Leonstein Castle

The castle ruin Leonstein is located in the eponymous district of the municipality Grünburg in the Kirchdorf an der Krems district of Upper Austria.

The once existing Leonstein Castle is said to have existed as early as 900 on the local mountain, but it is first mentioned in a document in 1140 as Lewensteine. It was then in the possession of the Bavarian Duke Heinrich and was given as a fief to the ministerialis Perhtoldus de Lewenstaine. The Rohrer family succeeded the Leonsteiners around 1320.

At the end of the 14th century, Leonstein belonged to the brothers Wilhelm and Wolfgang von Rohr. They engaged in a feud with the sovereign Duke Albrecht III. In the course of this dispute, the Rohrer captured an embassy from the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, which was on its way to the Duke, to extort ransom. At the request of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Duke Albrecht then assembled a siege army under the command of Field Captain Zacharias Haderer. After a three-month siege, Haderer was able to occupy the Rabenstein and from there bombard Leonstein Castle with a stone cannon; this is the first use of a firearm in Austria. After three days of bombardment, the castle fell on November 2, 1390. Wilhelm von Rohr was still able to escape through a secret exit.

The conquered castle was destroyed by an explosive fire. The Rohrer only submitted to the sovereign in 1392, and Wolfgang von Rohr sold his share of the destroyed castle to Duke Albrecht. In 1397, Wilhelm von Rohr received permission to build a castle site as a replacement for the destroyed castle. Bernhard von Rohr sold his share of the property in Leonstein to Erhard von Zelking in 1447. In 1459, he also obtained the enfeoffment with the second half from Emperor Friedrich III. He had Leonstein Castle, called "Feichta", built from the castle site and the associated manor farm.