"The fortified Hugstein Castle is the only vestige of medieval military of this size in the arrondissement of Guebwiller. Pampered by municipalities of Guebwiller and Buhl (the line dividing the municipalities passes through the centre of the dungeon!), the site has for many years benefited from several maintenance and cleaning campaigns
Built on a rocky hillock at the mouth of the small valley of Murbach, dominant above Buhl and Guebwiller, the fortress, now ruined, was built in 1227, on the initiative of Hugo (Hughes), also known as Rothenburg, abbot of Murbach promoted Prince of the Holy Roman-German Empire by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The Alsatian prelate had been rewarded in this way to have accompanied the Swabian emperor into the Holy Land.
Considered the main defensive site of the abbey principality, the Hugstein (the rock of – Abbey – Hugo) was also and especially meant to watch over Guebwiller, a town sometimes turbulent, but yet gradually promoted to the status of a city.
The castle was used in the 13th century as a prison for the disloyal knights Thierry de Montbéliard and Renaud de Montbéliard, who acted against the abbey instead of defending its interests. The most famous resident of Hugstein was undoubtedly Abbot Barthelemy Andlau (1447–1476). It seems he was the one who built this magnificent gate-tower entrance and surrounded the castle with additional walls. Great erudite before the Lord and real prince of the Alsatian Renaissance, the ecclesiastic dignitary was also an austere administrator imposing a relentless discipline and order in his bailiwicks of Guebwiller, Saint-Amarin and Wattwiller. (Source : perso.wanadoo.fr/chateauxforts-alsace)"
