Morstein Castle

The mountain spur, which does not taper very sharply to the west-northwest, between the Jagst valley to the north and the Dünsbach gorge running northwest here, on which the castle stands, is separated from the mountain and the village by a neck ditch to the southeast of the complex. Immediately at the neck ditch rises a curtain wall, which encloses both the outer bailey and the inner bailey behind it. A round tower at the southern tip of the complex at the angle of the neck ditch and the Dünsbach gorge secures the outer bailey; a small outbuilding of the outer bailey on the gorge flank adjoins it on the inside. Along the slope to the Jagst valley in the north, a noticeably larger outbuilding of the outer bailey extends from the northeast corner of the complex westwards to the zwinger wall. Access to the castle is provided by a stone bridge spanning the middle section of the neck ditch, which is covered on the castle side by a half-timbered gate tower. A section wall closes off the outer bailey to the west-northwest.

Behind it, within the curtain wall, lies an inner ditch, which separates the inner bailey from the outer bailey, which rises behind it. Today, this is also accessed via a stone bridge, which was built in place of a medieval drawbridge, the remains of which are still traceable today. The wall of the outer bailey towards the inner ditch, together with the ditch itself and the counter-wall of the inner bailey, forms a zwinger-like enclosure of the inner bailey towards the mountain.

The medieval keep, built of bossed ashlar, dominates the inner bailey; it stands approximately in the middle of the wall to the inner ditch. To its south, immediately adjacent to it, is the palas, the main building of the complex, rebuilt as a Renaissance-style castle, presenting itself to the village with a magnificent stepped gable. The complex is closed off on the gorge side by a mighty round tower at the south corner of the inner bailey and palas. It is characterized by a stately gallery, which also continues along the main building.

A chapel is attached to the palas to the west-northwest. North of the keep, another outbuilding stands in the entrance area in the corner of the zwinger wall and the curtain wall. The rest of the inner bailey is occupied to its west by the large castle courtyard enclosed by the curtain wall.

The Lords of Morstein, first mentioned in documents in 1240, built the complex as a knight's castle in the 13th century. Already in the middle of the 14th century, the Staufer castle passed into the possession of the knightly family of the Lords of Crailsheim, in whose possession the complex remains to this day.

After a fire at the castle in 1571, the palas, together with the mighty round tower of the inner bailey, was rebuilt as a castle. After another fire in 1669, the current castle chapel was built in place of the former parish church. The gatehouse was built in 1758 as the last new building of the complex.

Morstein Castle is one of the settings in Agnes Günther's novel "The Saint and Her Fool" and is referred to as Thorstein Castle in the novel.