page_title: Harzburg
section_title: Hohenstaufens and Welfs
hierarchical_section_title: Harzburg / History / Hohenstaufens and Welfs
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Talstation der Burgseilbahn in Bad Harzburg und der Große Burgberg mit dem Obelisken auf den Gipfel
context_page_description: The Harzburg, also called Große Harzburg, is a former imperial castle, situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range overlooking the spa resort of Bad Harzburg in Goslar District in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It was erected from 1065 to 1068 at the behest of King Henry IV of Germany, slighted during the Saxon Rebellion in 1073-75, and a century later rebuilt under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his Welf successor Otto IV, who died here in 1218.
  Later used as a robber baron's lair, the hill castle crumbled into ruins over the centuries. Today it has almost completely disappeared; only fragments of the foundation walls and the towers together with the castle well are preserved.
context_section_description: During the conflict of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick I with the Welf duke Henry the Lion, the rebuilding work on the castle continued until 1180. In January 1076 Henry had claimed the enfeoffment with Goslar and the Rammelsberg mines in turn for his support against the rebellious Italian cities of the Lombard League. The duke was deposed in 1180, yet Frederick felt it was necessary to protect Goslar against Henry's forces. 
  The complex was completed by Henry's son Emperor Otto IV, sole King of the Romans upon his rival Philip of Swabia in 1208. He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Innocent III the next year, however, the two fell out soon after. Banned by the pope, he had to witness the election of the Hohenstaufen scion Frederick II in September 1211. Defeated by King Philip II of France in the 1214 Battle of Bouvines, he retired to his Saxon homelands and died at the Harzburg on 19 May 1218. The fortress lost its immediate function as an imperial castle as Otto's brother Henry of Brunswick had to surrender the Imperial Regalia to the Hohenstaufen dynasty. 
  In 1222 the Harzburg was awarded the title of castrum imperiale again. Relying on the existing imperial enfeoffment of the Harzburg seat, the character of the castle as an imperial fortress remained largely intact up to the time the Hohenstaufen dynasty became extinct and the castle was pledged to the Counts of Wernigerode in 1269.
caption: The Burgberg hill and Burgberg Cable Car
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