Ruine Altbodman

Altbodman is a medieval castle ruin standing high above the Überlinger See near Bodman in southern Germany. The stone remains crown a spur of the Bodenwald ridge, 232 metres above the lake, giving wide views across the water. A forest track from the Hofgut Bodenwald or a footpath from the village below both lead up to the site. The ruins sit at 627 metres above sea level, making them one of the most elevated points around the lake. The castle began in about 1170 as the seat of the Lords of Bodman, imperial officials under the Staufer emperors. In 1307 a fire started by lightning destroyed the family’s earlier stronghold on the Frauenberg, killing several nobles including Conrad, Katharina, Adelheid and Anna von Bodman. Tradition says the one-year-old heir was saved when an amme dropped him in a cauldron that rolled down the slope and caught in bushes. A new castle was built opposite the Frauenberg, but it was ruined in the Thirty Years War by French troops under General Charles Christophe de Mazencourt in 1643. The family later moved to Schloss Espasingen and then to Schloss Bodman. Visitors find substantial stretches of curtain wall, a large square keep measuring nearly twenty metres on each side, and parts of the palas and gatehouse. A 1900 viewing terrace was added to the north-east corner of the keep. A memorial stone marks the spot where the cauldron caught in 1307, and the actual cauldron is kept in Schloss Bodman. The site is reached by a short climb through mixed woodland, with clear views of the lake and surrounding countryside from the terrace.