The Homburg (also Homburg o.d. Wern, formerly Hohenberg o.d. Wern) is the ruin of a hilltop castle at 300 m above sea level near Gössenheim in the Lower Franconian district of Main-Spessart. It is considered one of the largest castle ruins in Franconia.
The castle was built by the Lords of Homburg (also of Hohenburg) as ministerials of the Würzburg diocese. The first lord of the castle mentioned in a document was Dietrich von Hohenberg in 1170. According to tradition, the castle was founded between 1028 and 1031 by Reinhard von Hohenberg from Adolphsbühl Castle, a son of Arnold von Hohenstein, who emigrated from the Lahn to Franconia in 1008. However, this cannot be proven and was probably invented later.
The castle was in the border area of the diocese of Würzburg, the Counts of Rieneck, the Counts of Henneberg and the Imperial Abbey of Fulda. Between 1223 and 1225, the family provided a bishop of Würzburg, Dietrich von Homburg. Dietrich von Hohenberg died in 1381 as the last of his family without a male heir. This ended the Reinhard line. His daughter Christine and her husband Konrad IV von Bickenbach were the sole heirs of all Hohenberg property. Hohenburg thus fell to the House of Bickenbach, which had its seat at Clingenburg.
In 1469, all of the goods of the former Hohenberg estate were sold by the House of Bickenbach to the Bishopric of Würzburg in the form of Prince-Bishop Rudolf II von Scherenberg, Duke of Franconia. In 1492, Homburg became the official seat of the Homburg an der Werren district and received a bailiff.
The outer bailey with the Zwinger dates from the early Gothic period (around 1235) and was extended in the Zwinger area from 1470. In 1525, the castle survived the Peasants' War unscathed; but in 1680 there was a fire in the manor house. This marked the beginning of the gradual decay of the buildings.
Source: Wikipedia