Ruins of a castle "Staffelburg"
at Mörnsheim in the national park Altmuehl valley
High above the Gailach valley and south over the village, Markt Moernsheim, on a high plateau of 1500 feet, stood one of the most majestic and impressionable castles in the area of Eichstaett until 1760. Just like the castles of Nassenfels to the south and Hirschberg 
to the east, so stood guard the castle of Moernsheim over the western boarders of its territory for hundreds of years. Using these words, began Helmut Reschert, an historian of the Middle Ages, his introduction of his brochure, "The Castle of Moernsheim". This is part of a collection of works belonging to the Historical Society of the town Eichstaett 
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In order to write this brochure, it took long hours researching archives and many other old writings of that time. It was sensational for Helmut Rischert to discover that the castle tower was built in the form of an octagon. This style of building was was very unusual in Bavaria and was known to be used only one other time. The creation of this castle started about 1225 when Bishop Heinreich I. von Zipperlingen, had a tower made out of huge hand cut blocks of stone, erected on the highest position of the plateau, as the central point of the whole castle. At the same time the castle was under construction, Moernsheim was developed. The original name was Morinesheim. It was later changed to Moernsheim as we know it today. The village was given the privilege of holding a market from Kaiser Karl the IV in 1354 and received its coat of arms from Bishop Johann III von Eich, which is still used today. In 1281, the castle was thought of as being the center of trade for Moernsheim. As a result, Bishop Friedrich IV, Count von Ottingen, had many new buildings and walls built to enlarge the castle´s capacity for trade and business. He also had an outer court yard built that surrounded the castle. Bishop Albrecht II von Rechberg had the southeastearn wall reinforced from above and below, forming a high and wide wall. This side was considered the most vulnerable for an attack.
The castle was run by the Bishop of Eichstaett, who was considered a holy and worldly man. He appointed two men; one was in charge of holding watch over Moernsheim, the other man in Krugsburg had the function as an outpost for the castle and to keep guard over the "Altmuehl" valley.
Since 1363, an assistant of the reigning Bishop, and coming from nobility, was appointed, to take care of the administrative duties of the castle and the village below. Later, in the year 1645, these duties were combined with Dollnstein, a neighboring village, leaving living quarters of the castle empty. The results of the 30 Year War could not shake the castle or its people. Swedish soldiers ravaged the lands and in 1634 tried to burn out the village in order to storm the castle, but to no avail. During the Spanish Inheritance War in the winter of 1703-04 French soldiers took over the castle and vandalized the complete inside of the castle. In 1740 the wooden roof was repaired so it would not cave in. It was completely ruined due to lack of up keep.
In the coming years maintenance of the castle was neglected. This problem was officially recognized by the castle custodian in the year 1760. The Prince Bishop gave the order for the castle to be torn down. The main part of the castle, along with living quarters and the chapel, were torn down. In the year 1855, large blocks were taken from the castle walls to enlarge the church in Moernsheim. Along the walls that were left, poor people were allowed to attach their dwelling. The huge tower blocks were was broken up in smaller pieces and carried away.
With great effort and painstaking detailed work, a scale model of the Moernsheimer castle was reconstructed by Clemens Nißl. He used old plans and diagrams to do this work. The model can be seen in the Information Center in the courthouse of Moernsheim weekdays, from the middle of May until the middle of October from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.
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Zuletzt aktualisiert am 10.02.2017