Neufraunhofen Castle

Neufraunhofen Castle is a castle building located in Neufraunhofen in Lower Bavaria, with an attached church.

According to a chronicle written by Georg Graf von Soden-Fraunhofen, the place where the village of Neufraunhofen now spreads was originally a noble seat named Öd, first mentioned in a document in 1180. This was the year Otto von Wittelsbach was appointed Duke of Bavaria after the deposition of Henry the Lion by Emperor Barbarossa. The Lords of Öd held the office of cupbearer at the Wittelsbach court, which led to their ancestral seat Öd, meaning "father's property" or "hereditary farm located in a wilderness," being named "Schenkenöd" (Cupbearer's Öd). Around 1390, Wilhelm von Fraunhofen took over the seat, rebuilt the castle, and had it renamed "Neuen Fraunhofen" (New Fraunhofen), while his cousin remained in Fraunhofen, which was now called "Alten Fraunhofen" (Old Fraunhofen). Old and New Fraunhofen were imperial fiefs, subject only to the emperor. The castle buildings with the church in Neufraunhofen received their current appearance between 1709 and 1720 through partial reconstruction and expansion. At the end of 1805, both localities were incorporated into Bavaria by the Act of the Confederation of the Rhine. The castle remains in the possession of the Counts of Soden-Fraunhofen.