Burg Altingen

Burg Altingen was a medieval castle in the village of Altingen, now part of Ammerbuch in the Tübingen district. The site lies on the north-western edge of the village, near the modern Burgstraße. Its exact position has never been pinpointed, but the street name keeps the memory alive. The castle belonged in 1271 to five brothers from the Nufringen family, who sold their courtyard and rights to Sindelfingen Stift. Earlier, in the 12th century, local nobles and ministeriales of the Ronsberg margraves had taken the name ‘von Altingen’. The castle’s owners changed several times across the 14th century. From 1311 to about 1400 the Niederadel von Altingen lived there. The Pfalzgrafen of Tübingen gave up their overlordship to the Grafen von Hohenberg, who pledged the village in 1340 to the Herren von Ehingen. By 1350 a condominium was arranged, and in 1381 the whole place passed to Austria. The Pfalzgrafen’s share went to Württemberg in 1382 and the rights were thereafter exercised alternately. Today only the Burgstraße marks the vanished stronghold. Visitors walk a quiet village lane that once led to the castle’s presumed site. The surrounding fields and houses give no hint of the medieval buildings, yet the name keeps the memory of the Siler von Nufringen and their successors.