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Rauheneck Castle (German: Burg Rauheneck) (usual spelling today Raueneck = "forested corner" or "hill spur") is a ruined administrative castle of the Bishopric of Würzburg in the Haßberge in the county of Haßberge, Lower Franconia, Bavaria (Germany). The site, which was badly in need of repair, was closed until 2006 due to the danger of collapse but has been accessible again since the start of, as yet unfinished, emergency repair work.

The ruins of the hill castle lie on a western hill spur of the Haubeberg ( 428 m above NN ), which is situated north of the village of Vorbach, in the west of the former county borough of Ebern. It is surrounded by mixed forest stands of the Haßberge Nature Park.

According to legend, Rauheneck Castle had been built around 1180 the Brambergs after the destruction of their nearby castle had forced them to leave. Thereafter the family named itself after their new castle. In 1231, the free knight, Louis of Ruheneke, placed himself, half the castle and other sundry estates under the lordship of the Bishopric of Würzburg. This was almost certainly not by choice. The family of Rau(h)eneck appears to have died out a short while later (around 1250).

The Lords of Rauheneck mentioned in the written records were designated as "nobiles" ( free knights ) and it is probable that they are genealogically connected to the free knights of Bramberg. Frederick of Rauheneck occasionally bore the nickname "of Bramberc". He became involved in an inheritance dispute between House of Andechs-Merania and the Bishopric of Bamberg (around 1248).

To protect their barony, the Rauhenecks allied themselves with numerous lesser noble families in the surrounding area and enfeoffed their own estates to vassals. In 1841/42, Georg Ludwig Lehnes, in his History of Baunach Valley, counted the lords of Lichtenstein, Kößeln, Gemeinfeld, Brünn, Hofheim, Ostheim, Scherschlitz, Kotzenwinden (Kurzewind), Redwitz, Breitenbach, Westheim, Mehried, Holfeld, Neubrunn, Schoder and Kliebern amongst the retinue of the Rauhenecks. The names of some of these vassals ( Dienstleute ) evince that, in the High Middle Ages, a local noble family was resident in virtually every village. However, all these families died out again or returned to the ranks of the commoners fallen or the peasantry.

It is possible that its approach to the Bishopric of Würzburg was a response to intra-family conflict. Because of a dispute with his nephew, Frederick, Louis of Rauheneck placed his estates under the Bishopric in 1244 for a second time as a feudal possession. In return, he was appointed as the castellan ( Burgmann ) at Rauheneck.

After the Lords of Rauheneck had died out, the Bishopric appointed reeves ( vögte ) and castellans to the castle. In 1300, Conrad Staudigel held this office. In 1304, a Wolvelin appeared (probably from the family of Stein of Altenstein ) as a public official. In 1338, Henry of Sternberg is recorded as a hereditary castellan at Rauheneck. The same year, Albert of Aufseß is also noted as a hereditary castellan at Rauheneck.

In 1341, Henry of Wiesen lived at the fortress and, in 1346, Hans Truchseß of Birkach. In 1364, Apel Fuchs was mentioned in a document. Before 1378, Gecke of Füllbach was bailiff ( Amtmann ) at Rauheneck.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Marschalks of Rau(h)eneck lived at the castle as Würzburg vassals. In 1378, Dietz Marschalk appeared as the first member of his family at the fortress. Dietz invested 280 guilders in expanding his castle seat, money that he was later to receive back from the Bishopric. He also had to pay 120 guilders for the castle estate ( Burggut ). Ever since he had taken office, the Burggut was connected with the office of Amtmann.

Until 1379, the Kemmerers lived at the castle as joint owners. Dietrich Apel and Bernhard Kemmerer eventually sold their shares to the Marschalk family. In 1430, the Marschalks invested another 200 guilders in the modernization of the fortress in light of the threat posed by the Hussites.

In 1445, the Bishopric enfeoffed William Marschalk with Rauheneck again. In 1476, Heinz Marschalk gave the fief back to Würzburg. At that time the castle was pledged and was sold for hard cash by the bishopric. After this pledge, the administrative districts ( Ämter ) of Ebern, Sesslach, Bramberg and Rauheneck began to merge gradually. Christoph Fuchs, hitherto bailiff of Ebern and Sesslach, now also managed the Amt of Rauheneck.

In 1483, the lordship was again enfeoffed for 1,000 guilders. After Hartung of Bibra had redeemed the fee with the Bishopric in 1486, the castle was assigned to him as a seat. He had to undertake, however, always to have three armed horsemen ( Reisiger ) and their horses ready for service.

After the Marschalk family became extinct in 1550 with the death of Frederick Marschalk, the castle finally returned to the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Würzburg. During the Thirty Years' War the Amt was used as a recruiting base for twelve companies of infantry. In 1633/34, two mounted units camped at the castle, which was then under Swedish administration. The Swedish bailiff, Lorenz Scheffer, had to stand down a little later for the Catholic officials from Würzburg.

In 1829, the Barons of Rotenhan became the new owners of the castle, but since then it has been left to fall into decay almost without interruption. July 2006 saw the start of the emergency safety work at the castle after the county of Haßberge was able lease the area for the next few decades. As a preparatory measure an educational archaeological excavation took place under the guidance of a medieval archaeologist.

As early as 1232 a chapel was recorded at the castle, which was incorporated into the parish of Ebern. In 1428 a chaplain ( Kaplan ) is noted. The population of the surrounding villages of Jesserndorf and Bischwind attended the chapel for church services and had to pay the pastor of Ebern five pounds in Heller coins annually. The chapel was consecrated to Saint John the Baptist and was located in the zwinger or outer defensive enclosure of the castle. In 1436, the Bishop of Würzburg approved a cemetery at the site.

The church continued to be used after the abandonment of the castle until 1745. The vicarage had already been moved by 1615, however.

Originally the castle chapel was clearly on the ground floor of the palas next to the later gatekeeper's room. A small Gothic arch window has survived on the exterior wall. It is possible that the ground floor continued to be used even after the construction of the new chapel as a prayer room. On the remains of the rendering of the round-arched entrance of the small guard's room two consecration crosses are still visible.

In 1842, the History of the Baunach Valley in Lower Franconia appeared in Würzburg, self-published by author, Georg Ludwig Lehne. He expressed the widespread view that the family of Marschalke of Raueneck had died out in 1550.

On 1 August 1842, a G.K.W. Müller von Raueneck published a "correction" of this opinion in Schleusingen, claiming to be a descendant of this family. He maintained that a George of Raueneck lost his fortune as a result of family disputes and so, in 1508, entered the service of the Imperial Army. His wife, a von Lichtenstein, had died shortly beforehand. The nobleman therefore arranged for his four-year-old son, Friedrich, to be brought up by the childless Müller von Frickendorf. He later arranged for the boy to be made heir to the Rauenecks, but required that the family should henceforth bear the surname "Müller zu Raueneck". The Rauenecks were also supposed to be linked to the Austrian Rauhenecks. But according to Lehne the family was genealogically related to the lords of Rotenhan.

This "correction" was published in 2005 without comment in a reprint of the History of the Baunach Valley. In fact, the name of Müller von Raueneck appears even to the present day in some lists and directories of the nobility, but the surname seems to have disappeared in Germany today. The author of the "correction" even added his observations to a family tree of the Müllers of Raueneck citing unspecified "documentary excerpts".