Steckelberg Castle

Steckelberg Castle
Burg Steckelberg
Schlüchtern-Ramholz
Wall detail in the great hall.
Steckelberg Castle
Coordinates	50°20′14″N 9°37′14″E / 50.3372°N 9.6205°E / 50.3372; 9.6205Coordinates: 50°20′14″N 9°37′14″E / 50.3372°N 9.6205°E / 50.3372; 9.6205
Type	hill castle
Code	DE-HE
Site information
Condition	ruin
Site history
Built	1131 (first castle) 1387/1388 (current ruins)
Garrison information
Occupants	nobility

Steckelberg Castle (German: Burg Steckelberg) is a ruined hill castle near Ramholz, in the borough of the East Hessian town of Schlüchtern in Germany.

The ruins of the old castle lie east of Vollmerz and northeast of Ramholz on the domed crest of a hill spur, the eponymous Steckelberg.

The name of the castle goes back to the Middle High German term for "steep hill" (Stechelnberc). As an imperial castle the fortification was used to guard the transportation routes that ran through the hills. The wine route from Fulda to Franconia ran over the ridge of the Breite First here; this important north-south link, which research on old roads indicates was known as early as the Carolingian period, grazes the area of the castle as it passes from Veitsteinbach and Sterbfritz.

From 1131 to 1391 had their family seat at an earlier castle on a nearby site. This "Old Steckelberg Castle" (alte Burg Steckelberg) was located to the northeast of the present ruins on a spur of the Breite First which is known today as Alteburgberg or Nickus. The baronial line of Hermann von Steckelberg is mentioned around 1167. Roughly between 1240 and 1276 the castle must have been in the possession of the Bishopric of Wurzburg. In 1274 Bishop Berthold II pledged the castle to Count Reinhard I of Hanau, whom he needed as an ally. In 1276 it was illegally occupied and used as a robber baron castle. It was destroyed by order of King Rudolph I in 1276. He issued a decree on 14 October 1276 which ordered that "the Steckelburg is to be demolished and is not to be rebuilt without imperial leave.". The castle was supposedly a threat to the peace or Landfrieden; more probably it served to tidy up the estates of the Landvogt and confidant of the king, the Count of Hanau, in this area. Nevertheless, the lords of Steckelberg retained rights of management and use.