FRANKENBOURG

Description of the site
From the castle, by observing the neighbourhood landscape, the visitor will easily understand the choice of this conical summit(703 m), slightly detached of the sandy massif of Altenberg, for the building of Frankenbourg.
At the confluence of the two valleys (Argent Valley and Valley of Villé), little before their common outlet on the central plain of Alsace, this natural view-point made it possible to control the Route antique of Salt, that of the money ores, the road of the vineyard. One also saw Sélestat, Ortenberg, Ungersberg, the massif of the Field of Fire...
The summit which carries Frankenbourg presents installations much older than the castle of the Middle Ages. Indeed, a monumental enclosure in dry stones is located at semi-slope between the collar and the top.
An arrowed path by the Vosgean Club invites to engage on the right in the rise to discover a well preserved section of a "pagan wall" identical to that of the Ste-Odile Mount, and presenting the same techniques of assembly (mortises and holders of wood in the shape of dovetail). In the absence of convincing archaeological foundings, the dating of these two enclosures remains dubious (from the Bronze Age to the low Roman Empire).

History :
The construction of the castle by the counts of Frankenbourg probably goes up to the beginning of XIIth century.
In 1196, the family of Frankenbourg-Werd acquires the function of Landgrave of Low - Alsace, therefore representative of the Emperor for this area, in what we could call today the Low-Rhine. Moreover the armorial bearings of the Department of the Low-Rhine are still today those of the lords of Frankenbourg-Werd.
The family declines quickly and the stronghold of Frankenbourg passes to the bishopric of Strasbourg who engages it since 1393 to various families: Lutzelsheim, Uttenheim zum Ramstein, the Bocks, Hohenstein.
From 1489 to 1789, the Great Chapter manages on his own the castle and the Comte-Ban (right bank villages of Giessen).

Still inhabited during the thirty Year old War (1618-1648), the castle is gradually forsaken departing from the XVIIth century. Its last mentioning goes up to 1634.

Access : The Castle is easily accessible by a forest road suitable for motor vehicles crossing the massif from Altenberg (access by Vancelle or Breitenau). A short track carries out to the carparks located at the foot of the castle (fountain and open shelter). From there, 10 minutes by foot are enough to reach the ruin.

To know some more:
"Frankenbourg" in "the Valley of Villé, a country, men, a history" 1995 p.323-325 Bernhard METZ,