Heiligenburg Castle

Heiligenburg Castle
Burg Heiligenburg
Felsberg-Gensungen
Heiligenberg, as seen from Altenbrunslar
Heiligenburg Castle
Coordinates	51°07′58″N 9°27′30″E / 51.132778°N 9.458333°E / 51.132778; 9.458333Coordinates: 51°07′58″N 9°27′30″E / 51.132778°N 9.458333°E / 51.132778; 9.458333
Site information
Condition	ruined
Site history
Built	12th Century
Materials	sandstone and basalt
Demolished	1232, 1273
Rebuilt	1247, 14th Century
Restored	1956 to 1960
Restored by	Heiligenberg Society
Airfield information
Elevation	393 metres (1,289 ft) AMSL

Heiligenburg Castle (German: Burg Heiligenburg) is a castle on the hill of Heiligenberg in the district of Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Hesse, Germany.

Heilgenberg is a 393 m (1,289 ft) high hill close to the town of Felsberg-Gensungen in North Hesse. The hill is the remains of an extinct Miocene volcano, of which only the basalt that filled the neck of the volcano remains. The name of the hill stems from one of the oldest churches in Hesse.

A magnificent view of the surrounding area can be seen from the ramparts of the ruins, so that it is a much-visited tourist attraction. The entrance to the ruined castle and tower is free.

In prehistoric ages there was probably an Iron Age (La Tène B) fortress on the hill. Excavations by archeologists from Marburg University found two rounded bow fibulae (La Tène A/B) and a possible wall structure with ceramics that were dated at La Tène B. In early Christian times, there was a chapel on the Heiligenberg. This was proved by the finding of an old bell clapper during excavations, which probably came from the chapel.

Before the castle was built, the Heiligenberg belonged to nobility, especially the viscounts (German: Vizegrafen) of Felsberg, who lived in the Felsburg castle at Felsberg. In the 12th Century, the Thuringian and Hessian Landgraves argued with the Archbishop of Mainz over possession of the hill. Archbischop Conrad I constructed strong fortification on the Heiligenberg between 1180 and 1186 as protection against Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia. Shortly after the building of the castle there was bitter fighting, because the fort lay strategically between Felsberg, Gudensberg, and Melsungen, and combined they threaten the strongly-fortified Fritzlar, which was the centre of the Electorate of Mainz power in North Hesse and the geographical heart of the Landgraviate of Hesse. In 1193 a knight named Heinrich von Heiligenberg is documented, who was probably an offspring of the nobles from Uttershausen (close to Wabern), and from 1196 until their demise in 1263, the family Isfried von Heiligenberg were castellans (German: Burgmannen) of the castle and had to protect it in the name of Mainz.