Leiningen

Leiningen takes its name from the castle built by Count Emich II in the early twelfth century in the northeastern Palatinate Forest. After a second castle was built nearby in the thirteenth century, the original became known as Altleiningen, or Old Leiningen. The two strongholds overlooked the ancestral lands of a family whose branches held scattered territories in the Palatinate and beyond.

A division of the family's possessions in 1317 placed Altleiningen with the older Leiningen-Dagsburg line. Through inheritance it later came to Leiningen-Westerburg. The castle was destroyed in the Peasants' War of 1525 and subsequently rebuilt. During the War of the Palatine Succession, French troops blew it up in 1690. Its ruined walls remained above the settlement in the Eckbach valley, a reminder of the county's former seat.