Weißenegg Castle

Weißenegg Castle stands on a wooded rocky outcrop above the Griffen Valley northeast of Ruden in Carinthia. The twin castle, built in the first half of the 12th century, is partly dilapidated, and the remains of the structure are under 34777!monument protection.

In the Austrian lands, there were a total of four castles named Weißenegg, of which the castle near Ruden was probably the ancestral seat of the Weißenegger family. The oldest known descendant of the Weißenegger family is said to have been Wülfing von Wizzeneck, who is believed to have lived around 1120. The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1243 as dominus de Wizenekke. Dietmar von Weißenegg, a ministerialis of the Diocese of Bamberg, appears several times in documents between 1244 and 1263. The Weißeneggers were a significant noble family in Carinthia in the 13th and 14th centuries; they provided several bishops and were also militarily active. From 1300 onwards, Weißenegg was the seat of a regional court, which also included Ruden. In 1332, the property was sold to the Lords of Walsee. Eberhard von Walsee († 1363), who had remained childless, bequeathed the castle and lordship to his cousins Ulrich and Hermann I of Cilli. The Counts of Cilli remained at Weißenegg until 1425, when Hermann II of Cilli exchanged Weißenegg and Hartneidstein with the Diocese of Bamberg for the lordship of Mauthenberg (Hohenmauthen/Muta). Weißenegg remained Bambergian until 1759, when the diocese sold its properties in Carinthia to the Austrian Empire. The castle was already abandoned at this time. In 1775, Maximilian Thaddäus Freiherr von Egger acquired the castle, which remained in the possession of his descendants for over a century thereafter. In 1885, the Barons Ferdinand and Karl Helldorf bought the property, and in 1936, the extensive forests with the ruin passed to the industrialist family Leitgeb from Kühnsdorf, who are still the owners today.