Schloss Duttenberg, Medieval castle in Bad Friedrichshall, Germany.
Schloss Duttenberg, also called Burg Duttenberg, is a former manor site in the eastern part of Duttenberg, a district of Bad Friedrichshall. After centuries as a farm, only a rectangular walled area is vaguely recognizable as a castle. A manor house, an old wine press and the walled St. Kilian church mark its extent.
A manor arose around 800 on a slope above the Jagst valley, from which the medieval castle developed; it was first recorded as Dudunburc in 798/799. In the 14th century the Lords of Weinsberg held it as imperial property and enfeoffed the Lords of Bieringen, then in the 15th and 16th centuries the Lords of Wittstatt. After the Wittstatt died out in 1586, the Palatine electors took over the manor; the Teutonic Order acquired a share in 1599 and the whole estate with 90 morgen in 1668, selling the manor house to Joseph Reichert in 1769.
The site is still called Reißenhof after the Reiß family, who acquired the farm in 1860. The name Duttenberg appears in records as Tutumer marca in 778, while the castle itself is recorded as Dudunburc in 798/799. The former castle area is now a working farm, so the name survives in local use rather than as a visible fortress.
The site lies in the eastern part of Duttenberg, a district of Bad Friedrichshall; the former castle area is now a farmyard, so it is viewed from the surrounding lanes rather than entered. The Herrenhaus, the old Kelter and the walled Kilianskirche stand close together and mark its extent. Remains of the walls and of the ditch dug to the northeast can still be traced.
The complex is also called Reißenhof, after the Reiß family, who acquired the farm in 1860. In the same year a dilapidated distillery was demolished, and a Renaissance oriel on the west facade of the manor house was removed; the house then received its plain, uniform sandstone windows.
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