Upper Castle Schmidmühlen

The market town of Schmidmühlen has a rich and varied history, marked certainly by periods of hardship, but above all by economic and cultural prosperity. This history is still reflected today in the many, sometimes very imposing houses and estates. A magical triangle in the town center is formed by the three castles: the Upper Castle, the Hammerschloss, and the Zieglerschloss. The first documented mention in 1010 already testifies to economic diligence.

Around 1000 AD, Schmidmühlen was owned by the Margraviate of Hohenburg. In 1010, a loading point (mooring for ships) on the river Vilsia ge smidimulni is reported. The name strongly suggests that a forge mill stood here. Already at this time, Schmidmühlen was connected to a widespread network of trade routes. After all, the important Bavarian Iron Road passed through Schmidmühlen and thus past the harbor. This considerable economic upswing in the early Middle Ages brought wealth to many industrious craftsmen, as well as to the town itself. The market coat of arms with a mill wheel and hammer first appeared in 1311 as the shield emblem of Reimbot von Schmidmühlen, one of the owners of the Upper Castle. In 1270, Schmidmühlen was elevated to a market town and simultaneously to an administrative district.

Such an economically significant place naturally had to be protected and administered. The founding and construction of the Upper Castle can probably be attributed to this fact. In Schmidmühlen, there used to be two noble residences: one was in the Hammerherrenschloss, the second in the Upper Castle. This meant that for centuries there were many nobles who also found their final resting place in the village, especially in the parish church and in the cemetery church.  

Originally, a moated castle stood at the current site of the Upper Castle. Until 1270, ministeriales of the Hohenburg counts resided in the castle itself, then it became Wittelsbachian. Around 1353, the last Schmidmühlner (Karl von Schmidmühlen) either rebuilt or extensively redesigned it. The current castle was built around 1600 by Hans Jakob Hausner von Winbuch. In this castle, there was also a small chapel on the ground floor, which, however, was filled in and bricked up a long time ago. Over the centuries, the owners changed repeatedly. During a scientific survey around 1900, the Upper Castle was uninhabited. According to the report, it had served for many decades for storing hops and grain. In 1919, Josef Rubenbauer sold it to a Nuremberg architect named Jakober, who thoroughly renovated it again and made it habitable. In 1937, it became the property of the market community of Schmidmühlen. The castle was subsequently used as the town hall. During and after the Second World War, the Upper Castle suffered greatly from the quartering of occupation forces. For example, a valuable ceramic stove on the second floor was destroyed. During this period of World War II, the kindergarten and from 1947 to 1960 two classes of the elementary school were also housed in the castle. From 1977 to 1980, a thorough restoration took place, during which not only the castle itself but also the castle garden changed its appearance. Since the post-war period, the castle has served the market town of Schmidmühlen as a representative town hall.

In the Upper Castle, at the top of the tower, there is a round ceiling painted with flowers and rosettes, supported by a delicate wooden column. The entire second floor, with its furnishings, is among the most interesting remnants of the German Renaissance. What was achieved on a large scale in the field of secular wall painting two decades earlier in the ducal Trausnitz Castle in Landshut is repeated on a smaller scale in the Upper Castle.
 
The Owners

• 1142-1147 Unlawful occupation by Regensburg Burgrave Otto Boliz and his sons
• 1166-1170 Ernst von Schmidmühlen
• 1179-1191 Reginbot von Schmidmühlen
• 1242 Reimboto von Schmidmühlen
• 1263 Otto von Schmidmühlen
• 1270-1284 Eberhard von Schmidmühlen - Jakobäa von Sinzenhofen, parents of Abbot Albert von Emmeram zu Regensburg
• 1328-1348 Karl and Hugo von Schmidmühlen, brothers of the Abbot
• 1352-1356 Karl von Schmidmühlen, son of the aforementioned Karl
• 1363 Ulrich and Hans Ettenstetter, brothers
• 1367 Ulrich Wolf von Nabburg, judge in Rieden
• 1407 Georg Ettenstetter
• 1463 Lienhard Haug
• 1514-1532 Heinrich Alberger, Vinzenz von Würzburg
• 1546-1551 Wilhelm Hausner von Winbuch
• 1552-1555 Matthäus Hausner von Winbuch
• 1595-1614 Georg Hausner von Winbuch, administrator in Regenstauf, builder of the current castle
• 1614-1655 Hans Jakob, Ludwig and Bartholome Hausner von Winbuch (brothers, joint ownership)
• 1655 Christoph von Kürmreuth
• 1676-1720 Wilhelm Franz Freiherr von Spiering, Lord of Fronberg, also of Bergheim, Electoral Councillor, Chamberlain
• 1720 Carl Wilhelm Freiherr von Spiering  
• 1746-1767 Carl Lorenz Wilhelm Freiherr von Spiering
• 1775-1777 Maximilian Karl Freiherr von Spiering
• 1777-1803 Noble Convent Niedermünster zu Regensburg
• 1829 Michael Schmid, innkeeper and postmaster
• 1866 Isidor Rubenbauer, innkeeper and postmaster Josef Rubenbauer
• 1919 Architect Jakober Baron von Clanner Engelzhofen from Prague
• 1923 Ferdinand Eichenseer  
• 1937 Market Schmidmühlen