The castle was first mentioned in 1214 in connection with a legal dispute: the Counts of Veldenz had illegally built it on the territory of the Benedictine monastery of St. Remigius in Reims. Although the castle was demolished, it remained intact and continued to belong to the counts, and after their extinction in 1444 to the dukes of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, until the de facto end of the duchy in 1793.
In addition to its long-standing military importance (it was occupied by French troops in 1693 during the Reunion Wars), it served a variety of purposes:
It was a secondary residence of its lords and in 1529 hosted the guests of the reformers Zwingli, Oecolampad, Butzer and Sturm, who were passing through for the Marburg Religious Colloquium.
It was the seat of an extensive agricultural operation of its lords.
It was the seat of the administrative district, which was only moved to the town of Kusel in 1755 by Duke Christian IV.
It was never conquered or destroyed by attacks and was the only undamaged castle in the Palatinate after the War of the Palatinate Succession. Nevertheless, as early as 1693 - when it was still used by the nobility - it was described as "neglected" and "ruined". It was badly damaged by a major fire on October 26, 1799 and has been a ruin ever since. Only the castle chapel and the land registry survived the fire unscathed, as they were located at a sufficient distance from the main castle. It was still inhabited. From 1816, the area around the castle belonged to Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. This exclave was named after the castle in 1819, the Principality of Lichtenberg, but only existed until 1834, when it was handed over to Prussia. The decay continued under the new owners.
The castle has been a listed building since 1895. From 1922, the outer bailey was converted into a youth hostel. From 1979 to 1984, the tithe barn was rebuilt and the Musicians' Country Museum was set up in it. In 1983/84 the keep was given two additional floors and a roof.