Burg Blankenhorn

Burg Blankenhorn stands above Eibensbach, a village in the Zabergäu region of Baden-Württemberg. Built around 1220–30 by the lords of Neuffen, it once guarded the Rennweg, an old trade route across the Stromberg. The castle lost its purpose when the Rennweg declined in the 15th century and was dismantled from 1479 onwards. By the 19th century only the shell remained, yet its ruins still mark the skyline. The castle’s history is tied to powerful families and shifting loyalties. Heinrich II of Neuffen served Emperor Frederick II and began the fortress, while his son Gottfried, a noted Minnesänger, divided the estate. Through marriages and sales the whole site reached Württemberg by 1327. Later it passed to Mainz and then to Hermann von Sachsenheim, whose neglect finished the stronghold. The surviving shield wall, eighteen metres high and three metres thick, shows the builders’ skill. Visitors walk through the open gate on the west side into the inner courtyard. The massive sandstone shield wall dominates the southern edge, its buckle-shaped stones still in place. A four-storey stone hall once stood against this wall; its floors are marked by beam holes and corbels. A covered barbecue shelter now occupies the courtyard, and the inner ditch is crossed by a simple bridge. From the northern edge the view stretches across the wooded Stromberg to the surrounding vineyards.