Schloss, Water castle in Weißdorf, Germany

Schloss is a water castle in Weißdorf that stands on a foundation surrounded by moats and rises three stories high. The complex includes residential quarters and outbuildings arranged around a central courtyard.

The castle first appears in written records in 1364 under the von Sparneck family, who held control of the surrounding territory. Over the centuries, the fortress evolved into a baroque country residence for the nobility.

The castle church of St. Maria and the surrounding houses are grouped around the former moated site, as shown in Hans Wandereisen's 1523 woodcut of the burning fortress. The Leuckart family, raised to the hereditary barony of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1879, still owns the castle and calls itself Leuckart von Weißdorf.

The castle remains private property of the Leuckart family and interior visits are not permitted. The exterior can be viewed from outside and it is located in the region among the rivers and woodlands of Upper Franconia.

On 8 July 1523 Swabian League troops reached the castle and found Sebastian von Sparneck's wife in labour; the field commander left some arquebusiers behind and ordered them to blow it up after the birth. She left her childbed first, saying that if it had to be, she would not hold it up, and the castle was blown up on 12 July 1523.