An imperial castle or Reichsburg was a castle built by order of the Holy Roman Emperor, whose management was entrusted to Reichsministeriales or Burgmannen. It is not possible to identify a clear distinction between imperial castles and the fortified imperial palaces or Pfalzen, because many imperial castles were used by German kings for temporary stays. Many imperial castles were built in regions such as Swabia, Franconia, the Palatinate and the Alsace, where there were a high density of imperial estates (Reichsgüter) during the Hohenstaufen era.
List of imperial castles (Reichsburgen)
France
Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, Orschwiller, Alsace
Germany
Baden-Württemberg
Grüningen Castle, Markgröningen
Stettenfels Castle, Untergruppenbach
Bavaria
Nuremberg Castle, Nuremberg
Harburg Castle, Harburg
Königsberg Castle, Königsberg
Schwedenschanze Castle, Cham
Wildenberg Castle, Kirchzell
Hesse
Boyneburg, Sontra
Friedberg Castle, Friedberg
Gelnhausen Palace, Gelnhausen
Hayn Castle, Dreieichenhain
Kalsmunt Castle, Wetzlar
Münzenberg Castle, Münzenberg
Lower Saxony
Harliburg, Vienenburg
North Rhine-Westphalia
Berenstein Castle, Bergstein
Rhineland-Palatinate
Berwartstein Castle, Erlenbach bei Dahn
Cochem Castle, Cochem
Guttenberg Castle, Oberotterbach
Hammerstein Castle, Hammerstein
Landeck Castle, Landau
Landskron Castle, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler
Lindelbrunn Castle, Vorderweidenthal
Meistersel Castle, Ramberg
Ramburg, Ramberg
Trifels Castle, Annweiler
Wegelnburg, Schönau
Wildburg, Sargenroth
Berenstein Castle
Saarland
Kirkel Castle, Neuhäusel
Thuringia
Kyffhausen Castle, Steinthaleben
Switzerland
Gümmenen Castle, Gümmenen, Canton Berne
Nydegg Castle, Berne, Canton Berne
Weissenau Castle, Unterseen, Canton Berne
See also
The Imperial Castle in Poznań, Poland
Palace
Palas
Kaiserpfalz (or Königspfalz)
Sources
Horst Wolfgang Böhme, Reinhard Friedrich, Barbara Schock-Werner (Hrsg.): Wörterbuch der Burgen, Schlösser und Festungen. Philipp Reclam, Stuttgart 2004, , p. 208.