Hohenzollern Castle
Hohenzollern Castle (German: ) is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the edge of the Swabian Jura of central Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Heidelberg Castle
Heidelberg was first mentioned in 1196 as "Heidelberch". In 1155 Conrad of Hohenstaufen was made the Count Palatine by his half-brother Frederick Barbarossa, and the region became known as the Electorate of the Palatinate. The claim that Conrad's main residence was on the Schlossberg (Castle Hill), known as the Jettenbühl, cannot be substantiated. The name "Jettenbühl" comes from the soothsayer Jetta, who was said to have lived there. She is also associated with Wolfsbrunnen (Wolf's Spring) and the Heidenloch (Heathens' Well). The first mention of a castle in Heidelberg (Latin: ""castrum in Heidelberg cum burgo ipsius castri"") is in 1214, when Louis I, Duke of Bavaria of the House of Wittelsbach received it from Hohenstaufen Emperor Friedrich II. The last mention of a single castle is in 1294. In another document from 1303, two castles are mentioned for the first time:All that is known about the founding of the lower castle is that it took place sometime between 1294 and 1303. The oldest documented references to Heidelberg Castle are found during the 1600s:All of these works are for the most part superficial and do not contain much information. In 1615, Merian's "Topographia Palatinatus Rheni" described Prince Elector Ludwig V as he ""started building a new castle one hundred and more years ago"". Most of the descriptions of the castle up until the 18th century are based on Merian's information. Under Ruprecht I, the court chapel was erected on the Jettenbühl.