Frauenstein Castle (Ruin)

Frauenstein Castle is today a castle ruin on the mountain of the same name in the municipality of Weiding in the Upper Palatinate district of Schwandorf in Bavaria. The ruin of the hilltop castle is located on the summit of Frauenstein, an elevation in the Upper Palatinate Forest between Gaistal and Weiding, 375 meters above the Aschatal. It lies at 875 meters above sea level.

Lordship of Frauenstein

The Upper Palatinate is the region with the most castles in Germany. In the immediate vicinity of Frauenstein were the castles of Reichenstein near Stadlern, Flossenbürg, Leuchtenberg, Trausnitz, Tännesberg, Gleiritsch (Plassenberg Castle), Haus Murach (Obermurach) and Thanstein. In the Middle Ages, trade routes to the east led through the area. However, invasions of the newly settled areas of the Bavarian Nordgau also repeatedly came from the east.

The village of Weiding belonged to the Lordship of Frauenstein, whose beginnings are obscure. Duke Heinrich of Lower Bavaria bought Frauenstein from Fredrich dem Sigenhofer in the second half of the 13th century. "But in Weiding a walled church and it shall be a town, to which XXVI villages belong and lie desolate". The source proves that the area around Weiding, which had a walled church, was largely desolate, i.e. uninhabited. In the 14th century, Frauenstein and thus Weiding became a Bohemian fief. Further owners included the Satzenhofer, Zenger, Fuchs and Muracher families. "On January 29, 1580, Emperor Rudolf II enfeoffed Andreas Georg von Murach zu Kürnberg and Winklarn and his wife Anna, daughter of the deceased Hans Fuchs zum Schneeberg, ..., with the two desolate castles of Frauenstein and Reichenstein, the small town of Schönsee and the villages of Weiding etc". On November 26, 1605, Hans Friedrich Fuchs received the imperial enfeoffment letter. His possessions included the castles of Frauenstein and Reichenstein, the town of Schönsee, Weiding, Pondorf, Gaisthal, Schönau, Stadlern and Schwand with the iron hammer.