Hinterer Wartenberg Castle (Ruin)

Hinterer Wartenberg Castle, built in the 13th century, was originally part of an ensemble of three castles on the Wartenberg. Until the end of the 13th century, these complexes formed a single unit. The Strasbourg Cathedral Chapter is named as the first identifiable owner of the three Wartenberg castles, which were probably enfeoffed to the Counts of Homberg as early as the 11th century. After 1250, their successors, the Neu-Homberger from the House of Frohburg, as well as their retainers, the Marschalk von Wartenberg, inhabited the castle. In 1306, the House of Habsburg-Austria took over all three castles and granted them as sub-fiefs, first to the Basler zer Sunnen and later to Johann I von Habsburg-Laufenburg. Hinterer Wartenberg came into the possession of the Lords of Eptingen-Madeln, who named themselves after the castle, as a fief no later than 1296.