Leobenegg Castle

The sparse remains of a medieval rock castle near the village of Leoben in the municipality of Krems in Carinthia are known as the castle ruin Leobenegg. The complex, first mentioned in a document in 1208, was left to decay at the latest from the end of the 17th century.

In a document dated May 30, 1208, by Bishop Walther von Vatz of Gurk, Eberhardus de Liubneke, a ministerialis of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, is named as a witness. This is considered the oldest documented reference to Leobenegg. In 1241, Count Hermann II von Ortenburg enfeoffed Raspo von Friesach with the estates aput Leubenek. The Leubenegger family maintained close ties with Millstatt Abbey. For example, in 1318, Wolfhar von Leubenegg donated estates in Lonkk near Kremsbrücken for the salvation of his deceased father and his brother Alhart, who had died as a monk in Millstatt. On August 30, 1398, the brothers Rudprecht and Andre von Leubenegg pledged allegiance to Archbishop Gregor von Salzburg. Members of the family were repeatedly administrators in the neighboring town of Gmünd, which belonged to the Salzburg diocese, particularly in the 14th century.

The last owner of Leobenegg was Hans Jakob, who already called himself "von Lind". At the latest since the last quarter of the 17th century, when Valvasor compiled an inventory of Carinthian manors in the 1680s, the castle was considered abandoned and in decay.