In 1100 it came into the possession of the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer as a castle in fee (Lehnsburg) granted by the bishop.

[1] The historic background to the legend of the Leather Bridge is that both castles were always owned by different lords - to begin with the Spangenberg belonged to the prince-bishops of Speyer and Erfenstein, as mentioned, to the Leiningens - who were in competition with one another.

In 1470 when their owners had subsequently changed, both castles were destroyed - first Erfenstein and then the Spangenberg - by their opponents during the Weißenburg Feud between Elector Frederick I of the Palatinate and his cousin, Duke Louis I of Palatinate-Zweibrücken.

Spangenberg Castle, made habitable again, acted for just under 100 years as the residence of the master of the stud.

It was destroyed again at the start of the War of the Palatine Succession (1688) and finally again by troops of Louis XIV, the King of France.

When they had all fallen asleep, replete and drunk, Caspar set fire to the hut.

Caspar was sentenced to death by hanging and his daughter was married by the emperor to another man.