Harteneck Castle

Harteneck Castle is a rebuilt, former spur castle from the 13th century and is now a country estate with a courtyard in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg. It was also known by the names Herthenegge, Herteneck, and Hertneck, and is also called Schlössle.

The castle estate is situated on a hillside "hard on the corner" above the Neckar, opposite Neckarweihingen. Parts of the curtain walls and the old knight's hall have been preserved in rebuilt form from the former castle. This building fabric consists of small, elongated quarry stones in an irregular bond. A keep, apparently present until the 17th century, has disappeared.

Harteneck was the ancestral castle of the free imperial knights Herter von Hertneck, who belonged to the old noble family of Herter from Dußlingen near Tübingen.

The castle was presumably built by the Herters in the course of the territorial policy of the Counts Palatine of Tübingen during the Interregnum (1254–1273). A document from 1270 first mentions a "Herther de Herthenegge" as a witness. The former existence of a keep makes an earlier origin or a predecessor castle conceivable, but the view that the Margraves of Baden might have built the castle together with the neighboring Hoheneck Castle around 1200 is now considered questionable.

Probably due to financial difficulties, the Herter von Hertneck sold the castle to the Lords of Baldeck in 1440. They, in turn, sold it to the Württembergers in 1536. Due to the merits of the Württemberg court master Hans Herter von Hertneck (1519–1562), the Herters received their castle, now appropriately called "Schloss Herteneck," back in 1554 as a Württemberg hereditary fief. After Hans Herter von Hertneck renounced his noble rights shortly before his death for unknown reasons, his son Christoph reverted the fief to the Württembergers in 1590.

After further sales, Harteneck came into the possession of the Lords of Kniestedt in 1705, who shortly thereafter had it rebuilt in the Baroque style to suit the taste of the time. In 1767, they sold the castle to the Ludwigsburg Hospital. A year later, the fief was dissolved and incorporated into the municipal area of Ludwigsburg.

Ludwigsburg mayor Schönleber had the castle rebuilt again. In 1785, farmer Melchior Schwaderer acquired it. His heirs sold Harteneck in 1838 to Ludwigsburg government councilor von Abel, who in turn sold it in 1851 to Ludwigsburg merchant Ruof. Through marriage, it eventually came to the Bilfinger family.

After fire damage in 1993/94, the castle was renovated in 2003 and is now a protected monument. It is currently in private ownership. Visits are not possible.