The origins of the present castle can be found in a
Hohenstaufen moated castle from the early 13th century. It stood on a sandbank in a swampy area near an old long-distance trade route that led from the
Rhine via
Wimpfen east to the
Danube. Around 1230, the complex was owned by the Lords of Stein, whose descendants later called themselves "von Neuenstein". Around 1300, the Neuenstein estate came to the
House of Hohenlohe, which still owns the castle today.
Gottfried von Hohenlohe, who lived at
Weikersheim Castle, was a follower of
Emperor Frederick II and tutor to his son
Conrad IV. He allegedly survived a murder plot in
Regensburg in 1250, the mastermind of which was
Albert I, the
Bishop of Regensburg. King Konrad gave Gottfried
fiefdoms in Regensburg in gratitude for his help. This also included the
bailiwick of the canons' monastery of
Öhringen, founded in 1037, as well as the castles and manors in Neuenstein and Waldenburg. The different castles were divided many times between the respective generations.
Louis Casimir, Count of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (1517–1568) founded the Neuenstein line (with the possessions of
Langenburg,
Ingelfingen,
Öhringen and
Kirchberg), one of the two main lines of the House of Hohenlohe that still exist today; the other (the Waldenburg line) was founded by his half-brother
Eberhard, Count of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg (1535–1570) (with
Waldenburg,
Bartenstein and
Schillingsfürst) in the main state division of 1551. After the complex had already been expanded in the 15th century, Count Louis Casimir had the castle redesigned into a castle in the Renaissance style by the
Heilbronn master builder
Balthasar Wolff. The expansion lasted until the beginning of the 17th century.
1800 to present From 1870 onwards, renovation work was carried out in the Imperial Hall in order to then lay the foundation for a family museum of the House of Hohenlohe with a collection of antiques from
Kirchberg Castle. It was one of the first private museums in Germany and was open to the public from 1878. At the beginning of the 20th century, Prince
Christian Kraft Herzog zu Hohenlohe-Öhringe commissioned the architect and castle researcher
Bodo Ebhardt to carry out a comprehensive restoration of the castle. The work took place between 1906 and 1925. Castle of Neuenstein (13).jpg|View from approach, 2020 Castle of Neuenstein (3).jpg|Relief over the entrance, 2020 Castle of Neuenstein (8).jpg|Interior courtyard, 2020 Castle of Neuenstein (7).jpg|Interior courtyard, 2020 Landappbw 132385 1818 Schloss Neuenstein.jpg|The castle, 2019 Neuenstein Schloss01 crop2 2007-09-22.jpg|The castle, 2007 ==References==