Hotel Burg Colmberg

Hotel Burg Colmberg

The Heuberg, located just above the village of Colmberg, was already inhabited in the Neolithic period, and later Charlemagne is even said to have hunted aurochs here. In Carolingian times, the first small palisade castle with a wooden tower was built here, which the Hohenstaufen emperors expanded into an imperial castle after 1140. After the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the Counts of Truhendingen retained their imperial fiefdom and had the castle administered by poorly paid bailiffs, who gained a reputation as robber barons through their high-handed attacks. In 1318, the Counts of Truhendingen finally sold the robber baron's castle (documented as such) to Burgrave Frederick IV of Nuremberg.

From then on, the fortress and its surrounding area remained in the possession of the Hohenzollerns for almost 500 years. From here, their bailiffs supervised access to the imperial city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, with which the burgraves had a strained relationship. This culminated in a military conflict in 1407, when the 10,000-strong army of Nuremberg's reigning Burgrave Frederick VI gathered at Colmberg Castle. Due to the enormous cost of the war against Rothenburg, which was eventually won, Frederick VI subsequently moved his main residence to Colmberg Castle. It is said that it was here that Frederick VI learnt of his enfeoffment with the Margraviate of Brandenburg - in this respect, Colmberg Castle can be regarded as the Hohenzollerns' "springboard" into world history.

When Frederick VI - now also Margrave Frederick I of Brandenburg - died in 1440, the castle first became the widow's seat of his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut (known as "Schöne Else"; pictures of the famous couple can be found in the castle chapel) and finally the seat of the bailiffs of the margravial district of Colmberg.

The well-fortified walls and moats of Colmberg Castle withstood many attacks, including during the Peasants' War and the Thirty Years' War, during which the castle provided reliable protection for the neighbouring population. During the Baroque period, however, the castle lost its importance. It remained under Prussian administration until 1806 and then under royal Bavarian administration. In 1880, the castle became private property and changed hands several times until it was taken over by the Unbehauen family from Colmberg in 1964. They are now the 3rd generation to run the castle. Hans Unbehauen's vision of making Colmberg Castle freely accessible to everyone and turning it into an excursion destination has become a reality.

Hotel Burg Colmberg
Familie Unbehauen
An der Burgenstraße
91598 Colmberg
Telefon +49 9803 91920
Telefax +49 9803 262
info@burg-colmberg.de
www.burg-colmberg.de