I. Foundation
In 1528, the castle was built directly into the moated fortress of the 13 th century. The roots of this fortress goes far into the period of Ludwig the German (*806-†876). 860 AD, the emperor gives “kundpoldesdorf” as a gift to the archbishopric Salzburg. From the point of view of some historians, this location is identically to the present village Kobersdorf.
The first doubtless documentally mention originated from the year 1229, in which the location is called as „… villae, que est aput castellum “. King Ándrás II certified herewith the fortress in the posession of Count Pousa.
1270, the fortress withstands the first siege in the event of the „Güssing feud“. But 10 years later, it was conquered, also 1289 after it was successfully recaptured. Finally, Duke Albrecht I and King Ándrás III concluded the peace treaty of Hainburg in 1291: “… Pressburg, Tyrnau, Kobersdorf and Güssing are to regive to hungary, all other fortresses are to demolish.”
II.
Royal Liege Lords:
The Forchtenstein
In 1319, King Karl Robert sold the estates to Count Simon II of Forchtenstein-Mattersburg. His father and uncle were the brothers of Tota, a spanish court lady of the hungarian King. Both of them have proved themselves in the spanish reconquista and were therefore allowed to wear the spanish eagle in their coat of arms.
About 1430, the artistic decoration of the fortress, from which only the baptistery remained, was made by Count Wilhelm Forchtenstein-Mattersburg, who also changed the main residence of the family from Forchtenstein to Kobersdorf.
1445, Wilhelm put the estates in pawn to the austrish Duke Albrecht VI, who in turn sold the fortress 1451 to his brother, emperor Friedrich III.
When Wilhelm died in 1466, he left two daughters. According to the law, the estates has to be given back to the Hungarian Kingdom. But abiding the agreement on ceasefire of 1447, in which Albrecht VI was certified in the posession of Kobersdorf, the estates now were for the first time under Austrian rule.III.
Imperial Liege Lords:
The Weisspriach
The city Wiener Neustadt, for a short period the imperial residence city under emperor Friedrich III, lies nearby the fortresses of Landsee, Kobersdorf and Forchtenstein, and so they became important to Habsburg.
1452 the emperor appointed Weisspriach, a carinthian family, as caretaker, as from 1453 as liege lords.
1458, Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490), King of Hungary, conquered Kobersdorf, but according to the peace of Sopron 1463, the fortress remains in the Hands of Austria. Nevertheless, when count Wilhelm Forchtenstein died in 1466, Corvinus gave Kobersdorf to Weisspriach as a present, in consequence of their unfaithfulness for the Habsburg emperor.
1482, the Weisspriach added a rampart in westward direction, also a bigger, protestant chapel. Both of the buildings were held in the style of the late gothic.
1491, at the peace treaty of Bratislava, Kobersdorf is restored to Austria. Emperor Maximilian I appointed Prüschenk as caretaker, he in turn gave the fortress back to the Weisspriach, being under considerable strain.
The Weisspriach furthermore contrived to profit of the uncertain times of that age; “Kobersdorf belongs to the principality of Austria, hence no taxes for Hungary!”
1529, the Weisspriach family proved themselves in the war against the turks. Their might hit its peak, their estates ranged from Eisenstadt to Köszeg. They enlarged the fortress of Kobersdorf to a castle and extend the rampart in the style of renaissance.
As confident protestants, they enforced the reformation in their estates; hereupon, Kobersdorf remains protestantic for about 100 years.
1553, leaving behind the daughters Esther, Judith and Susanne, the house of Weisspriach died out.IV. Count Johann Kéry de Ipoliker
1463, Susanne married Hans Csóron de Devecser. Furthermore, the castle is contributed among heirs and coheirs. Not only the estates were more and more splitted into small pieces, even the castle itself was occupied by several families at the same time.
Eventually, Johann Kéry married Ursula Czobor, a great-great-granddaughter of Csóron in 1648. He united castle and estates by buying all the minority participations. He also completed the finishes of the castle, already in the style of the early baroque.
In 1670, Franz Frangepany and Peter Zrinyi, both members of the hungarian magnat´s conspiracy, spent the night at the castle, as they were friend with Count Franz, son of Johann. But while they were sleeping, Johann sent a message to the emperor Leopold I in vienna; the next morning, both Frangepany and Zrinyi were brought to Wiener Neustadt and executed.
In 1683, the turks captured the castle. They ordered the demolishing of the fortress, which existed until then besides the castle.V. Fürst Paul Esterházy
In 1704, Franz Kéry sold the estate to his brother-in-law Paul I. Fürst Esterházy. Henceforth, the castle lost its function as an residence. This, on the one hand, causes the preservation of the architectural style, but on the other hand, the castle got more and more derelicted. 1809 it was a quarter for french officers, 1876, a fire destroyed the roof, 1914 and 1942-45 a military prison, and 1945-47, a quarter for the russian red army.
VI. Prof. Dipl. Arch. Martha Bolldorf-Reitstätter
In 1963, the government wanted to demolish the ruin, in order to build one-family houses on the area. But then Martha Bolldorf-Reitstätter decided to rebuild the castle. This gigantic project took place – at the cost of great privations - until her death in the year 2001.
Martha Bolldorf-Reitstätter, born in Tirol 1912, was Austria´s first female academic architect. Some of her construction projects were built in Burgenland, for example the Bischofshof (=residence of the bishop) in Eisenstadt.
In 2004, the castle acquired property of her daughter Dr. Anna Schlanitz.