The castle stands on the lowest hill ridge in the middle of a valley bowl.

In order to avenge this abuse, Otto of Schönberg advanced on Schönecken and besieged the castle.

Hartard mocked him and called to him from the palace, saying, "I'm very pleased, Lord Otto, that you are paying me a visit", to which Otto replied, "The devil make you crawl in the dirt for a long time in order to punish you, my servants are not women, come out, and you'll taste the servants!"

After a violent fight, the Schönecks fled and Hartard's son was beaten to death.

All three towers and their curtain walls have been part of a multi-storey residential building since no later than the 16th century, as depicted in an 18th-century painting.