Schaunberg Castle

The castle ruin Schaunberg (also Schaumberg, Schaumburg and Schaunburg) is located in the village of Schaumberg in the municipality of Hartkirchen, Eferding district in Upper Austria. It was the ancestral castle of the Counts of Schaunberg.

The present ruin Schaunberg was the largest castle complex in Upper Austria. It can be visited, the keep has been made accessible by a newly installed staircase.

Name Schaunburg

The name derives from the view ("to look from the mountain"). In addition, even in official map series (such as the Austrian Map 1:50,000), the name Schaunburg is used. Hartkirchen also officially calls itself Schaunburggemeinde. Historically documented spellings also include Schamberg and Schaumburg, which can still be found in the name of the district Schaumberg, where the castle ruin is located. These old spellings also correspond to the pronunciation still common today in the Hausruckviertel dialect, namely Schamberg or Schamburg for the castle ruin and Schamberger for the former noble family.

History of the Schaunbergers

The Schaunbergers descended from the family of the Counts of Julbach and were related on the female line to the Counts of Formbach-Vichtenstein. They had received the toll at Aschach on the Danube from Emperor Barbarossa, a very lucrative imperial fief. In the middle of the 12th century, Heinricus de Scovenberch had a castle built about an hour's walk from Aschach.

In a document from 1316, the Schaunbergers referred to themselves as counts and sought imperial immediacy for their county of Schaunberg. Duke Rudolf IV, however, encouraged his follower Eberhard von Wallsee to build a second castle (Oberwallsee Castle) across the Danube, opposite Schaunberg Castle.

The Schaunberg Feud

In 1380, Reinprecht II von Walsee, on behalf of Duke Albrecht III, marched against Heinrich von Schaunberg. Although the Schaunberger had allied himself with the Rosenbergers and their ministerials, the Wallseer occupied all their Danube castles and their city of Eferding in the first two years of the "Schaunberg Feud". However, he besieged Schaunberg Castle in vain. Since the Rosenbergers did not support him, Heinrich had to submit to the Habsburgs.

In 1388, Wallsee and Habsburg again received letters of feud, two years later Heinrich von Schaunberg finally had to swear an oath of fealty. But the "talking gargoyles" on the tower of his castle Neuhaus clearly showed what he thought of Habsburg and Wallsee.

In 1548 the Schaunbergers lost their imperial status, and in 1559 they died out. Already at the beginning of the century they had moved into Eferding Castle, which they had built. After them, their heirs, the Starhembergers, resided here.