Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
Wolfstein was founded in 1275 on Habsburg King Rudolph I's orders, which called for a “fortified and free” town near his castle, “Woluisstein”, now known as the "Alt-Wolfstein" (“Old Wolfstein”) ruin. Rudolph forthwith granted the new town the same town rights and freedoms as the town of Speyer. As an “everlasting marketplace”, it was to be a sanctuary for commerce, trade and dealing. The first townsmen and -women came from the surrounding, much older villages.
Wolfstein Castle
Wolfstein Castle was built as a fortification by the Bishop of Passau, Wolfger von Erla, around 1200. Before that, the surrounding land had been ceded to the bishops of Passau by Emperor Henry VI in 1193. In 1301, a place is first mentioned in a document as "Purchstol zu Wolferstein und ein Wald dazu", later Freyung. The castle itself served as a fortification, administrative base and episcopal hunting lodge. When the Prince-Bishopric of Passau was dissolved in 1803, Wolfstein was initially annexed by Austria. Three years later, the area went to the Kingdom of Bavaria after the Treaty of Pressburg. In 1806, the Bavarian "Landgerichtsbezirk" of Wolfstein was established with its headquarters at Schloss Wolfstein in the municipality ("Landgemeinde") of Ort. It belonged to the Lower Danube Circle (which became Lower Bavaria in 1838). In 1862, the new "Landgerichtsbezirk" of Waldkirchen was established from municipalities of the "Landgerichtsbezirke" of Wolfstein and Wegscheid and the former "Landgericht" of Wolfstein was renamed to the "Landgericht" of Freyung. Both "Landgerichtsbezirke" belonged to the "Bezirksamt" of Wolfstein. In 1938, the "Bezirke" were renamed "Landkreise". Since the incorporation of the municipality of Ort on 1 April 1954, Wolfstein Castle has stood on the territory of the town of Freyung. In 1972 the county of Wolfstein was dissolved.