Burg Falkenstein

Burg Falkenstein stands above the town of Falkenstein in Germany, and it was established during the Middle Ages by medieval German ecclesiastical authorities under the bishops of Regensburg and their local followers.

The site began under the influence of the bishops of Regensburg in the mid-10th century and was probably built in the 11th century. A member of the household named Falko gave his name to the family that first held the place, later known as the Falkensteiner line. The castle is first securely recorded in 1129, when Rudolph von Valchenstein appears as a witness in a document. During the early 1130s Duke Heinrich X besieged the stronghold in 1129, captured it in 1130 without destroying it, and after mediation it was taken back and garrisoned before being returned in 1132.

Across the later Middle Ages the site passed through many hands connected to regional power structures, including association with the office that represented the cathedral chapter of Regensburg and links to the counts of Bogen. In 1323 Heinrich of Hohenfels-Falkenstein was forced to sell the property to King Ludwig IV. In 1347 King Ludwig pledged the castle to Count Wolfahrt den Satzenhofer, who carried out renewal work that same year. Successive noble and ducal owners included members of the Wittelsbach family and a long sequence of families and holders recorded in later documents, with transfers and sales occurring from the medieval period down to the 19th century.

In the 17th century the castle was involved in the wars of that era. In 1634 Swedish forces captured Burg Falkenstein and set it on fire while the castle’s lord, a member of the Haslang family, was being held captive. Swedish operations in the region continued; an attempt in 1641 and a separate later occasion did not succeed in taking the castle. During the same century the complex received late-Renaissance remodelling, and the attached chapel dates to the period after 1664 when the Törring family held the site.

In the 19th century the princely house of Thurn und Taxis acquired the estate in 1829. The property declined during the 19th and 20th centuries until the municipality of Falkenstein purchased it in 1967 for one Deutsche Mark to halt further deterioration. A restoration programme was completed in 1978, after which the buildings were adapted for public uses, including hospitality and a museum of hunting and game. The castle is recorded as a protected architectural monument under file number D-3-72-125-7 and as an archaeological monument, with medieval and early modern finds in the area, under file number D-3-6840-0039 in the Bavarian Atlas.