Hirschburg Castle (Ruin)

The Hirschburg, often also called Burg Hirschberg, is a high medieval castle ruin above Leutershausen (formerly Liuthereshusen), a district of the municipality of Hirschberg an der Bergstraße, in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg.

The ruin is located on the Hirschberg (formerly Hirzberg) at an altitude of about 300 meters on the western edge of the Odenwald, east of Leutershausen. From the castle, a sunken path leads to the higher-lying ruin Schanzenköpfle, 500 meters to the southeast.

The castles on the Hirschberg and the Schanzenköpfle were probably both built by the noble family of the Hirschberger (formerly Hirzberger). Based on the dating of pottery finds, it is assumed that the Schanzenköpfle was the original Hirschburg and was perhaps built at the beginning of the 12th century. The complex now known as Hirschburg was probably built by a branch of the family, the Strahlenberger, around 1200. After the extinction of the noble family of the Hirschberger with Eberhard von Hirzberg in the first quarter of the 13th century, the castle was taken over by the new feudal lords in the knightly class, who now also called themselves "von Hirschberg".

The Hirschburg was probably inhabited until the early 14th century, until the Knights of Hirschberg built a large farm in the village of Leutershausen. How long the castle decayed and when it was demolished or razed is not known.