Hohengeroldseck Castle

Hohengeroldseck is the ruin of a hilltop castle at 523.9 m above sea level in the Black Forest on a hill between the Kinzig Valley and the Schutter Valley in the Schönberg district of the municipality of Seelbach (near Lahr) in the Ortenaukreis in Baden-Württemberg. It was the ancestral seat of the Lords of Geroldseck.

The Lords of Geroldseck

The castle was built around 1260 on the Schönberg by Walther von Geroldseck as the ancestral castle of the Lords of Geroldseck and formed the center of the "Upper Lordship" of Hohengeroldseck between the division of the territory in 1277 and the end of Geroldseck rule in 1634. The area of the upper Ortenau had been in the hands of Walther von Geroldseck's descendants since 1277 and comprised the lordships of Lahr, Mahlberg, Schiltach, and the monasteries of Schuttern and Ettenheimmünster. The Lords of Geroldseck also held the bailiwick on both sides of the Rhine from Basel to Seltz. In 1442, Margrave Jakob I of Baden bought half of the lordships of Lahr and Mahlberg from Walther von Geroldseck's descendants for 30,000 guilders. In 1486, the castle was conquered by Count Palatine Philipp and remained with the Electoral Palatinate until 1534. In 1599, the Geroldseckers moved their residence to Dautenstein Castle in nearby Seelbach, which had been converted into a Renaissance castle.

Count of Kronberg 1636–1692

Anna Maria von Hohen-Geroldseck († 1649) was the sole heiress of the Geroldseck family after the death of her father, Jakob von Hohen-Geroldseck († 1634). Since 1644, she had been married to Margrave Friedrich V of Baden-Durlach. The Habsburgs considered the entire Lordship of Hohengeroldseck to be a reverted fief. They ignored the heiress's claims to allodial property contained therein and, in 1636, enfeoffed the still underage Kraft Adolf Otto Count of and to Kronberg with the castle and lordship, as Emperor Ferdinand II had already promised his father Adam Philipp the fief in 1620 and confirmed it in 1630, after it became foreseeable that Jakob von Hohen-Geroldseck would die without a male heir. Otto's mother, Margarethe Sidonie von Daun, Countess of Falkenstein, acted for her son. In 1650, Otto was declared of age and took over the rule himself. In 1653, he married Maria Franziska von Oettingen-Baldern. The Count succeeded in preventing the courts from assigning the allodial property to the Margraves of Baden-Durlach through delaying tactics. Furthermore, he also started a small border war with the Lordship of Lahr, which was under Baden-Durlachian pledge rule, over the sovereignty of the sawmill located between Kuhbach and Lahr.

The castle was destroyed by French troops in January 1689 during the War of the Palatine Succession.

The Counts of der Leyen since 1697

After the death of the last Count of Kronberg (in the main line) in 1692, Margrave Friedrich Magnus revived the claim to the Lordship of Hohengeroldseck inherited from his grandfather, Friedrich V. He took possession of the lordship half a year after the death of the Kronberger. In 1695, Karl Kasper Franz von der Leyen, for his part, laid claim to the lordship, as the Habsburgs had already made promises to him regarding the succession, in view of the lack of heirs of the fief holder, Kraft Adolf Otto Count of and to Kronberg, although the Baden claims and their legal validity were known.

The Austrian bailiff in Ortenau, Karl II von Neveu, had a military contingent of 300 men march in on April 16, 1697, which removed the Baden coats of arms, forcibly took Dautenstein Castle, and expelled the Baden officials. The population was demanded to pay homage to Karl Kasper von der Leyen. Since then, the castle ruin has belonged to the House of von der Leyen.