The Apfaltrer family at Gamberk Castle

Abstract

The article outlines the nearly fifty-year period during which the members of the Apfaltrer family served as stewards of the Gamberk seigniory on behalf of the territorial prince. At that time, the Jeterbenk branch held the primacy in the Apfaltrer family, whose loyalty to the territorial prince, king and emperor Frederick V (III) enabled them to become influential powerbrokers. After being enfeoffed the Lebek seigniory, the Gamberk-Lebek side branch broke off and made a significant yet short-lived rise as its male line died out already in the second generation. Relatively well preserved sources provide an insight into the lives of seigniorial stewards and the operations of a late medieval seigniory, as well as enable us to understand the aftermath of the events and processes that were of wider significance for this local environment.