Burg Waldenfels

Burg Waldenfels stands on a narrow ridge 205 metres above sea level, a wooded spur jutting south from the plateau above the village of Waldprechtsweier. The ruin lies 1,450 metres south of Malsch in the Karlsruhe district of Baden-Württemberg. It was once a small tower castle covering less than 400 square metres, built by the Reginbodonen counts to open up the surrounding land. The family lost their title in 1086 and retreated to Malsch, where they may have raised the first stone tower. By the early 12th century the place was called ‘Malsch’ and the counts styled themselves ‘Grafen von Malsch’. The castle passed to the Ebersteiner lords in the 12th century and later to the margraves of Baden. In 1314 it was granted as a life estate to Reinhard von Neuenburg, who probably died soon afterwards. In 1318 the margraves sold the village and castle to Herrenalb Abbey, which held them as a fief of Weißenburg. Markgraf Jakob I of Baden still visited the ruin in 1431 during a hunting break. By the 19th century only the western wall and southern ditches remained, and stones were taken to enlarge the parish church in Malsch. Archaeologists from the Heimatfreunde Malsch and Heiko Wagner uncovered the foundations in 2007–08, marking the tower’s footprint and parts of the ring wall. Two information boards explain the dig and the Reginbodonen era. The site is reached along forest paths from Waldprechtsweier. Visitors see grassy banks where the keep once rose, the deep southern ditches that defended the approach, and scattered medieval pottery in the lower courtyard. The ridge drops steeply on three sides, giving wide views over the valley.