Burgruine Ortenburg is a mediæval castle near Baldramsdorf

Baldramsdorf

Baldramsdorf is a village and municipality in the district of Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia in Austria. It is situated in the west of the City of Spittal, in the southern part of the Lurnfeld valley between the Drava river and the Goldeck mountain range...

 in Carinthia

Carinthia (state)

Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

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It was erected in the late 11th century by ministeriales of the Bavarian Prince-Bishops of Freising, who then held large possessions in the Duchy of Carinthia

Duchy of Carinthia

The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....

. Their descendants began to call themselves Counts of Ortenburg

Grafschaft Ortenburg

The Ortenburger were a medieval noble family in the Duchy of Carinthia, with roots in Bavarian nobility. An affiliation with the Counts of Ortenburg-Neuortenburg, a branch line of the Rhenish Franconian House of Sponheim, is not established. Little is known about their reasons for settlement in...

. The castle is located on the northern slope of the Gailtal Alps overlooking the Drava

Drava

Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...

 valley.

Damaged by the 1348 Friuli earthquake

1348 Friuli earthquake

The earthquake of 25 January 1348, centered in the South Alpine region of Friuli, was felt across Europe. The quake hit in the same year that the Great Plague ravaged Italy. It caused considerable damage to structures; churches and houses collapsed, villages were destroyed and foul odors emanated...

, the significance of the castle diminuished after the extinction of the Ortenburgs in 1418. The estates were inherited by Count Hermann II of Celje and in 1456 finally seized by the Imperial House of Habsburg. In 1524 the comital title passed to Gabriel von Salamanca

Gabriel von Salamanca-Ortenburg

Gabriel von Samalanca-Ortenburg was a Spanish nobleman who was general treasurer and archchancellor of the Austrian archduke Ferdinand I of Habsburg from 1521 to 1526....

, who had his new residence, Porcia castle

Schloss Porcia

Schloss Porcia is a castle in Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is one of the most significant Renaissance buildings in Austria....

 built in the nearby town of Spittal an der Drau

Spittal an der Drau

Spittal an der Drau is located in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia and the administrative centre of the federal state's second largest district, Spittal an der Drau. It lies between the Lurnfeld area and the Lower Drava Valley. The city consists of the seven...

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