Schloss Marsbach Castle

Marsbach was first mentioned in a document in 1075 as "Morspah", making it the oldest aristocratic residence in the upper Mühlviertel.

The castle is situated on a narrow ridge that slopes steeply down to the Danube and has the character of a fortress. The location is so favourable that the Danube can be seen and controlled from Niederranna to the Schlögener Donauschlinge. This played an important role in monitoring Danube traffic and later for the robber barons.

Marsbach was first mentioned in a document in 1075 as "Morspah", making it the oldest aristocratic residence in the upper Mühlviertel. The castle is situated on a narrow ridge that slopes steeply down to the Danube and has the character of a fortress. The location is so favourable that the Danube can be seen and controlled from Niederranna to the Schlögener Donauschlinge. This played an important role in monitoring Danube traffic and later for the robber barons.

Marsbach was once the seat of a robber and rapacious family. Wernhard von Morspach, mentioned in 1187, belonged to this family. In the first years of the 13th century, the Marsbachers appear primarily in Passau documents, with Otto being named as a Passau ministerial in 1226.

Marsbach Castle, castrum marspach, was one of the fortresses that caused such damage to the Bishop of Passau that King Henry VI was prompted to take action against it in 1222 with a declaration of eighths. Henry of Marsbach was forced to hand over the castrum marpsach to the Bishop of Passau to make amends for the damage caused to the bishopric. The subjugation was repeated in 1255 by Otto von Marsbach. He wanted to take possession of Marbach Castle before the death of his father Ortolf, attacked the castle and chased his father away, who was forced to seek refuge in Passau. An arbitration ruling by Duke Henry of Bavaria, to which Otto had submitted, ended the dispute between father and son in 1268. However, Otto himself did not give up his claims and seized the castle in 1269, from where he made the Danube and the roads between Passau and Eferding unsafe as a robber baron together with Pilgrim von Falkenstein and Chunrad von Tannberg. 1529 The administration of Passau's possessions in the Mühllande (Mühlviertel) was moved to Marsbach. The former district court in Neufelden was also transferred to Marsbach. After the secularisation of the diocese of Passau, Marsbach came under Austrian administration, became a chamber estate in 1805 and was publicly auctioned off in 1824.

Stories about Marsbach
The Mortsbachers harmed their feudal lord, the Bishop of Passau, wherever they could. In 1222, they plundered Passau's property to such an extent that the imperial ban was imposed on them. Bishop Gebhard did not know how to defend himself against them. His successor, Bishop Rüdiger, however, marched on the castle with his army and forced Heinrich von Marsbach to hand it over to him until he had repaired the damage he had caused. However, nothing changed thereafter, except that the lords in the bold castle above the Danube, who were addicted to intrigue, quarrelling and feuding, also fell out with each other. Otto, for whom his father Ortolf had lived too long, attacked the castle one day with the Tannbergers and chased away the old man, who had to seek protection in Passau. According to the arbitration judgement, the misguided man was to leave the fortress with his father in return for a settlement and only receive it back after his death. But the father did not pay. Instead, he sold the castle to the Passau family so that nothing would fall to the thuggish young man after his death. When the neighbouring Falkensteins and Tannbergs also got involved in this affair, which was not unusual at the time, a feud between all parties was due. Rudolf of Habsburg summarily confiscated Marsbach in favour of the empire for breach of the peace and handed the property over to his son Albrecht. However, the people of Passau forced the duke to hand Marsbach over to them. The Marsbachers had long since died out when Othmar Oberheimer, = the last feudal knight =, established himself within the walls of the old castle. It was only after his execution that Marsbach once again belonged to the people of Passau, who established an administrative centre in the castle. Between 1561 and 1598, Bishop Urban had the already dilapidated complex rebuilt in the Renaissance style. After 1803, it became an imperial chamber estate and was auctioned off in 1824. In 1957, the castle was converted into a castle hotel. The hotel went bankrupt and the castle stood empty for several years until it was acquired by its current owner, Mr Georg Stradiot.