Schwärzenberg castle ruins
The Schwärzenberg castle ruins are located on the 557 meter high Schwärzenberg between Strahlfeld and Fronau. The Schwärzenberg is a geological feature. It is part of the approximately 100 km northwest-southeast trending "stake", a quartz rock formation.
A castle probably already existed on the Schwärzenberg in the late 13th century. Schwärzenberg Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1306 in a fief book of the Bishopric of Bamberg, according to which "Andreas de Fronau" owned the castle as a fief. From 1388 "Peter der Fronawer" was the owner of the castle. "Peter der Fronawer" was a robber baron who attacked merchants on the nearby Reichsstrasse from Regensburg to Prague. Economically, however, he does not seem to have been particularly successful, because in 1400 he had to pawn half of the Schwärzenberg fortress to his cousin Hans Zenger.
Around 1400 the castle was largely destroyed by fire and military conflicts, but was rebuilt and changed hands frequently in the years that followed. In 1606 the castle is said to have been quite dilapidated and dilapidated before it was probably finally destroyed by the Swedes (1633 or 1641) during the Thirty Years' War. In 1742 the ruins became the property of the Benedictine monastery of St. James in Regensburg (“Schottenkloster”). In 1865, the Free State of Bavaria acquired the castle ruins and the associated forest property.
(Source: Bavarian State Forests)