Eltz Castle

Shared home

Eltz is a Ganerbenburg, a castle shared by joint heirs

Each branch of the family owned a separate part for housing, and all shared the defences. In the case of Eltz the family comprised three branches, and the castle has three separate complexes of buildings.

Same family

A branch of the House of Eltz has lived here since the 12th century

The castle is still owned by a branch of the House of Eltz. It stands on a 70-metre-high rock spur bounded on three sides by the river Elzbach, in the hills above the Moselle.

Towers

Eight towers rise between 30 and 40 metres

The family houses rise up to eight stories, and their towers reach heights of between 30 and 40 metres. About 100 members of the owners' families lived in the castle. A village below housed servants and craftsmen.

100rooms, home to about 100 family members

The feud

Archbishop Balduin besieged the castle for two years

From 1331 to 1336 the castle saw the only serious military conflict in its history, the Eltz Feud. Balduin von Trier laid siege to Johann of Eltz, using a small siege castle, Trutzeltz Castle, above it.

Spared

A French officer of the family kept it off the list to be destroyed

In the Palatinate War of Succession from 1688 to 1689, many early Rhenish castles were destroyed. Eltz was saved because its lord, Hans Anton zu Eltz-Üttingen, was a senior officer in the Royal French Army of Louis XIV.