Burg Waldenstein

Burg Waldenstein stands on a 385-metre-high spur of rock that juts into the Wieslauftal valley near Rudersberg. The ruin belongs to the village of Waldenstein in the Rems-Murr district of Baden-Württemberg. Built around 1200 by the lords of Waldenstein, it served as a staufische Reichsministerialenburg. The family is first mentioned in 1251 while already in Württemberg service, with the last record in 1349. The castle passed through many hands after Württemberg pledged it in the 15th century. Jerg von Urbach held it in 1411, the counts Ludwig and Ulrich mortgaged it in 1433 to Johann von Wernau, and in 1456 Ulrich gave it to his Hofmeister Antony von Emershofen. By 1535 the building was already described as dilapidated. After a murder and flight in 1539, the castle was seized and later granted to Florian Waldauf von Waldenstein. His son Christoph and grandson Christoph junior kept the estate until 1586. Today the ruins show the remains of a staufian stone house with two storeys and a shield wall. The Old Castle has walls up to 3.5 metres thick on the attack side and only 1.5 metres on the courtyard side. A filled-in neck ditch and fragments of the ring wall still mark the site. A Renaissance building added in 1594 by Hans-Georg von Gaisberg was destroyed by fire in 1819. Since 1963 a restaurant occupies part of the former bailey, offering views over the valley.