Vorderburg

The Vorderburg stands on a low hill above the Neckar at Neckarsteinach in southern Hesse. Built around 1200 by Ulrich I of Steinach, it is the third-oldest of the four castles that overlook the town. The steep slope on the Neckar side once made the site easy to defend. Ulrich’s father, Bligger II, had been a noted Minnesänger, and the family’s poetic past is still recalled in local chronicles.

The castle passed through many hands in the 13th and 14th centuries. After the Steinach line died out in 1268 it went to the Landschad von Steinach, then in 1393 a part was lent to Henne Triegel of Daudenzell. By the early 15th century Eberhard of Angelach and Weiprecht III of Helmstatt held shares, but in 1474 the Landschad reunited the whole fortress. After 1625 it belonged to the Hansian line until the last male heir died in 1653.

Today the keep and the three-storey great hall survive almost intact. A thin outer wall, added in the 1340s, once linked the castle to Neckarsteinach’s own defences. The pointed gateway still bears the Landschad coat of arms. After the Thirty Years War the buildings fell into ruin until 1815, when northern service wings were added. Since 1825 the Vorderburg has been lived in again and is surrounded by a small park. It now houses the forestry offices of the Warsberg family.