Lützelhardt
In 1250 the castle was for the first time mentioned in the Stürzelbronn monastery’s boarder survey. In 1262 it was owned by the castellans of Wasselnheim.
In 1336 one of these castellans called himself Lord of Lützelhardt of Wasselnheim. It is prossibe that these castellans constructed the castle on the property of the Stürzelbronn monastery. Another possibility made in reference to ancient literature is that Lützelhardt was built by the Lorraines. This thesis is supported by the fact that the castellans had close connections with the Lorraines, which was documented from 1248.
In the second half of the 14 th century the Wasselnheimer sold their castle bit by bit to the Dagstuhler lineage of the sovereigns of Fleckenstein, who by 1373 owned the entire property. In 1375 Heinrich the Old of Fleckenstein mortgaged a quarter of Lützelhardt to Count Philipp of Nassau-Saarbrücken.
From the end of the 14 th century the sovereigns of Lützelhardt castle had increasing conflicts with the surrounding cities. In 1397 conflicts with the city of Strasbourg caused the first damages to the castle. On the 6 th August 1442 troops of Weißenburg conquered the castle and imprisoned three people, but obviously none of the Fleckensteins.
According to uncertain sources, the Fleckensteins granted Lützelhardt as a fief to Wirich Puller of Hohenburg in 1450, with all related rights in the surrounding forest.
In fact Wirich seems to have only received a part of the castle, which was given to Hans of Talheim by the court tribunal in 1455.
Despite the mentioned conflicts the castle is observed in a legal document from the year 1469 as being inhabited. We do not know if the castle was abandoned at the end of the 15 th century or if it was destroyed during the Peasants’ War. In 1538 the Fleckensteins gave the castle to the counts of Zweibrücken-Bitche in exchange for the administrative rights of the Uffried. In 1606 Lützelhardt was described as a ruin.
From 1538 until the French Revolution the ruin remained the property of the counts of Zweibrücken-Bitche and their heirs, the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg, except for a short period when it was a Lorraine fief.
