The castles which are today such an unmistakable feature of the Rhein landscape date back to the Middle Ages. Their founders were feudal overloards, who, so far from cherishing any romantic notions, built them with one simple aim in mind: to protect their lands from marauders and predatory neighbours. They chose mountain-tops as strategically ideal situations, and we today, looking back through the haze of ninteenth-century medievalism, are still often prone to see them as objects of mystery and splendour, forgetting the warlike function for which they were built and the back-breaking labour of the feudal serfs, whom we must presume to have been forcibly employed in quarring the huge stone blocks and dragging them up the mountain slopes.
Since Roman times the Rhein valley has been a line of communication of vital strategic importance. In the Middle Ages the German emperors used it for their frequent progresses into Italy, and rich merchants sent their goods to and fro along it. Obviously anyone owning a castle overlooking the valley was in a powerful position, since he was able to survey and regulate the flow of traffic across his particular territory and levy tolls on merchants. This accounts for the large number of castles along the Rhein from Mainz to Bonn, particularly in the narrow gorge connecting Bingen and Koblenz. Along this stretch of river, which has a length of only thirty-five miles, there are more castles than in any other river valley in the world.
Coblence, Koblenz on Rhein and Mosel
Castle Stolzenfels
Rhens and Konigsstuhl (King chair)
Boppard, Castle Kurtrierische Burg and Roman excavations
Bad Salzig
Hirzenach
St. Goar and Castle Rheinfels
Lorelei
Oberwesel and Castle Schonburg
Pfalz in the Rhine
Bacharach and Castle Stahleck
Rheindiebach and the ruins of Fort Furstenberg
Niederheimbach and Castle Heimburg
Castle Sooneck
Trechtingshausen and Castle Reichenstein
Castle Rheinstein
Bingen on Rhein, "Mouse Tower" and Castle Klopp Fortress Ehrenbreitstein
Lahnstein on Rhine and Lahn with Castle Lahneck
Braubach and Castle Marksburg
Kamp- Bornhofen, Castle Sterrenberg Wellmich and Castle Maus
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