Burg Laaber

Burg Laaber stands in the market town of Laaber, Germany, and was erected by medieval German nobility under the authority of the Staufer imperial house.

The family who built the castle, first recorded in a 1118 charter connected with the foundation of Reichenbach monastery, established the fortification at the close of the twelfth century. The site was chosen to control river crossings and the royal road that runs through the Labertal valley. Construction proceeded on behalf of the Staufer emperor Frederick II, and the house of Laaber used this strongpoint alongside their other holdings, including Prunn and Breitenegg, to strengthen their regional influence.

In the later fourteenth century the castle became entwined in urban politics. Hadamar IV of Laaber, who had served as mayor of the imperial city of Regensburg in 1367 and was the son of the Minnesinger Hadamar III, entered into a prolonged feud with Regensburg after leaving office. The city attacked the castle and inflicted damage there in 1389.

During the fifteenth century the Laaber line sold the site to the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty. In 1466 ownership was restored to Ulrich of Laaber, but after the family line died out the estate passed into the Duchy of Bavaria-Landshut. In 1505 control transferred to the Duchy of Pfalz-Neuburg, which kept a local administrative office at the castle.

The complex was altered in 1597 with expansions that gave parts of the building a residence-like, manor character. Major vertical elements were removed in 1720 when the towers were taken down, and from 1805 municipal ownership began. During the nineteenth century the former residence declined into ruin. The site is now recorded in the Bayernatlas as a listed architectural monument, file D-3-75-162-8, and as an archaeological monument, file D-3-6937-0237.