Windegg Castle

The castle ruin Windegg (also: Windeck) is located approximately 3 km north of Schwertberg in the district of Perg in the Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria. The castle was built in the 13th century and changed owners several times. In the 16th century, the castle was united with the Lordship of Schwertberg and fell into ruin from 1675 onwards. Today, the castle is privately owned.

Otto von Lengenbach (1170–1237), the cathedral provost of Regensburg, is presumed to be a possible builder. The first documented mention of the castle was in 1208, when the castle was administered by Dietrich de Windeckke. Between 1267 and 1313, Leuthold I von Kuenring was the feudal lord of the Regensburg property. Like many other later owners, he did not reside in the small castle but had it managed by administrators. Around 1300, his cousin Albero von Kuenring was the lord of the castle. In 1354, Leuthold III von Kuenring sold the lordship to Ulrich and Eberhard von Kapellen. The Wallseer family claimed parts of the lordship and managed to persuade the Kapeller family to relinquish their claim. Thus, in 1410, the Wallseer family acquired the castle. After the death of Reinprecht von Wallsee (1422), the castle passed to his sons Wolfgang and Reinprecht. After Wolfgang's death in 1483, his daughter Barbara inherited the castle. She was married to Count Siegmund von Schaunburg, and so the castle came into their family's possession. His successor was Eustach von Scherffenberg.

In 1557, Christoph von Tschernembl bought the castle from Eustach von Scherffenberg. Since his son Hanns von Tschernembl also bought Schwertberg Castle, these lordships were united. In 1594, the castle was counted among the refuge castles for the population during the Turkish threat. In 1605, Georg Erasmus von Tschernembl bought the castle from the Regensburg owners for 1500 guilders and took it over as a free property. During the Counter-Reformation, the Protestant Georg had to flee in 1620, and the castle was taken over by the imperial Lord High Steward Count Leonhard Helfrich von Meggau, who acquired numerous properties of expropriated Protestants in the lower Mühlviertel. His daughter married Count Heinrich Wilhelm von Starhemberg in 1644. In 1675, Count Heinrich Lobgott Kuefstein inherited the castle. During this time, the castle began to decay, as it was soon only used as a storage facility. In 1724, the castle came into the Thürheim family through marriage and remained in family ownership until 1899. From 1899, Baroness Therese von Schwitter owned the castle. In 1911, Count Alexander Hoyos bought the castle, and it is still owned by the family today. Since 1980, the ruin has been renovated by a local castle association.