page_title: Harzburg
section_title: Later history
hierarchical_section_title: Harzburg / History / Later history
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: The following centuries were characterized by frequent changes of ownership. About 1370 it was occupied by the Welf duke Otto of Brunswick-Göttingen during the War of the Lüneburg Succession and entrusted to his ministerialis Hans von Schwicheldt, against fierce protest raised by the Wernigerode counts. In the early 15th century the Harzburg was pledged as a fief to the three sons of Hans von Schwicheldt, who turned it into a robber baron castle and ravaged the surrounding Brunswick, Hildesheim and Halberstadt lands. 
  The importance of the fortress decreased steadily, resulting in its slow decline. A rebuilding of the castle in the 16th century was never carried out due to the high cost. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle changed hands several times, although its garrison remained intact. Since this type of fortification had become insignificant due to the changed nature of warfare, demolition of the remaining elements of the ruin began in 1650. Since then the castle has amounted to little more than its foundation ruins and well. The urban settlement of Neustadt at the foot of the Großer Burgberg adopted the castle's name in 1892.
caption: Northwestern view of Neustadt Harzburg, 1825
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