Waldenstein Castle (Ruin)

Waldenstein Castle is a ruined castle on a high mountain spur extending into the Wieslauf Valley, in the Waldenstein district of the municipality of Rudersberg in the Rems-Murr district in Baden-Württemberg.

The spur castle was built around 1200 by the Lords of Waldenstein, presumably Staufer imperial ministerials. They are first documented in 1251 (last mentioned in 1349), by then already in Württemberg service. In 1442, the Württembergers, who established the Rudersberg office from the towns belonging to the lordship in the 15th century, mortgaged the castle or, after 1456, granted it as a fief to noble and bourgeois families. In 1535, the complex was described as dilapidated; an old and new castle are mentioned in 1650. In 1792, the municipality of Rudersberg bought the castle with its associated estate. In 1819, a fire partially destroyed the buildings.