Schloßböckelheim Castle

Schlossböckelheim Castle, formerly also known as Böckelheim Castle, is the ruin of a hilltop castle on a mountainside in the Nahegau near the municipality of Schlossböckelheim in the district of Bad Kreuznach.

The castle was probably built in the 9th century on the remains of a Roman settlement and was first mentioned in a document in 824 with Louis the Pious Becchilenheim. In the 11th century, it was owned by the Duke of Lorraine and was destroyed by Henry III in 1044/1045.

From 1065, the property came into the possession of the Bishop of Speyer, who enfeoffed the castle to the Counts of Sponheim in 1105. After a division, Henry of Sponheim sold the castle to the Archbishop of Mainz. Henry's brother tried to reverse the sale, which led to a bitter feud between Sponheim and Mainz and the definitive loss of the castle. After several changes, the complex was ceded to the Electoral Palatinate in 1471 and completely destroyed by French troops in 1688 at the beginning of the Palatinate War of Succession.

In 1105, Emperor Henry IV was imprisoned in the castle by his son and successor Henry V.