Lemberg Castle - Beginning and Prosperity

Lemberg Castle

The beginning and the prosperity of a castle At the beginning there was a territorial dispute The official history of the Lemberg castle starts on the 9th of January 1198, on that day the Count Henry I of Zweibrücken and the Abbot Wernher of the Hombach monastery signed an accordance for a territorial exchange. “Count Henry I of Zweibrücken transfers.... to the church St Pirminius and its Brothers a mansus in Kessheneshofen. In exchange the Abbot Wernher gives him two mountains to install his fortifications. These are the mountains of Gutinberg and Ruprechtsberg the second of which is named after the adjacent village.”

Protecting the boarder It was a good exchange for the Count of Zweibrücken as there was no better area for the protection of the south-eastern part of his land. There is still a wonderful panoramic view over the whole Wasgau from this mountain. Castrum Lewenberc There is no certain information concerning when the castle was built. That Henry I. of Zweibrücken started construction of the castle soon after the territorial exchange, the reason for the construction was certainly the protection of his territory. This implies that it's reasonable to presume that the first foundations were laid in the year 1200, but it is not until 1230 that the Lemberg castle is first documentarily mentioned. On the 7th January 1230 Count Henry II von Zweibrücken settled an argument in “castrum Lewenberc” between the Knight Merbodo of Breidenbrunn and the Abbot of the monastery Stürzelbronn.

A brief period of prosperity The Lemberg castle probably never looked like these drawings rather freely interpreted using historical guidelines by Arndt Hartung, an architect and castle historian from Landau, in the 1930s. The drawings, nevertheless, still give a rough idea of the impressiveness of the castle's construction, which once rose from Gutinsberg. Between 1535 and 1541 the Count Jakob of Zweibrücken-Bitche took residence at Lemberg castle, resulting in a brief period of prosperity for the castle as a renaissance palace. Noble knights as governors At the beginning of the 13th century, just after its construction, the castle was not inhabited by the Counts of Zweibrücken as the territorial situation was too insecure for the court. Instead a position of guardianship was available and usually granted to Knights of the court. This gave them an opportunity to prove their valor, often naming themselves after the castle. The first of the castellans, castle’s guardians, was documented in 1255, Gerhard von Lewenberch, then in 1269 there are references to the Knight Gozo vom Lemberch. The position of castellan was well rewarded with free lodging and hunting rights in territorial forests. In addition the farmers of the area were obliged to hand over a part of their revenue. In return the castellans were obliged to collect one tenth of all revenue for the sovereign and keep the castle in a defendable condition.