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Origin and history

Crax Castle, also known as Wiebelsberg, was a medieval castle located on a hill north of Andlau, in the Lower Rhine. His name, which appeared in 1295 in the form Krax, derives from the upper German medium Krac ("crack, crevice"), although earlier documents call it Wubelsperg. The site, not well suited to defence, was located not at the top of the hill, but on a ridge below, between Andlau and Mittelbergheim.

The exact date of its construction remains unknown, but it existed before 1264, the year of the death of Eberhard d-Andlau. A document from 1282 mentions a castle seat linked to a conflict of inheritance between the families of Andlau and Bergheim. After its reconstruction, the castle was divided between these two lines. However, Cuno de Bergheim, accused of hosting banished people, was sentenced in 1295 to compensate the Andlau.

The fate of the castle in the war between Adolphe de Nassau and Albrecht de Habsburg for the crown of the Holy Empire. Cuno de Bergheim supported Adolphe, while the bishop of Strasbourg, Conrad de Lichtenberg, a partisan of Albrecht, stormed the Crax between 1298 and 1299. After his victory, he ordered his total demolition, the stones being reused to strengthen Lichtenau. Cuno undertook not to rebuild it without episcopal permission.

In the following centuries, the site served as a career for the inhabitants of Mittelbergheim. The stones extracted were mainly used to build the retaining walls of the local wine terraces, marking the final end of this lost castle.

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