Sponheim-Starkenburg
| Starkenburg | ||
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View of one side of Starkenburg from a low level
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 Starkenburg
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Location of Starkenburg within Bernkastel-Wittlich district
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| Coordinates: 49°57′21″N 7°08′24″E / 49.95583°N 7.14000°ECoordinates: 49°57′21″N 7°08′24″E / 49.95583°N 7.14000°E | ||
| Country | Germany | |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate | |
| District | Bernkastel-Wittlich | |
| Municipal assoc. | Traben-Trarbach | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Jürgen Spier | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 1.52 km2 (0.59 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 365 m (1,198 ft) | |
| Population (2015-12-31) | ||
| • Total | 234 | |
| • Density | 150/km2 (400/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | |
| Postal codes | 56843 | |
| Dialling codes | 06541 | |
| Vehicle registration | WIL | |
| Website | www.starkenburg-mosel.de | |
Starkenburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the location of the like-named castle, now in ruins.
The municipality lies on a 250 m-high ridge sloping down from the Hunsrück to the Moselle on the river’s right bank, downstream between Traben-Trarbach, the Ahringsbach valley and Enkirch. Towards the north, the village is bordered by a castle crag, where a few remnants of walls from the Starkenburg (castle) can still be discerned. Starkenburg is surrounded by unbroken greenbelt characterized by vineyards, woods, meadows and farms. Starkenburg belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Traben-Trarbach, whose seat is in the like-named town.
The Romans were already using this place’s strategic location, in which they built a fort. The Roman fortification of the heights was a forerunner to the later castle. The complex is believed to have been destroyed by the Franks about 412.
In the Middle Ages, Starkenburg was from 1125 the residence of the County of Sponheim for the “Hinder” County; in 1350 it was relieved of this function by the newly built Grevenburg. The Sponheim noble family first appeared on the Moselle, according to documents, with Count Meginhard I of Sponheim in Enkirch in 1125. The first documentary mention of the castle as “Starkenberg” (not “Starkenburg”), in a directory of landholdings from Trier, comes from 1200.
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Wikipedia