Hackenberg Castle

In the 12th/13th century, a high medieval fortified castle complex was built in Hackenberg. It was protected by the northwest slope falling towards the Wiedengraben or a ditch to the south and east. In 1275, Ulricus Hachenbergius bought two farms in Kößnach (between Kirchroth and Straubing) from Bishop Leo of Regensburg. In 1285, Hackenberg was first mentioned in a document in the ducal urbarium of Bavaria ("Item aput Hachenperge curia XII sol."). In 1326, it was mentioned in the Ducal Urbarium under the Lengenfeld Vice-Duchy ("Hachenperg curia soluit XII sol. Stoero habet pro recompensa castri in Stoerenstein.") - the owners of Hackenberg Castle at that time were probably the knightly family of Stör (e.g., Conrad der Stor in 1347). By 1377, the Regensburg burgher family Igel can be traced to Hackenberg Castle - in 1377 Erhart der Igel zu Hochenperg and in 1423/40 Hainrich and Ruprecht die Igel zu Hachenperg. In 1440, Heinrich Sauder, rent master in Straubing, and his wife Martha sold their fortress Hackenberg with the Vogt court on Candlemas to Sebastian Bayerstorfer. In 1460, Albert Präckendorfer zu Präckendorf and Siegenstein bought Hackenberg Castle, including the Hofmark, from Sebastian Bayerstorfer on the Tuesday after Bartholomew's Day. The ancestral seat of the very branched Upper Palatinate family of Präckendorfer is in Prackendorf (near Dieterskirchen in the district of Neunburg v. Wald). From 1460 to 1597, Hackenberg acquired the Hofmark rights in the Burglengenfeld district court under the rule of the Präckendorfer. A Hofmark was the seat of a lower jurisdiction.

"The Hofmark lord, who employed a literate person as judge and administrator, exercised all the functions of today's notary, district administrator, tax officer, police officer, and district judge. Capital crimes such as theft, highway robbery, rape, manslaughter, etc., were reserved for the regional court, the next higher instance. The new right of manorial jurisdiction brought the Hofmark lord a considerable source of income through the associated fees and the often arbitrarily set fines." (Georg Völkl)

After 1560, the Präckendorfer also held the right of presentation; that is, they exercised the right to propose the pastor of Lamberts-neukirchen. At this time, the Hackenberg dominion was Protestant (1545-1617). Other owners include Achaz Präckendorfer in 1513; Hans Präckendorfer, castellan and district clerk in Burglengenfeld in 1532; and Georg Hans Präckendorfer in 1566.

Georg von Präckendorf died at Hackenberg Hof on December 8, 1591, and left no male heir. Therefore, the right to appoint the pastor for the Lambertsneukirchen parish was disputed for several years. In 1601, the property was divided among the following persons:

• Hans Thoma von und zu Prackendorf auf Schönau
• Hans Nothaft auf Wernberg und Bernhardswald
• Joachim Poysel zu Geirzeller und Roßhäupten as husband of Luzia von Präckendorf
• Hans Wallrab von Hauzendorf zu Wolfersdorf

In 1618, Hans Ludwig von Eyb zu Runding and Wolfersdorf married Afra Wallrab, the daughter of Hans Wallrab, and thus inherited Hackenberg and Wolfersdorf.

In 1621, a muster roll of the Burglengenfeld district court listed 24 able-bodied subjects of the Hackenberg Hofmark by name. This was during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).

In 1625, Hans Griesmayr von Inkoven bought the Hackenberg dominion for 12,000 guilders. On September 29, 1628, Ludwig von Eyb (+ 1635) bought Hackenberg back. In May 1632, Hackenberg, along with other neighboring towns, was plundered by imperial Croats. In 1636, Eva Fischer, widowed Griesmayr, sought to take over the Hackenberg landed estate, as its deceased owner Ludwig von Eyb had significant debts to her. In 1641, the electoral brewery administrator Christoph Fischer zu Göttersdorf owned the castle. In 1649, Captain Christian Weber bought the Hackenberg dominion for 5,000 guilders at the Landtag in Neuburg on October 30, 1652. On January 3, 1660, the Neumarkt mayor Joh. Heinrich Griesmayer acquired the Hackenberg estate ("by purchase at auction"). In 1680, Hannß Christoff Guralt and his daughter Anna Cäcilia, as heirs of the deceased Hans Thomas von Päckendorf (+ September 16, 1669), disputed Hackenberg with the Fischer heirs. On December 10, 1680, Anna Cäcilia Guralt, née Präckendorf (+ 1689), acquired the Hackenberg dominion. Her daughter Isabella von Guralt succeeded her on February 22, 1689 (together with her sister Anna).

Around 1720, Hackenberg Castle was severely damaged by a fire. Reconstruction was completed by 1723. In 1721, Hans von Lueger, Bavarian government councilor in Straubing, inherited the Hackenberg dominion from his mother Anna Susanna Luegerin, née Guraltin von Hackenberg. In 1731, Franz Wilhelm Freiherr von Sickenhausen bought Hackenberg Castle from his cousin Hans von Lueger. He was succeeded by Georg Ignaz Freiherr von Sickenhausen. The successor to Freiherr von Sickenhausen in 1772 was Johann Wilhelm Freiherr von der Horst. The nieces of Baron Horst, the two Fräulein von Höfen, appeared as owners of Hackenberg in 1780. Baron Franz von Asch zu Hauzendorf served as Hofmark administrator. In 1783, Friedrich Carl Freiherr von Dallwig, Palatine-Bavarian chamberlain and colonel, received the Hackenberg castle estate through marriage to the Freiherrin von Höfen. After the death of her husband, the widowed Baroness von Dallwig managed the property.

In 1788, Hackenberg had a castle, farm buildings, a brewery, 25 subjects in the village, 3 in Samberg, 2 in Lambertsneukirchen, 2 in Lehen, 1 in Schafhof, 1 in Stanglhof, 1 in Pfaffenöd, 1 in Ziegmühl, 1 in Kropfsberg, the hamlet of Lehen, the isolated farm Zugmühl (Züchmühl), as well as jurisdiction over the schoolhouse in Lambertsneukirchen and church protection. Until 1811, Hackenberg belonged to the district court of Burglengenfeld. By resolution of February 20, 1811, the rural municipality of Hackenberg was formed and placed under the newly established district court of Regenstauf. In 1830, Baron von Schwerin zu Hauzendorf acquired the Hackenberg property. In 1840, Hackenberg Castle and its property passed into the ownership of the Collegiate Church of the Old Chapel.

After 1840, the property (subject to the right of presentation of the pastor of Lambertsneukirchen) was sold to the postmaster Wittmann from Neunburg v. Wald, who then dismantled the castle estate including the brewery. The castle itself, along with some grounds, was bought by the mercenary Jakob Oberberger from Appendorf. With its conversion into a bourgeois residential building, the over 500-year history of the Hackenberg noble seat ended. In 1852, the former castle chapel of the Holy Cross was desecrated and converted into a residential building.