Burg Neu-Windeck

Lauf, Germany, Germany

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Burg Neu-Windeck, also called Burg Neuwindeck, Burg Lauf, or Laufer Schloss, is the ruin of a hilltop castle located on the Schlossberg at 310 meters above sea level on a hill southeast of Lauf in the Ortenaukreis district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The castle was built around 1300 by the Lords of Windeck, whose family had split into two independent lines (Alt-Windeck and Neu-Windeck), and was first mentioned in writing in 1371. A castle chapel dedicated to the Three Kings was documented in 1377, and the two family lines, though sharing the same coat of arms, were often in conflict due to differing interests.

During the Schlegler War (1394–1396), the castle served as a base for the Strasbourgers against Alt-Windeck, and hostilities only ended in 1466 when Berthold von Neu-Windeck married Anna von Alt-Windeck. The last heir, Jakob von Windeck, died of illness in Venice in 1592 while returning from a journey through France, Spain, Italy, and Palestine, after which the fiefs reverted to the Empire and the Margrave of Baden.