page_title: Katzenstein Castle
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Katzenstein Castle / History
caption_attribution_description: Inner courtyard of Burg Katzenstein at Dischingen
context_page_description: Katzenstein Castle is one of the oldest remaining Hohenstaufen castles in Germany. It is located in a borough that shares its name with the castle in the Dischingen municipality of the Heidenheim district of Baden-Württemberg. The castle is open to visitors and contains several dining rooms as well as hotel rooms.
context_section_description: In 1099, the Lords von Cassenstein were first mentioned.  The family was a Ministerialis or unfree knight family in the service of the Graf (or Count) von Dillingen. In 1262, Edlen von Hürnheim was listed as the owner of the castle von Katzenstein when it was sold by Hermann von Hürnheim-Katzenstein.
  Ownership changed again in 1354 when the Graf von Oettingen acquired the castle.  He quickly pawned the castle on the Graf von Helfenstein, who gave the castle to Berthold von Westerstetten in 1382.  In 1572, the Katzenstein line wiped out the Westerstetten line.  The inheritance of the Westerstetten family was sold again to the von Oettingen family.
  The castle was burned to the ground by French soldiers in 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years' War. The castle was rebuilt in 1669.
  Burg Katzenstein went to the Oettingen-Wallenstein line in 1798. Later, in 1810, the castle was taken over by the state of Württemberg and placed under the district of Neresheim.
  Since 1939, the castle has been privately owned.
caption: The inner courtyard of Burg Katzenstein
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