Lehen Castle

In the Lehen district of Freiburg is Lehener Castle, a historic fortified manor house with Baroque and older architectural elements.

The earliest confirmed mention of the property, then referred to as “Curtis zu Leheim,” dates back to 1478, when Jakob Widergrün von Staufenberg received the village of Lehen, including the moated house, as an Austrian fief from Archduke Sigismund. However, there are indications that a “house” from 1427 might also refer to this object, when Duke Friedrich of Austria granted it as a fief to Heinrich Bangergeben from Freiburg. The original builder of the moated castle is unknown, but it is presumed to date from the post-Zähringen period. After the Widergrüns, the castle came into the possession of Balthasar von Blumeneck. During the Peasants' War in 1525, the castle was likely destroyed as the house of Blumeneck's widow.