Burg Stahleck (Germany)

Stretched out on the Rhine heights, Stahleck Castle is near Bacharach.

Their exact date of origin is not known, but it is proved that the castle was already inhabited in 1095. It is first mentioned in documents in 1135 under Goswin von Hoechstadt. It used to be called Stabekkum Castle or Sthaleckthum.

By 1148, almost 10 years had been spent fighting for the rights of Stahleck. Through evil machinations finally won Hermann, brother in law of King Konrad III. He was given the Palatine County and possessions.

In 1156, after the death of Hermann von Staleck, his stepbrother Konrad von Hohenstaufen becomes palatine over Bacharach am Rhein. The village Bacharach, which is situated on the Burgberg, became the center and residence of the Palatinate region on the Rhine.

Originally the property of the bishops of Cologne, located farthest to the south, the castle Stahleck was transferred in 1190 by Emperor Barbarossa to his brother Konrad.

In 1194 the wedding of Staleck, the secret marriage between the son of Henry the Lion and the daughter of Count Palatine Konrad went down in history.

1214 the castle Stahleck falls near Bacharach am Rhein as a completed fief of the Wittelbacher Ludwig of Bavaria, so that this powerful family with the castles Stahleck and Pfalz now had two important bases on the Rhine. It became the seat of the Palatinate burgraves and officials.

Stahleck Castle near Bacharach am Rhein was a stronghold of the Palatinate for the control of the Rhine current.

In the Thirty Years War, mid-October 1644, when the Catholic party with 250 mounted and 450 Kurkölner foot soldiers had expelled the French from the city, they fled to the castle Stahleck. Colonel von Nievernheimb, commander of Ehrenbreitstein, then had the castle Stahleck near Bacharach am Rhein bombarded with heavy weapons for one day without occupying it.

In 1666, Castle Stahleck, badly damaged in 1644 near Bacharach on the Rhine, was rebuilt by Elector Palatine Carl Ludwig.