Details
Founded: 1319Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
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Balduinstein Castle was built in 1319 by archbishop of Trier. Later it was owned by Staffel family from 1335 to 1683. After Niederburg castle was completed Balduinstein started to lost its status. In 1665 it was demolished and today it lies in ruins.
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress was built as the backbone of the regional fortification system, Festung Koblenz, by Prussia between 1817 and 1832 and guarded the middle Rhine region, an area that had been invaded by French troops repeatedly before. The fortress was never attacked.
Early fortifications at the site can be dated back to about 1000 BC. At about AD 1000 Ehrenbert erected a castle. The Archbishops of Trier expanded it with a supporting castle Burg Helferstein and guarded the Holy Tunic in it from 1657 to 1794. Successive Archbishops used the castle's strategic importance to barter between contending powers; thus in 1672 at the outset of war between France and Germany the Archbishop refused requests both from the envoys of Louis XIV and from Brandenburg's Ambassador, Christoph Caspar von Blumenthal, to permit the passage of troops across the Rhine.