Today my wife, my youngest son David and I visited our friends in Lower Austria. Their house sits aside an interesting ruin of the 12th century of the Kuenringer.

Founded 1056, the Kuenringer originally came from Bavaria and were given three ‘hoofs’ of land in a village called “Hecimanneswisa” by King Henry III after their support in the Hungarian move. The village later became ‘Kuehnring’ near ‘Eggenburg’. The House of the Kuenringer was a very strong and wealthy one – so you can visit many ruins and castles still intact (mainly in the region of the ‘Waldviertel’ and the ‘Wachau’, both in Lower Austria).

They played an important role in the cultural development of these regions and founded e. g. the ‘Stift Zwettl’. In the 13th century they were the spearhead of the rebellion against the Babenberger Duke Friedrich II. To make a long and interesting story short: they died out in 1594…

Click on the thumbnails to get some impressions of the ruin in Arbesbach.