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Pittenweem Priory was an Augustinian priory located in the village of Pittenweem. Originally a Benedictine community founded from Reading Abbey in England and based on the Isle of May, it was relocated to Pittenweem by 1318, and placed under the control of the Augustinian canons regular of St Andrews Priory.
A shrine was dedicated to Saint Adrian of May on that island. It is said that Adrian's monks undertook the first harbour improvements, laying the foundation for the fishing industry, but no evidence for this currently exists.
The present Church of Scotland parish kirk is on the site of the priory church. Much of the fortified east gatehouse of the priory survives (15th century), as does the 'Great House', one of Scotland's best-preserved late medieval houses, which may have served as living quarters for the prior and monks.
References:The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.