated at an altitude of 157 meters above sea level, about one kilometer south of Treis, somewhat off the Moselle valley.

The exact date of the castle's construction is shrouded in the mists of history. It may have been built as early as the second half of the 11th century. The first reliable reports of a castle in Treis date from 1121. In that year, Henry V destroyed a Treis castle built by Otto von Rheineck. In 1148, Treis Castle was in the hands of the Rhenish Count Palatine Hermann von Stahleck. In the course of the dispute with Otto von Rheineck over the Palatinate office, the castle came under Trier's influence. Finally, the Archbishop of Trier, Albero, conquered Treis Castle. Thus, it became the property of the Archbishop of Trier. Apparently, control over the complex in the 12th and 13th centuries lay with the Archdeacon of Karden. Only in the late 13th century can the castle be proven as property of Kurtrier and thus under the control of the Archbishop of Trier. Subsequently, members of various noble families appeared as Trier officials and castlemen: Freie von Treis, Lords of Pyrmont, Lords of Winneburg-Beilstein, and Lords of Eltz.

During the Palatinate War of Succession, the castle was destroyed by French troops in 1689 and was not rebuilt later.

Only from the 1950s onwards was the ruin saved from complete decay by its owner.