Grevenburg

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Grevenburg was a castle in Traben-Trarbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It served as the residence of the Rear County of Sponheim. Built in 1350 by Count Johann III of Sponheim-Starkenburg, it replaced Castle Starkenburg as the family seat. After the Sponheim male line in the Rhenish branch ended in 1437, the castle became the bailiff’s seat for the new Sponheim counts. In 1680 Louis XIV captured it and expanded the nearby Mont Royal fort as part of the defenses. In the War of the Spanish Succession, the French took it in 1702; in 1704 it was taken back by forces under Friedrich of Hesse-Kassel on Marlborough’s orders, and the Dutch later occupied it. In 1730, Trier repaired it for defending Koblenz and the Rhine. During the War of the Polish Succession, the French besieged it for three weeks and destroyed it in July 1734. Today it is a ruin; only the western wall of the old keep remains, and the foundations are largely intact.