Kornberg, Riegersburg

Kornberg in Riegersburg, Austria, is a medieval castle first recorded in 1284, constructed by the Lords of Kornberg on behalf of the Knights of Riegersburg‑Wildon as a fortified complex rather than a noble residence. The site lay within a frontier zone that in the preceding centuries had been strengthened by settling colonists from Lower Austria to secure the border with Hungary, and Kornberg served to protect access toward Riegersburg and nearby approaches.

In 1308 the original holders surrendered the lordship and fortress to the Lords of Walsee for financial reasons. Twenty years later, in 1328, three members of the von Graben family—Friedrich I, Otto I and Ulrich II—bought the property for 150 marks of silver. The von Graben branch based at Kornberg adopted a new heraldic device, a silver shovel on red, and the estate became an allod, an independently held property that functioned as the administrative centre for the Styrian line of the family. In 1377 Friedrich I endowed a castle chapel dedicated to Saint Andrew.

The von Graben lineage came to an end in stages: Andrä von Graben died in 1556 and his sister Anna died in 1664, after which lengthy inheritance disputes transferred Kornberg to the descendants and heirs of Anna, the Lords von Stadl. Under von Stadl ownership during the 1500s and 1600s, and following the marriage of Hans Rudolf von Stadl to Katharina Elisabeth Freifrau von Galler, the former citadel was remodelled into a residential palace and the chapel, which had been destroyed in the 1500s, was lavishly rebuilt as part of this conversion. The von Stadl family retained the estate until 1825.

After a brief period of ownership by the House of Liechtenstein, the property passed in 1871 to Charles François Bardeau. Emperor Franz Joseph elevated Bardeau’s family to comital rank in 1911. In the late 19th century Bardeau had the castle adapted for residential use and restored in the fashions of that era. The Bardeau family descendants remain the owners of Kornberg.