Starhemberg Castle

The first stone castle was built before 1236 by Gundaker IV von Steyr, a ministerialis of King Ottokar I Přemysl, who later named himself after the castle. Mentioned as “Storchenberch” in a 13th-century Passau urbarium, it was a bishop's fief. However, the Starhembergers held high jurisdiction as a fief of the Schaunbergers. In 1322, during the war of succession between Frederick the Fair and Louis the Bavarian, the castle was conquered by Grams von Uttendorf. Ten years later, the Bavarians ceded the castle to Dukes Albrecht II and Otto IV. Nevertheless, the Starhembergers maintained their claims to the Passau fief until 1379, after which Duke Albrecht III compensated them with 3,000 pounds of silver. The castle was subsequently often administered by stewards or pledged, including to Reinprecht von Wallsee and later again to the Starhembergers themselves. In the 15th century, ownership changed hands several times until King Maximilian I sold the dominion to Christoph Jörger in 1498. He had the castle converted into a more residential palace. Helmhard Freiherr von Jörger, a leader of the Protestant noble uprising of 1620, was outlawed, and his possessions were confiscated. Emperor Ferdinand II first pledged Starhemberg to Wels and then sold it to the Diocese of Passau in 1627. During the Upper Austrian Peasant War of 1626, the castle was captured by rebels, and the archive and armory were plundered. Another peasant uprising in the Innviertel in 1632 ended with executions. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Bavarian General Litzelburg besieged and occupied the castle. After the secularization of Passau in 1803, Starhemberg reverted to the Austrian state.