Toppler Castle

The Topplerschlösschen was built by Rothenburg mayor Heinrich Toppler in 1388 as a summer house, in the architectural style of a so-called Weiherhaus, a special form of fortified house. Heinrich Toppler was the most significant mayor of the free imperial city of Rothenburg. He held this office with interruptions from 1373 to 1407. In 1388, he was elected as one of the four captains of the Swabian League of Cities. In 1408, after an intrigue, he was arrested as an alleged traitor and died in the town hall dungeon under circumstances that are still not clearly understood. Although living in the city of Rothenburg, Toppler had acquired the building site for a country estate from the city and built the small moated castle there between 1388 and 1390. It served not only for his representational purposes but also, according to the purchase agreement for the property, for the protection of the mills in the Tauber valley. After his outlawry, it fell to the city of Rothenburg. Subsequently, it belonged to various Rothenburg families; since 1861, it has been owned by the Boas family, who rented it out as a holiday home until the 1960s.

The substructure of the castle consists of a tower-like, two-story rubble stone base with a diameter of 5.4 m.