Hohenstaufen Castle

Hohenstaufen Castle is a ruin, lying above the Hohenstaufen locality, today part of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The hill castle was seat of the now-defunct House of Hohenstaufen.Hohenstaufen Castle can be found on Hohenstaufen Mountain, 684 m above sea level. The word Stauf means "drinking vessel" and refers to the conical shape of the mountain.Middle AgesHohenstaufen castle was built about 1070 by Frederick I of Hohenstaufen—even before he became Duke of Swabia—, as a fortress to protect family interests in the vicinity. Until the 13th century, the castle was a possession of the imperial and royal family, the Hohenstaufen dynasty. In 1181, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa stayed there; in 1208, Irene Angelina, the widow of Barbarossa's son, the recently murdered Philip of Swabia, died at Hohenstaufen Castle.After the fall of the Hohenstaufen in 1268, the castle was declared an imperial possession by the Habsburg king Rudolf I of Germany. The strategically and symbolically important location was a constant bone of contention between the Counts of Württemberg and the Holy Roman Emperor.