Neunußberg Castle (Ruin)

Neunußberg Castle is a former late medieval to early modern noble castle, now preserved only as a ruin, and is located in the eponymous church village of Neunußberg, east of Viechtach in the Lower Bavarian district of Regen in Germany.

Still present today are the mighty square residential tower, remains of the curtain wall with a three-quarter round shell tower, and the renovated castle chapel from the year 1356. The tower has a square floor plan with a side length of about 20 meters and a height of about 25 meters.

The chapel has a Baroque interior. The high altar was created around 1720, and the altarpiece depicts St. Michael. A painting of St. Raphael with Tobias (around 1650), a Mater dolorosa (around 1700), and a simple statue of St. Michael (17th century) are part of the interior furnishings.

The Lords of Nußberg, who are documented since the first half of the 12th century, were originally ministeriales of the Counts of Bogen. After the extinction of the counts in 1242, they came under the suzerainty of the Wittelsbachs; even under them, the Lords of Nußberg were among the most respected knightly families of the Bavarian Forest. Thus, in 1360, Duke Albrecht I of Lower Bavaria-Straubing granted the family the office of Marshal in Lower Bavaria as a hereditary fief.

From 1340 to 1350, Konrad von Nußberg had Neunußberg Castle built. The family then left their previous ancestral seat at Altnußberg Castle.

In 1466, 41 noblemen of the Bavarian Forest united to protect their rights against Duke Albrecht IV (1465 – 1508). The members of this alliance called themselves "Böckler" after the buck in their coat of arms. Among them were Warmund and Konrad von Nußberg. A campaign by Duke Albrecht IV in 1468/1469 brought a devastating defeat to the alliance in the Böckler War.

Due to the defeat, Warmund and Konrad had to sell Neunußberg Castle to the Duke, Warmund in 1469 for an annual pension, Konrad in 1470 for the small castle of Linden.

In 1564, a lightning strike destroyed the castle, which, after the extinction of the Lords of Nußberg in 1569, came as a ruin with its remaining possessions to the Wittelsbachs.

Already in the second half of the 16th century, the militarily useless complex was no longer inhabited and fell into disrepair.