Breitenstein Castle

The ruins of Breitenstein Castle (Burg Breitenstein) stand on a crag, 220m high, on the northern side of the Speyerbach valley in the Palatine Forest in Germany. The castles is 4km east of the village of Elmstein in the county of Bad Durkheim in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.HistoryThe rock castle was probably built in 1246 by Pope Innocent IV during the unrest over the excommunication of Frederick II. Not until 1257 was it mentioned in the records in connexion with a knight of Kropsberg, castellan of the Breitenstein and Dienstmann of the counts of Leiningen. The knight was named in 1265 as Burkhard of Breitenstein. In 1339 James of Flörsheim was appointed as Burgmann.After the death of King Rudolph of Habsburg fighting broke out in 1291 between the Habsburgs and their opponents. At that time the counts of Sponheim built a siege castle just a few metres south of Breitenstein Castle. The two sites were separated from one another by a broad neck ditch. The siege castle was mentioned in 1340 as Lower Breitenstein, Friedrich Horneck. However, Count Palatine Rudolph II appealed against this decision and announced that the Sponheim lord was his vassal, so that he was allowed to retain the castle.