in the area around Nuremberg during this period. Official bills indicate that the castle was not being used again until the 1560s. During excavations of rubble at the end of the 1960s by the then castle owner, Josef Weber, a layer of burnt material was discovered that has been associated with the Second Margrave War. The documentation, however, does not meet archaeological standards; for example, no 14C dating was done. Other authors doubt these attacks on the castle during the peasant unrest and date the burning to the time of the margravial war. In 1560 a treaty was signed between Emperor Ferdinand I, who was also King of Bohemia, and the Nuremberg City Council, that extended the enfeoffment of the castle estate to the imperial city for a further 25 years in return for a payment of 1,500 talers. In 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II devolved Nuremberg's Hiltpoltstein fief to Bohemia. In 1774, architect and former archaeologist, Carl Haller von Hallerstein, was born in the castle, the son of the then pfleger. In a short biographical interlude as Nuremberg's Building Inspector (Bauinspektor) he published in 1807 a report on the structural condition of Hiltpoltstein Castle. Recent history (since 1806) In 1806 Hiltpoltstein was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria. From 1808 to 1810 it was part of the Landgericht of Gräfenberg in the county of Pegnitzkreis; from 1810 in the county of Rezatkreis and from 1817 in the county of Obermainkreis. The new Landgerichte replaced the former Pflegämter and the pfleger castle of Hiltpoltstein was vacated at the end of 1807 as an administrative office. The castle and mansion were initially sold to a local master bricklayer (Maurermeister); later, it was acquired by the publican, Georg Schmidt. As a result of a lack of investment, the castle meanwhile became completely derelict; even entire roofs were missing. In 1841 the dreadfully neglected castle was depicted in the Korrespondent von und für Deutschland as ripe for demolition, something that was only prevented by the personal intervention of King Ludwig. After its return to royal Bavarian ownership in 1843 it was repaired at the expense of the state and then became the head office of the local forestry commission. In the second half of the 19th century Hiltpoltstein benefited from the rise in "castle romanticism" and received many foreign visitors, something that is recorded in a castle guest book running without a break from