Sternberg Castle

The castle's origins date back to the 12th century when the Hennebergs received the area around Sternberg as a fief from the Diocese of Eichstätt. In 1199, Count Heinrich von Henneberg built a castle on this site. After the extinction of the Henneberg-Sternberg line in 1354, the castle passed to the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg and developed into a jointly owned castle with several feudal lords. In the early 16th century, the Truchseß von Wetzhausen managed to acquire all shares of the jointly owned castle. The complex suffered damage during the Peasants' War in 1525 and the Thirty Years' War. Between 1667 and 1669, under Wolff Dietrich Truchseß von Wetzhausen, it was rebuilt into the current Baroque complex, and the castle church was completed in 1673. Since Wolff Dietrich had no male heirs, he sold the castle in 1695 to his feudal lord, the Würzburg Prince-Bishop Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg.