Gleiß Castle

The castle ruin Gleiß (oldest spellings Gleiss/Gleyss) is a vanished hilltop castle on a conglomerate rock on the right bank of the Ybbs in the Eisenwurzen in Lower Austria, in the village of Gleiß in the municipality of Sonntagberg, 2.4 km northwest of the main town of Sonntagberg itself.

Gleiß is the oldest evidence of settlement in the old Marcha Ostarrîchi: On June 15, 993, Emperor Otto III gifted to a Sachso "three royal hides in the place where the Slav Gluzo had begun to live and clear land, and which was popularly called Gluzengisazi ('Gluzo's Seat', Gleiß)." A Count Gero of Seeburg and Gleiß already appears at the beginning of the 12th century; his son Wichmann († 1192) was a significant politician as Archbishop of Magdeburg and advisor to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He bequeathed the lordship of Gleiß to the Diocese of Passau, and at the end of the 14th century, Heinrich VI von Wallsee-Enns from the Wallseer family bought it. In 1459, Gleiß was sold by Wolfgang von Wallsee to Georg Gailspecker (of Gallspach). Subsequently, the Eitzinger family appears as owners, and in 1500, Oswald Schirmer. In 1542, the Barons Hofmann followed, in 1575 Gottfried von Scherfenberg is named as owner, and in 1576 already Daniel Strasser, known as the "Rich Strasser". He was mayor and councilor in Steyr (Strasser family of/in Steyr). The salvation of the city of Steyr was largely made possible by Daniel Strasser, as he had the city rebuilt from his private fortune after a devastating fire. Emperor Ferdinand II, in gratitude, enfeoffed him with the lordship of Gleiß. In 1605, his descendant Wolfgang Strasser Edler von und zu Gleiß – "for himself and his heirs" – additionally bought the Allhartsberg or Gleiß regional court from the owner of the Seisenegg lordship, Johann von Greiffenberg. The castle is depicted around the year 1649 by the engraver Matthäus Merian. At this time, the Geyer von Osterburg were the owners. The owner Anna Magdalena Geyer zu Osterburg was the granddaughter of Wolfgang Strasser von und zu Gleiß. Her remains, as well as those of her sister Dorothea, married Khöberin, can still be found today in the parish church of Opponitz, which formerly belonged to the lordship of Gleiß. An epitaph of the Edlen von und zu Gleiß was found during excavations a few years ago and embedded in the church wall in Opponitz as a memorial. They were followed from 1665 to about 1700 by the Montecuccoli. Until 1913, the Counts Orsini-Rosenberg were the lords of the castle, interrupted from 1718 to 1760 by the Barons von Hoheneck. In 1806, the hitherto well-preserved castle was burned down by the French in the Second Napoleonic War. The castle was subsequently not rebuilt and was left to decay. In 1913, Rudolf Freiherr Drasche-Wartinberg († September 28, 1931) came into possession of the ruin, and in 1934, the Kärntner Montanindustrie GmbH.